Now that my students have taken the AP Latin: Vergil test and I feel like I have time to be a normal human being again, my attention is turning in so many directions at once. But staying on theme, I’m debating where to take the class next. I’ve decided against it, but I was toying with Maffeo Vegio‘s 13th Aeneid, which begins thus:
- Turnus ut extremo vitam sub Marte profudit
- subdunt se Rutuli Aeneae, Troiana sequentes
- agmina; dehinc superis meriti redduntur honores.
- congaudet nato ac sociis, memor ante malorum
- actorum pater Aeneas. …
Here’s a rough, literal, line-by-line version for the Latinless:
As Turnus poured out his life during his final battle,
the Rutulians turn themselves over to Aeneas, following the Trojan
line; thereupon to the god are rendered the honors deserved.
He rejoices with offspring and friends, mindful of prior evils
done, does father Aeneas.
It was an amazing accomplishment for a 21 year old, but it ruins the Aeneid for me. (And now for a bit of praeteritio: I needn’t mention the odd vocabulary) There’s nothing quite like the suddenness of the end, despite the arguments that the poem is unfinished.
Many other teachers have suggested having students fill “gaps” or write continuations, but the last thing I was to grade is Epic fanfic. I’m looking for something that’s both rewarding of their hard work and lasting. They should have something to take away, to remember, and to inspire.