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Studies in Virgil鈥檚 Aeneid: Text, Intertexts, Afterlife

This presentation focuses on some overlooked moments in Virgil鈥檚 Aeneid and its reception. I briefly discuss the burial of Aeneas鈥� nurse, Caieta, in Aeneid 7, as well as a short poem by a 17th-century Jesuit missionary in New France, who laments the Aeneaslike suffering of his fellow missionaries (and neatly folds the sufferings of various Indigenous peoples into a pernicious colonial narrative). I then discuss Achates, a shadowy character who seems to always be at Aeneas鈥� side, and is invariably fidus, 鈥渇aithful鈥�. Taking up the ancient etymology of 鈥淎chates鈥� from the Greek akhos (鈥減ain, grief鈥�), I argue that Aeneas has 鈥減ain鈥� as his constant companion: like Homer鈥檚 Achilles, whose name was also etymologized via akhos, Aeneas brings pain with him wherever he goes, pain for himself and for others. And this pain is 鈥渇aithful鈥� because all of the most painful moments in Aeneas鈥� story鈥擠ido, Pallas, Turnus鈥攊nvolve broken bonds of fides.