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I slacked off last week, but hopefully we'll get going again this week. While you wait, a practice essay question. Instead of actually writing out an essay for this (well, I guess you can do that if you really want to), I invite you to comment with any particular points that you might write about if you were given this question. Try it without going back to look at a translation or notes first. Note - this is a 45 minute question involving the comparison of 2 passages.
(A)
"Anna, fatebor enim, miseri post fata Sychaei
coniugis et sparsos fraterna caede Penates
solus hic inflexit sensus animumque labantem
impulit. Agnosco veteris vestigia flammae.
Sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehiscat
vel pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,
pallentes umbras Erebo noctemque profundam,
ante, Pudor, quam te violo aut tua iura resolvo.
Ille meos, primus qui me sibi iunxit, amores
abstulit; ille habeat secum servetque sepulchro."
Aeneid 4.20-29
(B)
"Te propter Libycae gentes Nomadumque tyranni
odere, infensi Tyrii; te propter eundem
exstinctus pudor et, qua sola sidera adibam,
fama prior. Cui me moribundam deseris, hospes,
hoc solum nomen quoniam de coniuge restat?
Quid moror? An mea Pygmalion dum moenia frater
destruat aut captam ducat Gaetulus Iarbas?
Saltem si qua mihi de te suscepta fuisset
ante fugam suboles, si quis mihi parvulus aula
luderet Aeneas, qui te tamen ore referret,
non equidem omnino capta ac deserta viderer."
Aeneid 4.320-330
The passages above reveal Dido's feelings at the beginning and at the end of her relationship with Aeneas. In a well-developed essay, contrast her feelings in these two passages.
BE SURE TO REFER SPECIFICALLY TO THE LATIN THROUGHOUT THE PASSAGES TO SUPPORT THE POINTS YOU MAKE IN YOUR ESSAY. Do NOT simply summarize what the passages say.
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4 comments:
So in the first passage it seems as if Dido is focusing more on the shame that would come from loving Aeneas, since she promised she would never remarry. The whole "sed mihi...noctemque profundam" is all her speculation on what Juppiter might do to her as a punishment for being with Aeneas. I think the only major reference to Aeneas himself is "agnosco...flammae". But in the second passage, Dido's really angry and she's blaming all her issues on Aeneas ("te propter Libycae...Tyrii") and she doesn't mention Sychaeus at all. In fact, she still wants Aeneas to stay, possibly bringing more shame. So I guess you could say their relationship changes from Dido being hesitant to love him, to Dido being suicidally furious that he'd ever leave her.
Also, I think it's ironic how in the first passage, Dido believes that Juppiter will "abigat me fulmine ad umbras", but at the end of the book, she kills herself. But I don't know how/where that would fit into the essay.
peace out.
zoe
That would set up for a very nice essay, contrasting the lack of focus on Aeneas in the first passage with the complete focus on him in the second (and even "agnosco...flammae" still references Sychaeus more than Aeneas). Anyone have ideas on tying in the nice ironic bit Zoe pointed out? Or other specific lines in the two passages that could be used as evidence in an essay? Or even other approaches one could take to the essay?
You might include the ironic bit in a conclusion to provide further evidence of how Dido's attitude has changed from reserved and sensible from raging, and crazy enough to kill herself.
I think that would work nicely; it's exactly the sort of clever tidbit that spices up conclusions and makes them interesting and strong.
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