THE STORY OF AENEAS.
B.C. 1200
Story of AEneas remained long unwritten.--Mother of AEneas.--Her
origin.--Early history of Venus.--Her magical powers.--Her children
Eros and Anteros.--She goes to Olympus.--Aphrodite's love for
Anchises.--The golden apple.--The award of Paris.--Venus's residence
at Mt. Ida.--Aphrodite's assumed character.--She leaves
Anchises.--Childhood of AEneas.--The Trojan war.--Achilles.--AEneas
engages in the war.--Story of Pandarus.--AEneas rescued by his
mother.--Her magic vail.--Venus is wounded.--Iris conveys her
away.--Single combat between AEneas and Achilles.--The charmed life
of Achilles.--His shield.--The meeting of AEneas and Achilles on the
field.--The harangues of the combatants.--The battle begun.--Narrow
escape.--Sudden termination of the combat.--The tales of the AEneid.
Besides the intrinsic interest and importance of the facts stated in
the last chapter, to the student of history, there was a special
reason for calling the attention of the reader to them here, that he
might know in what light the story of the destruction of Troy, and of
the wanderings of AEneas, the great ancestor of Romulus, which we now
proceed to relate, is properly to be regarded. The events connected
with the destruction of Troy took place, if they ever occurred at all,
about the year _twelve hundred_ before Christ. Homer is supposed to
have lived and composed his poems about the year nine hundred; and the
art of writing is thought to have been first employed for the purpose
of recording continuous compositions, about the year six hundred. The
story of AEneas then, so far as it has any claims to historical truth,
is a tale which was handed down by oral tradition, among story-tellers
for three hundred years, and then was clothed in verse, and handed
down in that form orally by the memory of the reciters of it, in
generations successive for three hundred years more, before it was
recorded; and during the whole period of this transmission, the
interest felt in it was not the desire for ascertaining and
communicating historic truth, but simply for entertaining companies of
listeners with the details of a romantic story. The story, therefore,
can not be relied upon as historically true; but it is no less
important on that account, that all well-informed persons should know
what it is.
The mother of AEneas (as the story goes), was a celebrated goddess. Her
name was Aphrodite;[B] though among the Romans she afterward received
the name of Venus. Aphrodite was not born of a mother, like ordinary
mortals, but sprang mysteriously and supernaturally from a foam which
gathered on a certain occasion upon the surface of the sea. At the
commencement of her existence she crept out upon the shores of an
island that was near,--the island of Cythera,--which lies south of the
Peloponnesus.
[Footnote B: Pronounced in four syllables, Aph-ro-di-te.]
[Illustration: ORIGIN OF VENUS.]
She was the goddess of love, of beauty, and of fruitfulness; and so
extraordinary were the magical powers which were inherent from the
beginning, in her very nature, that as she walked along upon the sands
of the shore, when she first emerged from the sea, plants and flowers
of the richest verdure and beauty sprang up at her feet wherever she
stepped. She was, besides, in her own person, inexpressibly beautiful;
and in addition to the natural influence of her charms, she was endued
with the supernatural power of inspiring the sentiment of love in all
who beheld her.
From Cythera the goddess made her way over by sea to Cyprus, where she
remained for some time, amid the gorgeous and magnificent scenery of
that enchanting island. Here she had two children, beautiful boys.
Their names were Eros and Anteros. Each of these children remained
perpetually a child, and Eros, in later times called Cupid, became the
god of "love bestowed," while Anteros was the God of "love returned."
After this the mother and the boys roamed about the world,--now in the
heavenly regions above, and now among mortals on the plains and in the
valleys below: they sometimes appeared openly, in their true forms,
sometimes they assumed disguises, and sometimes they were wholly
invisible; but whether seen or unseen, they were always busy in
performing their functions--the mother inspiring everywhere, in the
minds both of gods and men, the tenderest sentiments of beauty and
desire,--while Eros awakened love in the heart of one person for
another, and Anteros made it his duty to tease and punish those who
thus became objects of affection, if they did not return the love.
After some time, Aphrodite and her boys found their way to the
heavenly regions of Mount Olympus, where the great divinities
resided,[C] and there they soon produced great trouble, by enkindling
the flames of love in the hearts of the divinities themselves, causing
them, by her magic power, to fall in love not only with one another,
but also with mortal men and women on the earth below. In retaliation
upon Aphrodite for this mischief, Jupiter, by his supreme power,
inspired Aphrodite herself with a sentiment of love. The object of her
affection was Anchises, a handsome youth, of the royal family of Troy,
who lived among the mountains of Ida, not far from the city.
[Footnote C: See Map, page 61.]
The way in which it happened that the affection of Aphrodite turned
toward an inhabitant of Mount Ida was this. There had been at one time
a marriage among the divinities, and a certain goddess who had not
been invited to the wedding, conceived the design of avenging herself
for the neglect, by provoking a quarrel among those who were there.
She, accordingly, caused a beautiful golden apple to be made, with an
inscription marked upon it, "FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL." This apple she
threw in among the guests assembled at the wedding. The goddesses all
claimed the prize, and a very earnest dispute arose among them in
respect to it. Jupiter sent the several claimants, under the charge
of a special messenger, to Mount Ida, to a handsome and accomplished
young shepherd there, named Paris--who was, in fact, a prince in
disguise--that they might exhibit themselves to him, and submit the
question of the right to the apple to his award. The contending
goddesses appeared accordingly before Paris, and each attempted to
bribe him to decide in her favor, by offering him some peculiar and
tempting reward. Paris gave the apple to Aphrodite, and she was so
pleased with the result, that she took Paris under her special
protection, and made the solitudes of Mount Ida one of her favorite
retreats.
Here she saw and became acquainted with Anchises, who was, as has
already been said, a noble, or prince, by descent, though he had for
some time been dwelling away from the city, and among the mountains,
rearing flocks and herds. Here Aphrodite saw him, and when Jupiter
inspired her with a sudden susceptibility to the power of love, the
shepherd Anchises was the object toward which her affections turned.
She accordingly went to Mount Ida, and giving herself up to him, she
lived with him for some time among the mountains as his bride. AEneas
was their son.
Aphrodite did not, however, appear to Anchises in her true character,
but assumed, instead, the form and the disguise of a Phrygian
princess. Phrygia was a kingdom of Asia Minor, not very far from Troy.
She continued this disguise as long as she remained with Anchises at
Mount Ida; at length, however, she concluded to leave him, and to
return to Olympus, and at her parting she made herself known. She,
however, charged Anchises never to reveal to any person who she was,
declaring that AEneas, whom she was going to leave with his father when
she went away, would be destroyed by a stroke of lightning from
heaven, if the real truth in respect to his mother were ever revealed.
When Aphrodite had gone, Anchises, having now no longer any one at
home to attend to the rearing of the child, send him to Dardanus, a
city to the northward of Troy, where he was brought up in the house of
his sister, the daughter of Anchises, who was married and settled
there. His having a sister old enough to be married, would seem to
show that youth was not one of the attractions of Anchises in
Aphrodite's eyes. AEneas remained with his sister until he was old
enough to be of service in the care of flocks and herds, and then
returned again to his former residence among the pasturages of the
mountains. His mother, though she had left him, did not forget her
child; but watched over him continually, and interposed directly to
aid or to protect him, whenever her aid was required by the occurrence
of any emergency of difficulty or danger.
[Illustration: AENEAS DEFENDING THE BODY OF PANDARUS.]
At length the Trojan war broke out. For a time, however, AEneas took no
part in it. He was jealous of the attentions which Priam, the king of
Troy, paid to other young men, and fancied that he himself was
overlooked and that the services that he might render were
undervalued. He remained, therefore, at his home among the mountains,
occupying himself with his flocks and herds; and he might, perhaps,
have continued in these peaceful avocations to the end of the war, had
it not been that Achilles, one of the most formidable of the Grecian
leaders, in one of his forays in the country around Troy, in search of
provisions, came upon AEneas's territory, and attacked him while
tending his flocks upon the mountain side. Achilles seized the
flocks and herds, and drove AEneas and his fellow-herdsmen away. They
would, in fact, all have been killed, had not Aphrodite interposed to
protect her son and
save his life.
The loss of his flocks and herds, and the injury which he himself had
received, aroused AEneas's indignation and anger against the Greeks. He
immediately raised an armed force of Dardanians, and thenceforth took
an active part in the war. He became one of the most distinguished
among the combatants, for his prowess and his bravery; and being
always assisted by his mother in his conflicts, and rescued by her
when in danger, he performed prodigies of strength and valor.
At one time he pressed forward into the thickest of the battle to
rescue a Trojan leader named Pandarus, who was beset by his foes and
brought into very imminent danger. AEneas did not succeed in saving his
friend. Pandarus was killed. AEneas, however, flew to the spot, and by
means of the most extraordinary feats of strength and valor he drove
the Greeks away from the body. They attacked it on every side, but
AEneas, wheeling around it, and fighting now on this side and now on
that, drove them all away. They retired to a little distance and then
began to throw in a shower of spears and darts and arrows upon him.
AEneas defended himself and the body of his friend from these missiles
for a time, with his shield. At length, however, he was struck in the
thigh with a ponderous stone which one of the Greek warriors hurled at
him,--a stone so heavy that two men of ordinary strength would have
been required to lift it. AEneas was felled to the ground by the blow.
He sank down, resting upon his arm, faint and dizzy, and being thus
made helpless would have immediately been overpowered and killed by
his assailants had not his mother interposed. She came immediately to
rescue him. She spread her vail over him, which had the magic power of
rendering harmless all blows which were aimed at what was covered by
it, and then taking him up in her arms she bore him off through the
midst of his enemies unharmed. The swords, spears, and javelins which
were aimed at him were rendered powerless by the magic vail.
Aphrodite, however, flying thus with her wounded son, mother-like,
left herself exposed in her anxiety to protect him. Diomedes, the
chief of the pursuers, following headlong on, aimed a lance at Venus
herself. The lance struck Venus in the hand, and inflicted a very
severe and painful wound. It did not, however, stop her flight. She
pressed swiftly on, while Diomedes, satisfied with his revenge, gave
up the pursuit, but called out to Aphrodite as she disappeared from
view, bidding her learn from the lesson which he had given her that it
would be best for her thenceforth to remain in her own appropriate
sphere, and not come down to the earth and interfere in the contests
of mortal men.
Aphrodite, after conveying AEneas to a place of safety, fled, herself,
faint and bleeding, to the mountains, where, after ascending to the
region of mists and clouds, Iris, the beautiful goddess of the
rainbow, came to her aid. Iris found her faint and pale from the loss
of blood; she did all in her power to soothe and comfort the wounded
goddess, and then led her farther still among the mountains to a place
where they found Mars, the god of war, standing with his chariot. Mars
was Aphrodite's brother. He took compassion upon his sister in her
distress, and lent Iris his chariot and horses, to convey Aphrodite
home. Aphrodite ascended into the chariot, and Iris took the reins;
and thus they rode through the air to the mountains of Olympus. Here
the gods and goddesses of heaven gathered around their unhappy sister,
bound up her wound, and expressed great sympathy for her in her
sufferings, uttering at the same time many piteous complaints against
the merciless violence and inhumanity of men. Such is the ancient tale
of AEneas and his mother.
At a later period in the history of the war, AEneas had a grand combat
with Achilles, who was the most terrible of all the Grecian warriors,
and was regarded as the grand champion of their cause. The two armies
were drawn up in battle array. A vast open space was left between them
on the open plain. Into this space the two combatants advanced, AEneas
on the one side and Achilles on the other, in full view of all the
troops, and of the throngs of spectators assembled to witness the
proceedings.
A very strong and an universal interest was felt in the approaching
combat. AEneas, besides the prodigious strength and bravery for which
he was renowned, was to be divinely aided, it was known, by the
protection of his mother, who was always at hand to guide and support
him in the conflict, and to succor him in danger. Achilles, on the
other hand, possessed a charmed life. He had been dipped by his mother
Thetis, when an infant, in the river Styx, to render him invulnerable
and immortal; and the immersion produced the effect intended in
respect to all those parts of the body which the water laved. As, how
ever, Thetis held the child by the ankles when she plunged him in, the
ankles remained unaffected by the magic influence of the water. All
the other parts of the body were rendered incapable of receiving a
wound.
Achilles had a very beautiful and costly shield which his mother had
caused to be made for him. It was formed of five plates of metal. The
outermost plates on each side were of brass; in the centre was a plate
of gold; and between the central plate of gold and the outer ones of
brass were two other plates, one on each side, made of some third
metal. The workmanship of this shield was of the most elaborate and
beautiful character. The mother of Achilles had given this weapon to
her son when he left home to join the Greeks in the Trojan war, not
trusting entirely it seems to his magical invulnerability.
The armies looked on with great interest as these two champions
advanced to meet each other, while all the gods and goddesses surveyed
the scene with almost equal interest, from their abodes above. Some
joined Venus in the sympathy which she felt for her son, while others
espoused the cause of Achilles. When the two combatants had approached
each other, they paused before commencing the conflict, as is usual in
such cases, and surveyed each other with looks of anger and defiance.
At length Achilles spoke. He began to upbraid AEneas for his
infatuation and folly in engaging in the war, and especially for
coming forward to put his life at hazard by encountering such a
champion as was now before him. "What can you gain," said he, "even if
you conquer in this warfare? You can never be king, even if you
succeed in saving the city. I know you claim to be descended from the
royal line; but Priam has sons who are the direct and immediate heirs,
and your claims can never be allowed. Then, besides, what folly to
attempt to contend with me! Me, the strongest, bravest, and most
terrible of the Greeks, and the special favorite of many deities."
With this introduction Achilles went on to set forth the greatness of
his pedigree, and the loftiness of his pretensions to superiority over
all others in personal prowess and valor, in a manner very eloquent
indeed, and in a style which it seems was very much admired in those
days as evincing only a proper spirit and energy,--though in our times
such a harangue would be very apt to be regarded as only a
vainglorious and empty boasting.
AEneas replied,--retorting with vauntings on his side no less spirited
and energetic than those which Achilles had expressed. He gave a long
account of his pedigree, and of his various claims to lofty
consideration. He, however, said, in conclusion, that it was idle and
useless for them to waste their time in such a war of words, and so he
hurled his spear at Achilles with all his force, as a token of the
commencement of the battle.
The spear struck the shield of Achilles, and impinged upon it with
such force that it penetrated through two of the plates of metal which
composed the shield, and reached the central plate of gold, where the
force with which it had been thrown being spent, it was arrested and
fell to the ground. Achilles then exerting his utmost strength threw
his spear in return. AEneas crouched down to avoid the shock of the
weapon, holding his shield at the same time above his head, and
bracing himself with all his force against the approaching concussion.
The spear struck the shield near the upper edge of it, as it was held
in AEneas's hands. It passed directly through the plates of which the
shield was composed, and then continuing its course, it glided down
just over AEneas's back, and planted itself deep in the ground behind
him, and stood there quivering. AEneas crept out from beneath it with a
look of horror.
Immediately after throwing his spear, and perceiving that it had
failed of its intended effect, Achilles drew his sword and rushed
forward to engage AEneas, hand to hand. AEneas himself recovering in an
instant from the consternation which his narrow escape from impalement
had awakened, seized an enormous stone, heavier, as Homer represents
it, than any two ordinary men could lift, and was about to hurl it at
his advancing foe, when suddenly the whole combat was terminated by a
very unexpected interposition. It seems that the various gods and
goddesses, from their celestial abodes among the summits of Olympus,
had assembled in invisible forms to witness this combat--some
sympathizing with and upholding one of the combatants, and some the
other. Neptune was on AEneas's side; and accordingly when he saw how
imminent the danger was which threatened AEneas, when Achilles came
rushing upon him with his uplifted sword, he at once resolved to
interfere. He immediately rushed, himself, between the combatants. He
brought a sudden and supernatural mist over the scene, such as the God
of the Sea has always at his command; and this mist at once concealed
AEneas from Achilles's view. Neptune drew the spear out of the ground,
and released it too from the shield which remained still pinned down
by it; and then threw the spear down at Achilles's feet. He next
seized AEneas, and lifting him high above the ground he bore him away
in an invisible form over the heads of soldiers and horsemen that had
been drawn up in long lines around the field of combat. When the mist
passed away Achilles saw his spear lying at his feet, and on looking
around him found that his enemy was gone.
Such are the marvelous tales which were told by the ancient narrators,
of the prowess and exploits of AEneas under the walls of Troy, and of
the interpositions which were put forth to save him in moments of
desperate danger, by beings supernatural and divine. These tales were
in those days believed as sober history. That which was marvelous and
philosophically incredible in them, was sacredly sheltered from
question by mingling itself with the prevailing principles of
religious faith. The tales were thus believed, and handed down
traditionally from generation to generation, and admired and loved by
all who heard and repeated them, partly on account of their romantic
and poetical beauty, and partly on account of the sublime and sacred
revelations which they contained, in respect to the divinities of the
spiritual world.