The End of Virgil's Aeneid and Guilty Sense of War

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  • ウェルギリウス『アエネイス』の結末と戦争の罪責
  • ウェルギリウス 『 アエネイス 』 ノ ケツマツ ト センソウ ノ ザイセキ

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Abstract

There has been a long discussion since antiquity about the abrupt ending of the Aeneid which leaves the readers with a very disturbing impression: at the decisive duel in the twelfth book Aeneas, after having hesitated for a moment and inclined to spare Turnus' life, kills him, suddenly driven by fury and anger. On this unusual last scene the ancient commentary of Servius has presented a typical "optimistic" view, attributing the glory of pietas both to the hero's hesitation and his killing for revenge. The present paper attempts to offer another interpretation, which will acknowledge his hesitation as showing a great desire to be relieved of the burden of sorrowful and useless war and his vengeance for the death of Pallas as revealing his deep sense of guilt and his innermost longing to punish himself. Thus the death of Turnus would be foreshadowing Aeneas' own dying in the near future which is predicted repeatedly in the epic. We shall arrive at this conclusion after the detailed consideration of how the hero reacts to the deaths of Dido, Pallas, Lausus and others.

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