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The Sacrifice of Palinurus
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
Extract
The account of the death of Palinurus at the end of Aen. 5 raises to a higher level of importance a figure who has previously seemed very much a minor character in the Aeneid. This is achieved partly by the narrative brilliance of Virgil's account of his destruction by Somnus, and partly also by the atmosphere of solemn mystery which surrounds his fate. This solemn note is first struck in the passage which directly prepares the way for Palinurus' death. At Aen. 5.779 Venus, anxious that Juno's wrath may still prevent the safe arrival of Aeneas in Italy, appeals for help to Neptune. He reassures her. Aeneas will arrive safely. There is, however, one condition:
unus erit tantum amissum quem gurgite quaeres;
unum pro multis dabitur caput. (5.814–15)
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References
1 The view that two lives, those of Palinurus and Misenus, are meant here goes back to Servius ad loc.
2 For a list of the apparent discrepancies see Aen. 5, ed. & comm. Williams, R. D. (Oxford, 1960), p. pxxvGoogle Scholar. These have been frequently discussed. See now Berres, T., Die Entstehung der Aeneis (Wiesbaden, 1982), pp. 250–81Google Scholar.
3 Bandera, C., ‘Sacrificial Levels in Virgil's Aeneid’ (Arethusa 14 (1981), 217–39)Google Scholar argues (p. 224) that ‘in principle it does not make any difference which one among the many is selected for sacrifice… all individual differences become irrelevant.’ He sees a random choice of victim in such cases of sacrifice in the Aeneid.
4 ‘It is never clear why Neptune needed a sacrifice…’ (Brenk, F. E., ‘Unum pro multis caput, Myth, History and Symbolic Imagery in Vergil's Palinurus Incident’ (Latomus (1984), 776–801)Google Scholar).
5 ‘tragische Ironie’ Berres, , op. cit. (n. 2), p. 257Google Scholar; ‘poetic irony’ Williams ad loc.
6 ‘But was Palinurus guiltless? If, as we suggest, he was tired of the fruitless voyage, horrified by the callousness of Aeneas, by the disasters which he seemed to attract by his rowdy games, by the ultimate burning of some of the ships by the angry women – that act unforgivable in the eyes of a man of the sea, – then was his disappearance as accidental as Aeneas supposed?’ Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave, Epilogue.
7 So e.g. Kuhn, W., Götterszenen bei Vergil (Heidelberg, 1971), p. 92Google Scholar.
8 So Boyle, A. J., The Chaonian Dove (Leiden, 1986), pp. 120, 161–2Google Scholar.
9 For characters in the Aeneid as ‘new versions' of characters in earlier literature see now Lyne, R. O. A. M., Further Voices in Vergil's Aeneid (Oxford, 1987), esp. ch. 3Google Scholar.
10 Putnam comments ‘Fighting for what in his own terms he (Palinurus) thought was right, he must yield to a higher fate and a different world’ (Putnam, M. C. J., The Poetry of the Aeneid (Harvard, 1966), p. 98Google Scholar). Putnam sees Palinurus as symbolising a need for seafaring which passes with the arrival in Italy. I shall argue, however, that, more importantly, he symbolises a flawed way of life. I cannot see that ‘Palinurus… must die by virtue of (my italics) the knowledge (of the sea) and loyalty he symbolizes.’
11 Aen. 1. 114 ingens a uerticepontus…ferit, cf. Od. 5.313 ἒλαδεν μέγα κῧμα κατ' ἃκρης. Aen. 1. 116–7 illam …torquet agens circum, cf. Od. 5. 314 περì δὲ σχεδίην ἐλέλιξε.
12 Od. 12.413 ό δ' ἀρνευτῆρι ἐοικώς|κάππεσ. cf. Aen. 1. 115 excutitur pronusque magister uoluitur in caput. The precise description of how the steersman falls pronus …in caput seems to reflect the Homeric comparison to a diver.
13 When Anchises refers to Nautes' consilia as pukherrima (728) he surely implies only that the advice given is sound from a practical point of view. He says nothing as to the significance of the language in which this advice is couched as an indication of the speaker's possible attitude of mind.
14 diducitur points to the two sides of Aeneas – the one, pessimistic, either looking back with longing to Troy or, as here, prepared to consider abandoning the mission and settling in Sicily, the other, willing to face the challenge of the Italian future. It should be noted that this line occurs at the mid-point of a ring structure beginning at 5.605. This structure opens significantly with a reference to Fortuna who intervenes to cause a change, apparently for the worse, in the Trojans' affairs. This change leads to a progressive deterioration in the situation culminating in Aeneas' utter demoralisation at 720. The appearance of Anchises' ghost leads to a reversal of this trend and the new optimism reaches its climax when the fleet sets sail at 834 with favouring winds following Neptune's reassurance to Venus – Aeneas' mind now being moved by blanda gaudia (827–8). The arrival of midnight at 835 marks the beginning of the final section of the book (rather than 827 which begins the final paragraph of the OCT text). The central part of the structure is marked by the reference to the onset of night. This structure has similarities to that at the beginning of Aen. 1 where the mid-point of the opening section (1–304) focuses on the storm/calm and furor/pietas contrasts of the statesman simile. Aeneas' contrasting speeches are arranged in a balancing position within that sequence.
15 Bailey, (Religion in Virgil (Oxford, 1935), p. 213)Google Scholar comments'…it may be noticed that fortuna is used as the equivalent of fatum both in reference to the individual and to the nation.’; On 5. 709–10 he remarks that this ‘is an instructive combination of fata and fortuna in almost identically the same meaning’ (op. cit., p. 237).Fordyce, (Aen. 7–8Google Scholar, ed. & comm. C. J. Fordyce (Oxford, 1977)) observes (on Aen. 8.334) ‘Virgil seems to be identifying them (fortuna and fatum) here as he does in some other places…’. Williams, , however (Aeneidos Liber Quintus, ed. & comm. Williams, R. D. (Oxford, 1960)Google Scholar) sees a contrast between fata andfortuna at 5.709–10.
16 The name Palinurus too may be relevant to its bearer's role in the poem. If Virgil saw in it the idea of a wind which blows the ship back again this would fit the fact that the helmsman urges a return to Sicily and abandons hope of reaching Italy in the face of the storm (5.17ff.).
17 For a similar connection between storm and fata see Latinus' words at 7.594ff. ‘frangimur heu fatis’, inquit ‘ferimurque procella’ together with the preceding simile and the metaphor (598) of the ship which has all but reached harbour. It is possible that ferimur here is intended to suggest a link between ferre and fortuna. On Τύχη and the sea see M. Detienne, ‘The “Sea Crow”’ (in Myth, Religion and Society: Structuralist Essays by M. Detienne et al., ed. Gordon, R. L. (Cambridge, 1981), pp. 16–42Google Scholar). Detienne argues for a strong link between Athena and the art of the helmsman. It may be significant that Nautes is a pupil of Tritonia Pallas. The builder of the Argo worked under the instructions of Athena (Ap. Rh. 1.18–9).
18 It is tempting to suppose that when Virgil describes the Trojans as fleeing from the Strophades qua cursum uentusque gubernatorque uocabat (3.269) he intends us to link uentus and gubernator in a more significant way than was perhaps intended in the Homeric original (Od. 11.10; 12.152).
19 For a similar instance of gloom in Aeneas dissolved by a divine revelation with the new confidence being marked by an act of worship see Aen. 8.520ff. There Aeneas revives sopitas ignibus aras (542–3), just as here he revives sopitos ignis. The idea of the rekindling of the sleeping flame on the altar seems to suggest the idea of a revival of morale following a temporary lapse.
20 Bandera, , op. cit. (n. 3), pp. 225–6Google Scholar.
21 Donatus knew the easier quaeret here (also offered by some inferior MSS.).
22 See e.g. Wigodsky, M., Vergil and Early Latin Poetry (Wiesbaden, 1972), p. 12Google Scholar.
23 Heyne ad Aen. 1.259.
24 Skutsch, O., Studia Enniana (London, 1968), p. 131Google Scholar and The Annals of Quintus Ennius (Oxford, 1985), p. 205Google Scholar. So now Feeney, D. C., “The Reconciliations of Juno” (CQ 34 (1984), 179–94, 191 n. 78)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
25 Similar features occur in other instances of apotheosis or change from mortal status. See e.g. (mysterious disappearance) H. Hymn Dem. 44ff., H. Hymn Aphr. 207ff., Soph, . O.C. 1656ff.Google Scholar, Paus. 6.9.6–8; (distress and/or search) H. Hymn Dem. 40ff., H. Hymn Aphr. 207ff., Theocr. 13.55ff., Hdt. 7.166, Ap. Rh. I.1261ff. etc.
26 Aeneas' situation parallels that of Odysseus as he travels on the last stage of his journey in one of the miraculous Phaeacian ships which had neither steersmen nor steering-oars (Od. 8.557–8) – unnecessary since the ships themselves instinctively knew the course to follow and had no fear of shipwreck (Od. 8. 563) (doubtless because of the patronage of Poseidon). Aeneas too is on the last stage of his sea voyage in a ship without helmsman or gubernaculum. The fleet proceeds interrita in spite of Palinurus’ loss. Aeneas, then, is here a ‘new version’ of Odysseus. He differs, however, from his predecessor in that Poseidon, patron and ancestor of the Phaeacians, was angry at Odysseus' safe arrival and punished the Phaeacians. Neptune, on the other hand, guarantees the safety of Aeneas' ship and promises his unharmed arrival in Italy.
27 For the political allusion behind the figure of Gyas see my article ‘Chasing Chimaeras’, CQ 35 (1985), 134–9Google Scholar.
28 The relevance of the Gyas/Menoetes incident in the ship race to the Palinurus episode is discussed by Putnam, , op. cit. (n. 10), pp. 75ffGoogle Scholar. See also Kraggerud, E., Aeneisstudien (Oslo, 1968), pp. 167ff.Google Scholar
29 Hor. Epod. 7.17–20. Remus is there immerens. See Ogilvie, R. M., A Commentary on Livy Bks. 1–5 (Oxford, 1965)Google Scholar ad 1. 6. 3–7.3.
30 Ogilvie, op. cit. (n. 29), ad 1.7.9.
31 Ogilvie, op. cit. (n. 29), ad 1. 6.3–7. 3.
32 Ogilvie, ibid.
33 Bandera, op. cit. (n. 3). The role of the Arae makes the point plain.
34 The obvious link with 5.813ff. makes the ultimate derivation from Ennius clear.
35 So also of Venus at 1.402.
36 Drew, D. L., The Allegory of the Aeneid (Oxford, 1927Google Scholar, repr. New York and London, 1978). Doubtless not all of the points made by Drew are of equal weight. One would not, for example, wish to press a link with Augustus solely because both Augustus and Aeneas (on emerging from the cloud) were handsome. The use of the term caesaries and the pointed reference to Venus as genetrix do, however, seem to hint at an Augustan connection. In any case it is hardly improbable that Virgil should wish to suggest a similarity between the ‘deified’ Aeneas and his god-like descendant.
37 Livy 1.16.1. On the cloud in such an ascension see Weinstock, S., Diuus Julius (Oxford, 1971), pp. 356ff.Google Scholar It is, of course, true that there is no ascension as such involved here – indeed, there hardly could be, since Aeneas does not actually become a god at this point. Nevertheless Aeneas disappears into the cloud as an ordinary mortal and emerges as one who is deo similis.
38 On this concept see Weinstock, , op. cit. (n. 37), pp. 112ff.Google Scholar
39 Weinstock, op. cit. (n. 37).
40 Plut. Caes. 38.5; App. B.C. 2.57 etc. See Weinstock, , op. cit. (n. 37), pp. 117, 121ff.Google Scholar
41 Weinstock, , op. cit. (n. 37), pp. 124ff. and pi. 13Google Scholar.
42 pro Marcell. 2.7, 6.19. So, of Pompey, pro Balb. 4.9. On the superiority of victories won by cura rather than with the help of Fortuna see also Ovid, Am. 11.12.15–16.
43 On the unsuccessful fishing-boat episode Weinstock comments ‘It may be assumed that the incident originally belonged to this [the earlier Brundisium-Greece] crossing and was transferred by a hostile writer to an unsuccessful attempt.’
44 Nisbet, R. G. M. and Hubbard, Margaret, A Commentary on Horace Odes Bk. I (Oxford, 1970), p. 387Google Scholar.
45 I am grateful to my colleague Dr D. C. Feeney for advice on this article.
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