Poetry Underpinning Power
Vergil's Aeneid - The Epic for Emperor Augustus
by Hans-Peter Stahl
Hardback (Published)
(March 2016)
ISBN: 9781910589045
6.1 x 9.17 inches
Price: $95.00
In stock
In recent decades, international research on Virgil has been marked, if not dominated, by the ideas of the ‘Harvard School’ and similar trends, according to which the poet was engaged in an elaborate work of subtle subversion, directed against the new ruler of the Roman world, Octavian-Augustus. Much of Virgil’s oeuvre consists prima facie of eulogy of the ruler, and of emphatic prediction of his enduring success: this is explained by numerous modern critics as generic convention, or as studied ambiguity, or as irony. This paradoxical position, which runs against ancient-as well as much modern-interpretation of the poet, continues to create widespread unease. Stahl’s new monograph is the most thorough study so far to question modern Virgilian criticism on philological grounds. He based himself on the internal logic and rhetoric of the Aeneid, and considers also political, historical, archaeological and philosophical subjects addressed by the poem. He finds that the poet has so presented the morality of his central figure, Augustus’ supposed ancestor Aeneas, and of those who (eventually) clash with him, Turnus and Dido, as to make it certain that Roman readers and hearers of the poem were meant to conclude in Aeneas’ favour. Virgil’s intention emerges from Stahl’s thorough, ingenious and original argumentation as decisively pro-Augustan. Stahl’s work, in short, will not only enliven debate on current critical hypotheses but for many will enduringly affect their credibility.
In recent decades, international research on Virgil has been marked, if not dominated, by the ideas of the ‘Harvard School’ and similar trends, according to which the poet was engaged in an elaborate work of subtle subversion, directed against the new ruler of the Roman world, Octavian-Augustus. Much of Virgil’s oeuvre consists prima facie of eulogy of the ruler, and of emphatic prediction of his enduring success: this is explained by numerous modern critics as generic convention, or as studied ambiguity, or as irony. This paradoxical position, which runs against ancient-as well as much modern-interpretation of the poet, continues to create widespread unease. Stahl’s new monograph is the most thorough study so far to question modern Virgilian criticism on philological grounds. He based himself on the internal logic and rhetoric of the Aeneid, and considers also political, historical, archaeological and philosophical subjects addressed by the poem. He finds that the poet has so presented the morality of his central figure, Augustus’ supposed ancestor Aeneas, and of those who (eventually) clash with him, Turnus and Dido, as to make it certain that Roman readers and hearers of the poem were meant to conclude in Aeneas’ favour. Virgil’s intention emerges from Stahl’s thorough, ingenious and original argumentation as decisively pro-Augustan. Stahl’s work, in short, will not only enliven debate on current critical hypotheses but for many will enduringly affect their credibility.
Part I: Pious King Aeneas and his Ethically Flawed Opponents Chapter 1: Augustan Virgil and the Political Rival Chapter 2: The Death of King Turnus Chapter 3: Aeneas the Warrior Chapter 4: Winning the Reader's Assent through Subliminal Guidance Chapter 5: Allocating Guilt and Innocence, I: Queen Dido, the Liberated Widow Part II: Checks and Balances of a Literary Interpretation: Political Detours of Poetic Travel Routes Chapter 6: Before Founding Lavinium, Aeneas Inspects the Site of Rome (Aeneid 8) Part III: Testing a Critical Method by Repeat Application: The Author Directs his Reader Chapter 7: Allocating Guilt and Innocence, II: King Turnus, the Impious Opponent Chapter 8: Epilogue
- By (author) Hans-Peter Stahl
"Stahl's proposed reading of the Aeneid as poetry underpinning Augustus' power offers an engagingly written, extremely well-annotated, and, most importantly, original contribution to current scholarship on Vergil's epic." --Barbara Weinlich, University of Montana, Phoenix, Vol. 71 No. 1-2
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