Sea Serpents can Apparently be Paid-Off
Eliza Colbert
Ancient stories do not often comment on what is happening. This is a common theme in the Bible. We are told that Jacob married two women, we are not told whether that was right or wrong. (Though it is inferred by the ensuing problems that it was a bad decision). However, in the Aeneid, we have a lot of commentary on what is happening and how it was bad. This is mostly because the story (in books two and three) is being told from Aeneas’ perspective and so he has the advantage of hindsight.
As Aeneas recounts the tale of the man they found on the beach, he repeatedly informs his hearers that this Greek was there to intentionally do them harm. He talks about how, at the time, they were completely fooled by the man’s acting. He says that “This fraud of Sinon, his accomplished lying / Won us over…” (book 2). He attributes the victory of the Greeks to the lies of this one man more than all their armies.
All that was really interesting to read, especially since commentary is somewhat rare in ancient books. But, what I was curious about was the story of what happened to Laocoon and his sons. If the Trojan Horse wasn’t actually sacred and to be dedicated to Athena, why did the snakes come and eat Laocoon? I was really confused about that. Aeneas tells us that it was all a lie, yet this omen happened anyway. Did the Greeks pay off the sea serpents?
P.S. I commented on Kayla’s and Zelda’s posts.
Hahahaha! This is just great, Eliza! Definitely picturing a business-casual meeting between Greeks and some sneaky sea serpents (maybe even over some lunch on a sunny afternoon) now! It is an odd circumstance but maybe Virgil just stuck that in there to keep readers guessing and wondering! Who knows?
ReplyDeleteI also didn't understand that part. Perhaps the Greeks offered the sea serpents great boons after they sacked the city. Or perhaps they bribed the god in charge of the serpents. That would make much more sense knowing the character of the gods.
ReplyDeleteI was also confused about the serpents. I also wanna say that I love Hannah's imagery in her comment. Now I can't get it out go my head! But, back to my comment, I did not even notice the point you made about this being a rare ancient book that contains commentary. I really like the fact that it contains this characteristic because it is interesting (I guess you could say) to see and hear how people react. I used this example in my blog post and in a different comment, but I liked the taunting made towards the Trojans for accepting the gift of the horse in Book two. This commentary really stood out to me because I thought it was hilarious. I also cannot get that out of my head haha.
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