Ecphrasis, Interpretation, and Audience in "Aeneid" 1 and "Odyssey" 8
Author(s): Deborah Beck
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 128, No. 4 (Winter, 2007), pp. 533-549
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27566675 .
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INTERPRETATION,
ECPHRASIS,
AND
AUDIENCE INAENEID 1AND ODYSSEY 8
Deborah
Abstract.
In the first ecphrasis
Beck
in Vergil's Aeneid
describing Dido's
(1.441-94)
comes
across
as an isolated
to Juno
the eyes of Aeneas,
Aeneas
temple
through
of
of
his
he
and confused
the images
understands
images
sufferings:
interpreter
in one way, while
the external
audience
he sees
them
and his in
understands
of them
terpretation
he hears Demodocus'
art
Aeneid?sees
Vergil
draws
on
differently.
songs
as a basically
this contrast
Odysseus
in Odyssey
is neither
8. Moreover,
straightforward
to depict Aeneas
alone
nor
confused
and
the Odyssey?unlike
force
in human
positive
and
interpretation
in Aeneid
when
the
life.
1.
in Vergil's
ecphrasis
Aeneid
describes
the
(1.441-94)
to
built
Dido
and
the
the
of
Juno
eyes
temple
Carthaginians
by
through
comes across as an emotional,
In this episode, Aeneas
Aeneas.
isolated,
confused
and (possibly) desperately
interpreter of images that show his
own past sufferings: he interprets the images he sees in one way, while
both the images and his interpreta
the external audience understands
tion of them quite differently. No other characters, with the exception of
in the scene or witness Aeneas'
the silent Achates,
emotional
participate
this scene on its own creates a strong and vivid picture of
response. While
the effect increases if we set the scene
loneliness, sorrow, and confusion,
a
scene in the Odyssey.
of
similar
the
backdrop
against
Demodocus'
songs in Odyssey 8, widely recognized as a parallel for
this ecphrasis,1 strike a very different note from the images on Dido's
of his past
too, feels sorrow at an artistic representation
temple. Odysseus,
The
first
is neither confused nor isolated in
suffering, but unlike Aeneas, Odysseus
his grief. He and the external audience share an informed understanding
of what his tears mean, while the Phaeacians
either do not see his sadness
or do not understand
is not alone in his grief;2
the reason for it.Odysseus
mean to the
he is not misinformed
about what the songs of Demodocus
or to himself; he and the external audience are on the same
Phaeacians
Putnam
2Johnson
1998; Knauer
1964,376.
1976,101.
American Journal of Philology 128 (2007) 533-549 ? 2007 by The JohnsHopkins University Press
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534
DEBORAH BECK
to him, with
side of a gap of understanding
about what the songs mean
on the other side.
the well-intentioned
but not fully informed Phaeacians
art as a comparatively
the Aeneid?sees
the Odyssey?unlike
Moreover,
and positive force in human life and experience.3
straightforward
This article examines the gap between how Aeneas
understands
the
to the external audience.
images and how Vergil presents them, and Aeneas,
It approaches
this topic from the perspectives
of both Aeneid
1 and of this
ecphrasis in comparison to Odyssey 8.Many scholars have noticed the irony
of the images he sees.4 A few have pointed
of Aeneas'
(mis)interpretation
out that in the context of the poem's first ecphrasis, this irony makes a
broader comment about the pitfalls of interpreting works of art, including
these two features of the
Vergil's own.5 No one has previously connected
allusions. Vergil depicts art and interpretation
passage with its Homeric
in this scene by means of three different components: Aeneas'
difficulties
as an interpreter; the inherent gaps and problems of verbally describing a
visual work of art (in other words, of ecphrasis itself); and the very different
perspective on all these matters that emerges from the songs of Demodocus
art is a problematic
in Odyssey 8. In the world of the Aeneid, understanding
endeavor
heightens
in worlds
that may in fact be impossible, but the contrast with the Odyssey
a sense of sorrow and loss about this inability by suggesting that
this may not be the case.
other than the Aeneid's,
ECPHRASIS
Of the myriad facets of ecphrasis, Iwould like to touch briefly on just three
that are particularly relevant for my argument.6 First, a verbal representa
tion of a visual artifact entails gaps and difficulties
that open up between
sees song as an effective
3Mackie
1997 persuasively
that the Odyssey
argues
way
to come to terms with past suffering.
for people
4
Otis 1963,238;
Horsfall
1965,273-74;
1990,135; Lowen
Stanley
Lyne 1987,209-10;
as irony.
stam 1993,49;
all note this feature of the scene specifically
and Boyd
1995,78-79,
Leach 1988, esp. 312,318,323;
and Putnam
of Aeneas'
1998,244-45,
point out the divergences
from that of the external
audience without
using the term "irony" for it.
interpretation
5
Johnson
of Aeneas
1976,105,
says that this scene "reveals not only the confusions
but also the confusions
fraudulence
of art and of the realities
that
and, indeed, the essential
art mirrors....
In part Vergil reminds us that art is illusion, that his poem is illusion." O'Hara
1990 concludes
in part: "Vergil knows
the ability of art, of poetry, of the Aeneid
itself not
between Vergil's
and
poem and these murals,
only to console, but also to deceive. Analogies
are suggestively
between
the poem
itself and its prophecies,
implied"
(183-84).
6
on ecphrasis,
I have benefited most from Fowler
Of the vast bibliography
1991, Laird
in broader or more
1997. Readers
interested
of
discussions
1993, and Barchiesi
far-ranging
ecphrasis
can consult
these
sources
and
their extensive
bibliographies.
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ECPHRASIS INAENEID 1AND ODYSSEY 8
535
and the object represented.7 This gap, in turn,
the representing medium
invites the interpreter to step in and try to make sense of aspects of the
visual artifact that are unclear or unstated in the words of the ecphrasis.8
Some gaps cannot be solved, so to speak; in our ecphrasis, scholars disagree
sees in
about the physical arrangement of the individual images that Aeneas
manner
are
one
relation to
another and in what
affixed to the temple
they
that resist any definitive
focus
building.9 These passages
interpretation
In contrast,
attention more broadly on the difficulty of interpretation.10
this kind of built-in difficulty or incompleteness
does not really obtain in
the Odyssey's descriptions of narrative art, because the Odyssey focuses on
poetry rather than visual art when it describes art that tells a story. This is
one of several contrasts between Vergil and analogous
issues or passages
a
sense
inHomeric
of complexity
in the Aeneid.
epic that heighten
Second, ecphrasis entails describing visual art from the perspective
of an observer?description
has "a point of view" more explicitly
than
or
a
either
narrative.11 This highlights
piece of visual art
non-descriptive
the sense of an interpreter in relation to the art described. Our ecphrasis,
indeed, makes this inherent feature of ecphrasis one of the most striking
characteristics of the passage. Finally, ecphrasis?a
description of one kind
an
a
of art within
different kind of work of art?is
inherently reflexive and
self-referential
process. This
ideas about interpretation
broadly from this particular
a whole, particularly
since
quality makes ecphrasis a spot where larger
are to be found.12 It urges us to apply ideas
to the work as
passage about interpretation
it is the first ecphrasis
in the Aeneid.13
7
Putnam
1998 and Boyd
1995 both talk about the visual properties
de
of Vergil's
statement
offers a clear and concise
of this
1997,278,
temple. Barchiesi
scription of Dido's
issue: "two semiotic
and in the process
both images and words
systems partially
overlap,
as well as their limits."
reveal their communicative
potential
"has been intentionally
8Boyd 1995,72, puts this as follows: the beholder
incapacitated
a similar point from a dif
1991, 27, makes
(and so drawn into the text) by Virgil." Fowler
a pause at the level of narration
ferent perspective:
represents
"precisely because
ekphrasis
the reader is possessed
and cannot be read functionally,
by a strong need to interpret."
different
about how the individual
9Lowenstam
1993, 38, n. 4, surveys
opinions
scenes
notes various
views about how the images are
1988, 312-13,
go together; Leach
a
to
applied
building.
...
of ecphrasis
in the Aeneid
10Boyd 1995, 84: "the ambiguity
clarity
destabilize[s]
of perception
and interpretation."
11
sense in which description
in language inscribes
Fowler 1991,29: "there is an obvious
a point of view more
and more
than plastic art."
forcefully
unambiguously
12
Barchiesi
1997,272.
13
as
"the scene is often?and
Fowler
1991,33:
surely rightly in some degree?taken
paradigmatic
for the interpretation
of art, both
literary
and visual."
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536
DEBORAH BECK
In other words, Aeneas
is not simply himself
at this particular
in the poem. In the vivid and sustained image of Aeneas
trying
sense of what he sees, the audience
sees a broader picture of
themselves as they embark
any interpreter of any work of art?including
on the Aeneid?grappling
with the inherent and perhaps insurmountable
difficulties of understanding
what art shows and how itmakes
sense in
as we will see, provides a fundamentally
its context(s). Odysseus,
differ
ent model
for understanding
art, as the Odyssey does for art in general.
moment
to make
This Odyssean model
sharpens the Aeneid's
position by offering
contrast against which to view what the Aeneid has to say.
a vivid
AENEAS' REACTION TO WHAT HE SEES
As many
or more
scholars have noted, the description of Dido's
temple is as much
to
as
about Aeneas
the
it
is
about
the images
reacting
images
themselves.14 This merging
of image and reaction
is so smoothly
and
done
to
that
is
it
think
that
easy
effectively
ecphrasis naturally implies or
an
to
to
observer
the
work
of art it describes, but in fact,
requires
respond
this is not so.15 In the Iliad, for instance, the shield of Achilles
is described
as Hephaestus
ismaking
it (//. 18.478-608). Achilles
is pleased with his
new armor when Thetis brings it to him
but he apparently
(19.15-18),
no
to
or
attention
the
details
of
the
pays
images
craftsmanship. When
he thanks Thetis, he simply announces
that he will put on the armor
on to his real concern, which is his fear that the corpse
before moving
of Patroclus will decompose
if left unburied
(21-27). Similarly, the bril
liance of the cloak of Jason in the first book of the Argonautica
would
amaze a hypothetical
to
observer
with
(referred
generalizing
potential
observer appears to exist
optatives at 726, 765, and 767). This would-be
mainly as a convenient means of hyperbolically
glorifying the cloak as a
some
not
to
describe
individual
real
emotional
reactions
whole,
person's
or
scenes
it
the
individual
it
upon viewing
depicts.
Our ecphrasis, on the other hand, not only contains an individual
character who responds to the images it describes,
it also narrates the
14
Friedl?nder
contrast
between
Weise
this feature of the ecphrasis
as part of a broader
1912, 18-19, notes
his view of Homeric
poetry as impartial ("der jungendlich
unbefangenen
of a more emotional
See more
14) and the later development
perspective.
Homers,"
1988,311; Williams
recently Segal 1981; Leach
that Aeneas'
emotion
is expressed
here more
15
Putnam
1998,243,
following Barchiesi
literature
"where
who, moreover,
the narrator
takes part
has us
in one
1990; Fowler
powerfully
1994, notes
1991. Clausen
1987,17,
suggests
than anywhere
else in the poem.
that this is the first time in ancient
'see' an artifact
of the scenes
the eyes
through
put before us."
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of his protagonist,
537
ECPHRASIS INAENEID 1AND ODYSSEY 8
reaction to them. Indeed, the passage as a
images in terms of Aeneas'
as
whole devotes nearly
many verses to describing the emotions, behavior,
as he looks at the pictures (446-65) as it does
and language of Aeneas
we begin with Aeneas's
to the images themselves
(466-93). Moreover,
caused
to
that
the images
them, a sequence
feelings and then proceed
in
the
role
the leading
that clearly gives his feelings
ecphrasis. Vergil
some introductory
remarks that set the scene in such a way that
makes
we have
we question Aeneas'
judgment as an interpreter even before
are
for
been shown what he is interpreting. We
multiple ways of
looking
these
viewing
images before
we know what
they depict.
hie templum Iunoni ingens Sidonia Dido
leniit,
ausus
opulentum
in luco noua
primum
hic primum
et adflictis
namque
regina
et numine
donis
condebat,
hoc
Aeneas
melius
res oblata
...
diuae
timorem
salutem
sperare
confidere
rebus.
dum
lustrat
templa
singula
ingenti
sit urbi
fortuna
dum
quae
opperiens,
sub
artificumque
uidet
se operumque
ex ordine
pugnas
manus
laborem
inter
Iliacas
miratur,
Here
...
(Aeneid
1.446-47;
450-56)
Sidonian Dido
a stupendous
for Juno,
shrine
building
statue
the
and
with
with
enriched
goddess'
gifts
to
him?
the sights?so
Within
this grove,
strange
for the first time, stilled Aeneas'
fear;
have,
was
...
here he first dared to hope he had found shelter,
to trust more
in his
surely
in that
everything
marveling
for such
of
He
at a city
a
fortunes.
shattered
for the queen, he studied
For while he waited
huge
rich
sanctuary,
enough
at the handiwork
temple,
and their
artists,
sees the wars
of Troy
rival
skillful
set out
tasks.
.. ,16
in order
The very first thing we learn about this temple is the identity of the goddess
in the poem's
to whom it is dedicated
(1.446), Juno,17 who has told Aeolus
16The Aeneid
translations
are by Lattimore.
17The same verse
are by Mandelbaum;
also mentions
Dido
that provides
features of the ecphrasis
many
an aspect of the scene that I will pass over
this briefly
the Iliad
and Odyssey
translations
of the temple. This is the first of
of Dido
for the introduction
herself,
as the builder
a context
in my
discussion.
Rieks
but comprehensively.
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1981,1038,
discusses
538
DEBORAH BECK
first scene that she views the Trojans as gens inimica (67). This hardly creates
in the external audience:18 presumably,
feelings of happiness or confidence
the temple and its images give pleasure to Juno and are so intended by the
admires at 455-56), and yet the very
Carthaginians
(whose artistry Aeneas
same temple heartens Aeneas. Vergil juxtaposes these mutually
contradic
tory reactions (or implied reactions) without comment, without explicitly
drawing the reader's attention to the contradiction between what the images
are likely to mean to Juno and what Aeneas
thinks they mean for him,
Even the
and without making any attempt to resolve this contradiction.
act of viewing is identified in two different ways (miratur, uidet, 456), one
of which is emotional and affective and one of which is not. Thus, context,
audience, and interpretation emerge right away as central, challenging, and
to some degree implicit elements of the ecphrasis.
a brief overview
of the images as a group in 456, Aeneas
After
about them. Vergil has told us at 451-52 that Aeneas
speaks to Achates
tells us the
began to hope that his situation would improve; now Aeneas
same thing:
et
lacrimans
iam locus,"
"Achate,
inquit,
"quis
non
nostri
laboris?
plena
sua praemia
sunt hie etiam
laudi,
rerum
et mentem
lacrimae
mortalia
tangunt.
constitit
in terris
quae
regio
en Priamus.
sunt
feret haec
salutem."
tibi fama
metus;
aliquam
sic ait atque
animum
inani
pictura
pascit
umectat
multa
ilumine
uultum.
gemens,
largoque
solue
He
halted.
he wept,
he cried:
"Achates,
on this earth
a land, a place
is there
where
our sorrows?
not know
that does
Look!
There
Here,
and
there
things
this fame
his
1.459-65)
is Priam!
too, the honorable finds its due
are
mortal
He
{Aeneid
As
tears
touch
for passing
the mind.
things;
here,
your
Forget
deliverance."
some
will bring
you
tears and sighs he
many
speaks. With
soul on what
but a picture.
is nothing
too,
fears;
feeds
assumes that the people who made the images understand
Aeneas
their
contents
in basically
the same way that he understands
his own past.19
1998,77.
18E.g., Hardie
19This is clearly the implication
of sunt hic etiam, 461. Austin
this way, but Horsfall
"here
1995, 107, n. 39, reads hic as meaning
than a more
general notion of "here."
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reads it
1971,156-57,
in the temple"
rather
ECPHRASIS INAENEID
539
1AND ODYSSEY 8
In Aeneas,
past suffering (459-60)
they arouse sadness at remembering
and reassurance20 that others value the Trojans' exploits and feel sorrow
for the word aliquam
about them (461-62). Except
(463),21 he never
own
mean
or wonders
of
what
his
the
understanding
images
questions
different
for the unknown
whether pictures stand for something
artists
in
than they do for him.22 This speech, in other words, depicts Aeneas
Yet it also shows him quite unaware that he
the act of misinterpretation.
what he sees.
might be misinterpreting
Vergil, however, makes this clear in the following verses, thus bracket
what
Aeneas
says with language that either implicitly (templum Iunoni
ing
Dido
Sidonia
I condebat, AA6-A1) or explicitly
ingens
(animum pictura
on how well he understands what he is seeing.
casts
doubt
pascit inani, 464)
While Aeneas wholeheartedly
gives himself over to the images he sees and
arouse
the emotions
in
him, the narrative voice evidently has grave
they
The
after
Aeneas
speaks, and our understanding
misgivings.
description
of it, hinge on the word inanis. In the Aeneid
it means both "empty" or
"insubstantial"23 and "in vain" or "useless,"24 a sense in which it appears
several times in the last quarter of the poem as a modifier
for spes.25
Both of these meanings make sense in our verse. The images are literally
without physical substance,26 but the spectrum of uses for inanis in the
Aeneid
implies that they are also somehow not living up to the hopes or
that Aeneas has expressed about them.2710.627,
in particular
expectations
on
an
feed
empty hopes"), provides
interesting
(spes pascis inanis, "you
parallel for our passage: Jupiter explicitly tells Juno that she is cherishing
false hopes if she thinks she can change the ultimate fate of Turnus or the
course of the war in Italy, and the parallel phrasing between that passage
n. 7, takes a similar position. He says that "Aeneas
1988,311. Clay 1988,197,
he has discovered
the traces of humanity?Vergilian
the
because
humanity?on
shore."
Carthaginian
21
the negative
of this word, but he calls the
Johnson
1976, 105, notes
implication
on Aeneas'
"no doubt largely unconscious"
part. Conversely,
implications
they are not at all
20Leach
is cheered
to whom
unconscious
for Vergil,
the doubt the word
22
See Leach
1988, 318, for a clear and helpful
implies
should
description
be mainly
attributed.
of Aeneas'
"interpretive
bias."
23
As with
the underworld
the wind
in Book
(7.593,10.82)
6 (e.g., 269,740).
tears (4.449).
or several
times
for things Aeneas
encounters
24E.g., for Dido's
25
See 10.627,10.648,11.49.
26
substantive
nourishment
In spite of which
they provide
(pascif) to Aeneas.
to Richard Tarrant
indebted
for this observation.
27
detailed
consideration
of how inanis
Barchiesi
1994,120,
although without
in the Aeneid.
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in
I am
is used
540
DEBORAH BECK
in "dar[ing] to hope"
and ours suggests that Aeneas,
too, may be misguided
... ausus,
at
of
the
the
temple.
(sperare
450-51)
sight
the part of the ecphrasis that describes Aeneas
Throughout
viewing
the images, then, Vergil pairs vivid descriptions
of Aeneas, wholeheart
to the pictures, with strong signals
edly seeing and feeling in response
from the surrounding narrative
that he is failing to understand what he
is looking at. This sets the hopeful Aeneas
adrift on a sea of contextual
clues casting doubt on him as an interpreter; it suggests more generally
works of art is a deeply engaging and emotional
that, while understanding
or to fall short while
for
it
is
also
easy to make mistakes
activity
people,
it.28
doing
HOMERIC ALLUSIONS
images on Dido's
temple depict events from the Trojan War, inci
dents that in many cases would be known to Vergil's
readers from the
Iliad. It is only in the Iliad (not the Odyssey)
that we find descriptions
of visual narrative art that depict human activities. The shield of Achilles
in Iliad 18 is an obvious example. In addition, when we first meet Helen
a piece of fabric on which she represents
the
in Iliad 3, she is weaving
The
Trojan War.
8v
xrjv ?' ?i)p'
ji?yav iox?v ?cpouve,
8' ?v?rcaaaev
noX?ac,
??BXoxx;
Kai
i7C7io8?uiov
9'
'A^aicov %oc?uco%itc?v(ov,
Tpcocov
8rcao%ov bit' "Apr|o? naXa\ia(?v
oiS? ?9ev 8iv?k'
8?7t?,aKa
She
a red
came
on Helen
robe,
folding
of Trojans,
struggles
jieyotpcp- f| ??
7iop(pup?r|v,
breakers
that
they
in the
endured
she was
chamber;
and working
of horses,
weaving
it the numerous
into
and
for her
bronze-armoured
sake
at the hands
(Iliad
a great
3.125-28)
web,
struggles
Achaians,
of
the war
god.
In contrast
to this brief picture, the Homeric
parallel for describing artistic
we
at
the
kind
of
that
find in our ecphrasis in the
length
representations
comes from the songs of Demodocus
in Odyssey 8.
Aeneid
281 fundamentally
view
and positive
disagree here with Parry's essentially
optimistic
of art's redemptive
His view ismuch closer to that of the Odyssey
than
power (1989,95-96).
the Aeneid's
view takes shape partly by contrast
the Aeneid,
and as I will suggest below,
the emptiness
with
the Odyssey's.
Horsfall
of animum pictura
1995, 107, n. 40, contrasts
pascit
inani with Demodocus'
life, of substance,
words:
of real comfort;
the pictures
contrast
a sharp
sees, he argues,
to Demodocus'
words."
Aeneas
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"are devoid
of
ECPHRASIS INAENEID 1AND ODYSSEY 8
541
between
the two Homeric
is a difference
epics that is widely
not
often concerned with poetry or self-referential
known: the Iliad is
statements about poetry or itself as a poem, whereas
the Odyssey
is quite
and reflective about poetry.29 However,
self-conscious
scholars have not
discussed
the flip side of this interest in poetry, namely, the Odyssey's
lack of interest in artistic media
other than poetry or storytelling
for
treatment of art in the two
narrating human experience.30 This different
or categories that Vergil
Homeric
distinctions
epics is one of the Homeric
or
acknowledges
by collapsing, blurring,
inverting (or some combination
or
distinction
category. The Iliad describes visual
thereof) that Homeric
art that tells a human story, but the Odyssey
tells a story specifically
This
about the Trojan War with the kind of length and detail that we find in
our ecphrasis. There
is no single, simple Homeric
parallel for Vergil's
even
though it evokes aspects of both the Iliad and the Odyssey.
ecphrasis,
that
Here, as often, Vergil draws on several different Homeric
parallels
are in some sense at odds with one another so as to focus attention on
something without giving any easy answers about it.Here, the Homeric
and nature of narrative art.
illustrate the parameters
parallels
our
to
The Odyssey
the general
goes beyond
ecphrasis
parallel
notion of a detailed artistic narrative about Trojan War. Extensive
situ
8 in
ational similarities call to mind what Demodocus
sings in Odyssey
with the images on Dido's
connection
temple. The scholars who have
this parallel at any length have talked only about Demodocus'
discussed
first song.31 In fact, I will argue, both of Demodocus'
Trojan War songs
underlie our ecphrasis.32 Once again, Vergil draws on several Homeric
1997 discusses
the unique perspec
1984,158. Mackie
29E.g., Segal 1994,9;Thalmann
on song and storytelling,
tive of the Odyssey
itwith the Iliad's. None
of
partly by contrasting
or context
art form as a comparison
these scholars discusses
for poetry.
any non-verbal
30
an illustration
Helen
in the Odyssey
of this contrast: whereas
the Helen
provides
a picture of the Trojan War,
of Iliad 3 weaves
the Helen
in Odyssey
4 tells a story of her
at Troy.
adventures
31
Putnam
and 376. Both of these
1998, 268-69; also Knauer
1964,166-67,
Recently
scholars
for Demodocus'
third song, about the Trojan Horse,
say that the Aeneid
parallel
own narrative
2 and 3 (Knauer
is Aeneas'
in Books
1964, 170). In this scheme,
Iopas'
to the second
and Aphrodite.
I am not arguing
song about Ares
song is parallel
against
can and often do exist
strands of Homeric
allusions
this interpretation.
Several different
I wish to add another
in one passage
of the Aeneid.
Rather,
layer of Ho
simultaneously
to this picture.
meric
allusion
32
A few scholars have mentioned
to
without
discussion
that the third song contributes
n. 40; Knauer
our ecphrasis
which cites
1995,107,
1964,376,
(Horsfall
index as a parallel
in 459-65; Williams
for Aeneas'
emotional
remarks
have
explored
in any detail
how
this allusion
affects
our understanding
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the third song in the
but none
1963,272),
of the passage.
542
DEBORAH BECK
passages, none of which is an exact parallel for his own verses. This pre
vents the reader from making an easy identification between our ecphrasis
and any one Homeric
passage, which might be seen as the "key" to the
at a different
level, to
Vergil passage that alludes to it. It is analogous,
on
the complementary
narrative art from the Iliad and the
perspectives
that underlie
the basic notion of artistically
past
Odyssey
representing
in the Trojan War.
experience
In Demodocus'
first song, which most interpreters agree lies behind
our ecphrasis,33 he sings about an otherwise
unknown quarrel between
the parallels between
and Achilles.
From the plot standpoint,
Odysseus
this song and our ecphrasis are easy to see: each is the artistic represen
at Troy that the hero first hears when
tation of his own past experiences
sea and makes his way to the buildings
he gets out of the storm-tossed
of civilization. Upon being confronted with this retelling, the hero weeps
(Od. 8.73-86):
Moug'
ap' ?oiSov
xfj? tot' apa
oiuri?
75
avf|K?v
K?ia
?ei??jievai
oupavov
K?io?
eup?v
?v?pcov,
iKave,
ve?Ko? 'O?Doofio? Kai nr|?,???e?) 'A%i?,f|o?,
co? 710X8
?ripiaavxo Gecov ?v ?aixi Qakeir\
?' ?v?pcov
EK7cayta)i? 87C88GOIV, ava?
'Ayauiuvcov
'A%aicov ?rjpiocovxo.
%a?pe v?cp, o x' apioxoi
'knokXm;
co? y?p oi %peicov (XD0r|oaxo Ooi?oc
80 HuOo? ?v fiya??n, 69' U7i8p?r|tax?vov ou?ov
x?xe y?p
Xpr)ao|Li8vo?
xe Kai Aavao?Gi
pa KuTliv?exo
A?o?
TpcoG?
xaux'
ap'
aei?e
?oi?o?
tetiuccxo?
8i?
iieya?ou
7C?piK?A)xo?
?pxh
?ouTiac.
a?x?p
'O?^GGe??
Ttopcp?peovuiya cp?cpo??^cov%?poi Gxi?apfioi
KOCKKEcpa?fj? eipuGGe,
?? KaX?
KaXuye
ai'?exo
y?p cDairjKa? im' ?cppuoi
?aKpua
85
The
Muse
of men
stirred
on
that
the quarrel
these
how
with
the
once
to sing the famous
actions
singer
whose
fame goes up into the wide
and Peleus'
son, Achilleus,
Odysseus
venture,
between
words
Tip?Gcorca
tai?cov.
at
contended,
of violence,
so
that
the
the
gods'
lord
heaven,
festival,
generous
of men, Agamemnon,
was happy in his heart that the best of the Achaians were quarreling;
for so in prophesy Phoibos Apollo had spoken to him
in sacred
Pytho,
when
he
had
stepped
across
the
stone
doorstep
to consult; for now the beginning of evil rolled on, descending
33
In addition
to those
already
cited, Clay
1988
is also useful.
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ECPHRASIS INAENEID
on Trojans,
These
on Danaans,
and
the
things
the
through
famous
designs
for
sang
singer
them,
taking in his ponderous hands the great mantle
drew
sea-purple,
shamed
for tears
it over
running
his
head
down
and
his
543
1AND ODYSSEY 8
veiled
face
his
before
of great
Zeus.
but Odysseus
dyed in
fine
features,
the Phaiakians.
the broad similarities
song differs
Despite
already noted, Demodocus'
sees
on
as it depicts
from
the
Aeneas
the
insofar
temple
noticeably
images
an event from the Trojan War that not only is not well known but that
or not we believe that
may have been created for the context.34 Whether
seems
the story is an invention?it
is unknown
from other sources?it
doubtful that an audience would have been able to identify it as a Trojan
War incident at all without
the aside in 81-82.35 In contrast, the images
on Dido's
all
parts of the Trojan War story
temple
depict well-known
that an audience would easily recognize.36
in which he sings about the Trojan
third song of Demodocus,
a
set of plot similarities
to our
has
different
{Od. 8.499-535),
on
both
the
Dido's
and
Demodocus'
third
song
images
ecphrasis:
temple
at Troy that
offer a third-person narrative of the hero's own experiences
to his host(ess).
In
the hero's own retelling of his adventures
precedes
more
the
third
resembles
the
than
the
first
fact,
song
closely
ecphrasis
The
Horse
and its construction.
To
song does in terms of both its subject matter
a
narrates
the
third
famous
incident
from
the
song
begin with,
Trojan
the first song retells an
War, as do the images on Dido's
temple, whereas
otherwise unknown event. Moreover,
the narrators in both the third song
and the ecphrasis refer to a character while describing
the work of art
in question. As we have seen, Vergil repeatedly mentions
that Aeneas
is
as
sees
are
at
the
and
the
he
described,
looking
images
weeping
images
while the Homeric narrator refers to the bard singing several times during
the third song of Demodocus
(?oi?nv, 499; n.eio?v, 514; ocei?e, 516). The
narrator emphasizes
the creator of the work of art and Vergil
Homeric
the observer of it, but in both scenes the art is narrated partly in terms
of the actions of a character who is integrally concerned with it.
34
Finkeiberg
35This aside
1987, with bibliography.
to Demodo
raises a fascinating
does it belong
narratological
question:
cus' song or to the main narrator?
de Jong 2001, ad 81, does not take an explicit position,
she points out that the word
of evil "rolling
towards"
7ifj|ia and the metaphor
although
are both found primarily
or exclusively
in character
people
speech.
36
at the mythological
time that the Aeneid
takes place, these events were
Although
to become
to Achates
reminds us (459-60).
known, as Aeneas's
just beginning
speech
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544
DEBORAH BECK
Demodocus'
song leaves off at 520, and the narrative turns to the
tears are compared,
in a deservedly well
grief-stricken Odysseus, whose
known simile, to those of a recently widowed
resident of a captured city
who is being driven away from her husband's body by his killers {Od.
8.521-33):
Torirc' ap'
?xi?e
?ot?o?
TT1K8TO, ?aKpt)
?' ???U?V
TCEpiK?mo?- am?p
am? ?tacpapoun
'Oodggeuc
7tap?ia?.
? ?? y-?vr) K^arpGi
(pi?,ov tiogw ?uxpuiXGo?Ga,
O? T? ?fj? 7lpOG9?V 7CO?UO?^aCOV T? 7C?GnGlV,
0tGT?? Kai T?K??GGIV OCUUVC?VVr|^??? f||iap
525
f| ji?v xov GvfiGKOVxa
Kai aG7ca?povia
i?o?Ga
oi ?? t' O7cig0?
?uya kc?kuei-
?jicp' a?TCp %-uuivri
KOTCTOVXE??Ot)p?GGl
?lp?pOV
530
So
|I?Ta(pp?VOV T]?? Kai ?SjIO-?C
'
7COVOVT ?%?|Ll?V Kai
???w
xfi? ?' ??i??ivoT?T(p
a%?? (p6ivu6ouGt
7cap?ia?
CO? 'O?DGE?? ??,??lVOV \)7l' ?(ppt)Gl ?aKpDOV ??p?V.
?v9' aXkovq
ji?v Tcavxa? ??,av0av?
?aKpDa
?i?i?(uv,
'A?lK?V00? ?? U1V O?O? ?7C?(ppaGaT' T]?' ?V?T|G?V
the
famous
and
melted,
his
??Gav?yO\)Gt,
cheeks.
sang his tale, but Odysseus
singer
from under
his eyes
the tears ran down,
a woman
over
As
the body
weeps,
lying
drenching
of her dear husband, who fell fighting for her city and people
as he tried to beat off the pitiless day from city and children;
she sees him dying and gasping for breath, and winding her body
about him she cries high and shrill, while the men behind her,
hitting her with their spear butts on the back and shoulders,
force
her
hard
work
up and lead
and sorrow,
her
and
away
her
into
cheeks
Such were the pitiful tears Odysseus
his
brows,
but Alkino?s
but
to have
slavery,
are wracked
with
pitiful
weeping.
shed from under
unnoticed
they went
by all the others,
alone
understood
what
he did and noticed
...
ismuch longer and more moving
than the straightforward
of
the
after
Demodocus'
first song (83-85),
description
weeping Odysseus
same
both
conclude
with
the
toc?t'
verse,
songs
ap' ?oi?o? aei?e
although
=
What
does
in response
7cepiK?A)xo? aux?p 'O?uoae?? (83 521).
Odysseus
varies: after the first song, he hides his weeping, while after the third, he
the narrator gives even more prominence
concealment;
weeps without
to his tears with the simile that describes
them. Moreover,
this simile has
of
the
artistic
self-consciousness
of
something
Vergil's ecphrasis, although
in a quite different way. The
the third song achieves its self-consciousness
This passage
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ECPHRASIS INAENEID
545
1AND ODYSSEY 8
in addition to providing a very effective
simile of the widowed woman,
and vivid picture of Odysseus'
grief, also picks up the song of Demodocus
is what "winning the war" (7t?A,?|iov ... viKfjocci,
where it leaves off?this
to say
519-20) would actually involve.37 It would be an overstatement
that there is a similarity of technique between
the third song and the
in their evocations
of the hero's tears, but there is certainly a
ecphrasis
similarity of effect.
the third song and the ecphrasis resemble each other in the
While
as well as
I
creates differences
have described, Vergil generally
ways
his
and
similarities between
his Homeric
and our pas
models,
poetry
no
out
As
the differences
between
often, Vergil brings
sage is
exception.
his poetry and its Homeric
rather than glossing over or
predecessor(s)
to
ignoring them, and the differences make an important contribution
source
reason
the meaning
of the ecphrasis.38 Although
the
of and
for
tears when he hears the third song are unclear,39 they have a
Odysseus'
role to play in the narrative: Alcinous
notices them and asks Odysseus
answers with his tale
about himself that Odysseus
ultimately
questions
tears connect him both to
in Books 9 to 12. In other words, Odysseus'
Alcinous
and, partly via the simile, to the external audience. Aeneas'
in the poem,
in contrast, have no impact on other characters
emotions,
as none are present at the time (with the exception of Achates, who does
not actively participate
in the scene).40 This contrast between the ecphrasis
scenes
tears
in the Odyssey underlines
the point that Aeneas'
and similar
are
are not integral to the plot. They are there because they themselves
the story is about at this particular moment.41
In fact, how Odysseus
understands
the stories of his own past never
comes up in either of these passages. Odysseus
is not thinking about
or
to
to
himself
the Phaeacians. He simply
what the songs mean, either
weeps with sorrow. The narrator does not say why he weeps, apparently
to explain why
It is necessary
assuming that his reasons are self-evident.
what
37Nagy 1979,100-101.
38
Otis 1963, 311-12.
39
reasons
Odysseus'
terious. Goldhill
1991,51-52,
own among
to welcome
for asking
rehearses
for the Trojan Horse
different
suggestions
from Demodocus
but offers
are also mys
of his
no conclusion
seems almost
1984,3, points out that "[Odysseus]
possibilities. Walsh
feel this way.
the sensation
of grief" but does not say why Odysseus
might
su cui il riconosci
? Tunica persona
"Nel nostro
40Barchiesi
caso, Enea
1994,116:
mento
the various
pu? avere
41
Johnson
this scene,
influenza."
... the artistic
tears "emphasize
1976,101,
argues that Aeneas'
from my reading.
lacrimae rerum''; this is slightly different
namely,
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content
of
546
DEBORAH BECK
in the first place.
he conceals his weeping
(86) but not why he weeps
someone
in the
These emotions
give rise to a sense of irony because
scene does not understand what is happening
and the external audience
does, but the confused interpreters here are the Phaeacians, not Odysseus,
is his reaction to the song, not the song
and what they fail to understand
of song presents
itself. There is no sense in this scene that interpretation
a gulf of meaning
that a character/listener
has to step across and where
he might miss his footing.
1 differs
More broadly, the notion of art in the ecphrasis in Aeneid
from that of Odyssey 8, or indeed, the Odyssey as a whole.
fundamentally
a song within a song. There is a
is an oral singer performing
Demodocus
kind of singleness of artistic vision, not only here but throughout the Odys
sey, that comes from the fact that oral singing is the only narrative art form
that the Odyssey
shows us. Although
ecphrasis per se entails a multitude
sense
at
the
of artistic perspectives,
of artistic and interpretive multiplicity
Dido's temple becomes much stronger when we compare itwith the unity
and consistency
of both art and hearers
of art found
in the Odyssey.
CONCLUSION
The ecphrasis at Dido's
temple is at least as much about interpreters and
a
as
it
is
interpretation
depiction of a particular set of images in the newly
as the observer of the
founded Carthage. The scene highlights Aeneas
an
the
themselves.
As
rather
than
interpreter, he is alone,
images
images
and figuratively,
insofar as
both literally (except for the mute Achates)
casts doubt on his understanding
the narrative voice consistently
of what
he sees. The external audience, which is privy to the narrator's misgivings
him going about the business of interpretation,
about Aeneas, watches
different impression of the situation than does
but it has a fundamentally
set of
Aeneas. The literary device of ecphrasis brings in a complementary
a
of
visual
ideas about interpretation:
artifact
contains
built-in
ecphrasis
between words and images, into which
gaps because of the differences
an interpreter almost by definition will feel himself invited to step. At
the same time, it is fruitless to imagine that there is one definitive way to
in a verbal medium.
describe, or to interpret, a visual artifact described
more
to
these
features
of
rise
Moreover,
general and basic
ecphrasis give
sense of works
about how an observer goes about making
meditations
is both drawn into interpreta
of art. Someone who reads an ecphrasis
tion and bound to fail at finding one single way to explain everything
in the ecphrasis. Because Aeneas
encountered
stands out so strongly in
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ECPHRASIS INAENEID 1AND ODYSSEY*
547
our ecphrasis, we can see him as a sort of Everyman
of interpretation
one particular work of art dramatize
in understanding
whose problems
the inherent difficulty?and
perhaps
impossibility?of
interpretation.
these features in
The Homeric
parallels for our passage underline
a couple of different ways. First, the various Homeric
allusions prevent
from acting as the key to understanding
any one passage or notion
our ecphrasis. At the same time, the songs of Demodocus
in Odyssey
8
and
somewhat
view
of
underline
the Aeneid's
complex
gloomy
interpre
tation by putting forward a quite different view within a broadly similar
like Aeneas,
arrives in a strange place and
narrative context. Odysseus,
own past, at which he weeps.
an
of
his
artistic
representation
experiences
not
He
alone.
and
is
However,
weeps among the Phaeacians,
Odysseus
shares his emotion, most notably
the external audience
through the
third song. Interpreting
extended simile after Demodocus'
song is barely
an issue in this scene. The Phaeacians
not
do
understand
initially
why
Odysseus weeps, but when they learn his name and his story, they easily
that
grasp the reasons for his behavior. Similarly, there is no suggestion
or
as
to
exist
for
he
listens
hurdles
any interpretive
Odysseus
problems
art
the representing medium
and the represented
Demodocus.
Moreover,
so that this scene does not open up
have the same form in the Odyssey,
that multimedia
the interpretive gaps and questions
ecphrasis does in the
In sum, the similarities between Odysseus
and Aeneas make us
Aeneid.
all the more aware of the differences: Aeneas'
solitude, his difficulties of
inherent
of
and
the
problems
interpretation per se. More
interpretation,
seem
inevitable
for Aeneas
the
these
difficulties
within
over, although
the very different situation of the somewhat similar
world of the Aeneid,
Odysseus
implies that this need not be so. This makes us more sorry that
view
for Aeneas
(and for us), there may be no access to the Odyssey's
of art and interpretation.42
SWARTHMORE
e-mail:
COLLEGE
[email protected]
inMadison,
from the comments
of audiences
and
42This paper benefited
Wisconsin
Deborah
and Richard Tarrant graciously
Julia Dyson,
Roberts,
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.
read an initial draft and offered many helpful suggestions. The anonymous
readers improved
the article significantly.
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548
DEBORAH BECK
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