Meta Description: Join Dr. Jeff Winkle and Dr. David Noe in Ad Navseam Episode 84 as they explore the second half of Vergil’s Aeneid Book I. From the heavy burden of Roman Pietas to the tragic beauty of sunt lacrimae rerum, discover how the Latin language shapes the ultimate epic of duty. Plus, the hilarious mistranslation of the “Giant Vulture” and why you should never trust a Carthaginian oxhide.
Introduction: May Mornings and Missing Shout-Outs
Welcome back to the “Vomitorium,” listeners! It is Episode 84 of the Ad Navseam Podcast, and the mood is bright. Broadcasting from Vomitorium East, your hosts, Dr. Jeff Winkle and Dr. David Noe, are thrilled to have finally survived the miserable Michigan “smarch” weather. It is now late May, the swans are on the lake, the birds are singing, and the humidity is blessedly low.
It is a morning recording session, which perfectly suits Dr. Winkle, a self-proclaimed morning guy. Dr. Noe, on the other hand, is a night owl who struggles to stay up past 10:00 PM these days—a fact that naturally leads to jokes about turning the final page of his AARP magazine and musing over his senior discounts.
Unfortunately, there is no listener shout-out today. Dr. Winkle jokes that the audience clearly doesn’t want to be recognized for the “great sacrifice” they make in listening, while Dr. Noe relies on the proven motivational tool of shame to encourage future submissions . If you want your name read on the air, write in!
The Opening Quote: The Weight of Roman Virtues
To dive back into the second half of Book I of Vergil’s Aeneid, Dr. Noe shares an opening quote from J.B. Hainsworth’s 1989 book, The Idea of Epic. It perfectly frames the ideological backbone of the poem:
“First there was pietas, piety, that respect for religion and the actions and attitudes prescribed by religion… Pietas was closely connected to fides, good faith… that stood in such sharp contrast to the duplicity that seemed to characterize Rome’s enemies, whether Carthaginian or Greek. Then there was respect for authority, disciplina… frugality, foresight, and reason… In short, Romans took a very serious view of life, gravitas.”
Vergil’s task was monumental: taking a ruthless, pragmatic, and heavily militarized people and recasting their history into a Hellenized, Homeric mold. Aeneas embodies these Roman virtues perfectly. Unlike the crafty, duplicitous Odysseus (who utilizes Greek metis or trickery), Aeneas is dutiful, serious, and somewhat aloof.
Interestingly, Vergil extends incredible sympathy to the Carthaginians, Rome’s greatest historical enemy. Despite the Roman stereotype of Punica fides (Punic faith, meaning notorious untrustworthiness and deception), Dido and her people are introduced not as mustache-twirling villains, but as tragic, relatable refugees. To highlight the divide between the Hellenized Roman elite (Vergil’s audience) and the common people, Dr. Noe brings up a fascinating letter from Cicero. While attending the gladiatorial games, Cicero was utterly disgusted by the slaughter of elephants, noting a sense of compassion for the beasts, while the “vulgar crowd” roared with astonishment and bloodlust.
Sleepless in Libya: Aeneas vs. Odysseus
Following the divine storm, Aeneas and his surviving men wash up on the shores of North Africa. Aeneas spends a sleepless night fretting over his people. Dr. Noe reads the beautiful Latin language: At pius Aeneas per noctem plurima volvens… (But pious Aeneas, turning over many things through the night…) The hosts compare translations. Stanley Lombardo translates pius as “aware of his duty,” which excellently captures the Roman sense of obligation keeping him awake. Len Krizak’s rhyming translation uses “good Aeneas,” which Dr. Noe finds a bit thin, though he praises Krizak’s translation of volvens as “worried by his thoughts,” capturing the physical tossing and turning—like a sausage in a frying pan.
When dawn breaks (“when dawn kissed his face with light”), Aeneas sets out to explore the unknown land. Dr. Winkle notes a stark contrast with Odysseus here. When Odysseus lands on a strange island (like the land of the Cyclops or Circe), he sends “red shirt” flunkies ahead to test the waters and take the casualties. Aeneas, ever the Roman general, leads from the front, taking only his right-hand man, Achates. Odysseus is driven by self-preservation to return to an existing home; Aeneas is driven by self-sacrifice to found a new one.
The Disguised Mother and the Oxhide Trick
While exploring the woods, Aeneas encounters his mother, the goddess Venus. However, she doesn’t appear as the goddess of love; she is disguised as a Spartan huntress, resembling Diana (Artemis), complete with a bow and her robe cinched above the knee. Why this specific disguise? The hosts suggest Vergil is deliberately re-characterizing Venus. In Homer’s Iliad, she is a passive wallflower who runs crying to Jupiter when she gets a scratch. In the Aeneid, she must be a woman of action who drives the plot. Furthermore, by disguising the goddess of lust as the virginal goddess of the hunt, Vergil sets up the central thematic choice for Aeneas and Dido: will they succumb to passion, or remain chaste and committed to their national duties?
Venus proceeds to tell Aeneas the tragic backstory of Dido. Dido was royalty in the Phoenician city of Tyre (modern-day Lebanon/Palestine area). Her husband, Sychaeus, was secretly murdered by her greedy brother, Pygmalion. Sychaeus’s ghost appeared to Dido in a dream, revealed the murder, and told her where to find a hidden hoard of gold to fund her escape.
Arriving in North Africa, Dido and her Tyrian refugees struck a clever real estate deal with the locals. They asked to buy only as much land as could be encompassed by a single bull’s hide (Bursa). When the locals agreed, the Tyrians exhibited peak Punica fides (clever deception): they cut the oxhide into incredibly thin strips and strung them end-to-end to claim a massive territory for their new city of Carthage. Dr. Winkle recalls a phrase from this passage that resonated deeply with a cohort of feminist undergraduates in his grad school days: Dux femina facti (A woman was the leader of the deed). Dido’s unquestioned leadership and agency make her one of the most compelling characters in ancient literature.
Sponsors: Popcorn, Books, and Brews
Before Aeneas enters the city, the hosts take a moment to thank their sponsors who make the AN life possible:
- Pop City Popcorn: A brand-new sponsor from Kalamazoo, Michigan! They pop non-GMO seed in coconut oil and use real ingredients—like actual grated Parmesan cheese, real butter, and Madagascar vanilla. Whether you want Bacon Cheddar, the famous Dill Pickle, or a Movie Night basket, go to popcitypopcorn.com and use code ANPOP20 for 20% off your first order.
- Hackett Publishing: Celebrating 50 years of publishing brilliant academic texts and translations. Dr. Winkle highlights their nuanced cover art, such as using the Vietnam War Memorial for the cover of Lombardo’s Aeneid to reflect the poem’s solemn themes of loss. Visit hackettpublishing.com and use code AN2022 for 20% off and free shipping.
- Ratio Coffee: Mark Helweg’s team in Portland has perfected the automatic pour-over. With a single button and a crucial “bloom” phase to off-gas bitter compounds, the Ratio 6 and Ratio 8 deliver the perfect cup without the burnt taste of lesser machines. Use code ANCO5J at ratiocoffee.com for 15% off.
The Envy of Walls and The Giant Vulture
Wrapped in a divine mist provided by his mother, Aeneas looks down from a hill upon the bustling construction of Carthage. Seeing the paved streets, the rising citadel, and the busy workers (whom Vergil famously compares to a hive of bees), Aeneas feels a crushing sense of envy. He laments, “Happy are those whose walls already rise.” Dr. Winkle perfectly compares this feeling to being the last student left on campus with exams to take while everyone else has already packed up their cars and left for summer.
Aeneas descends into the city and enters a massive temple dedicated to Juno. Here, he finds elaborate murals depicting the very war he just escaped: the Trojan War. He sees the sons of Atreus, Priam, and the raging Achilles. In one profoundly tragic image, he sees the young boy Troilus, no match for Achilles, dragged backward from his chariot, his hair trailing in the dust while his spear tip scores the sand (pulvis inscribitur hasta). It is here that Aeneas utters one of the most famous lines in Western literature: Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt (“There are tears for human events, and mortal things touch the mind”). Seeing that the Carthaginians can weep over the suffering of others, Aeneas realizes he has found a civilized, empathetic people.
Dr. Noe then shares a legendary classroom anecdote regarding this emotional scene. The text says Aeneas fed his soul on the empty pictures and “wet his face with a large flow of tears” (largoque umectat flumina vultum). A struggling Latin student, trying desperately to find English cognates, translated this line as: “In the river, he met a large vulture”. As Dr. Winkle points out, transitioning from looking at murals to suddenly being attacked by a giant river bird would be quite the plot twist.
Conclusion and the Gustatory Parting Shot
Up against the clock, the hosts admit they haven’t finished Book I, but refuse to rush the juicy goodness of Vergil’s masterpiece. Next week, they will tag the end of Book I and dive into Dr. Winkle’s favorite: Book II, featuring the Trojan Horse and the fall of Troy. For those looking to improve their own translation skills (and avoid imaginary vultures), Dr. Noe reminds listeners that the Moss Method Greek program is raising its price slightly on June 1st to fight inflation, so lock in the $299 rate at LatinPerDiem.com. He also offers a comprehensive Latin language course via Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata at latinperdiem.com/llpsi.
We end with a Gustatory Parting Shot from Bangambiki Habyarimana’s The Book of Wisdom, which perfectly encapsulates the feeling of staring blankly into your kitchen after a long podcast:
“A full fridge is like an empty one. What am I going to eat?”
It is a great question. Valete! (And make sure to snag the senior discount on your groceries).
Resources for the Classical Learner:LatinPerDiem: Ready to read Vergil in the original Latin language and discover the true weight of pietas? Start your journey today at latinperdiem.com/llpsi.
