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The Aeneid Beyond the Course Description
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by Sally Morris
Phillips Exeter Academy
Exeter, New Hampshire
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| | Teaching the books of the Aeneid not covered by the Latin Course Description can be a daunting task. My AP Latin: Vergil syllabus is quite lengthy, and our students have many demands on their time after school. To get a jump start, I recently have begun to assign a voluntary summer reading project to students enrolled in my course for the fall. This project adds points to their first-quarter grade but does not deduct any if they fail to do the assignment. Ninety percent of my students opt to do this extra work in order to give their first-quarter grade a boost. To encourage at least minimal effort on this project, each segment of the list can be handed in for partial bonus credit.
Summer and Early Semester Assignments
In June, I give my incoming students a copy of Robert Fitzgerald's translation of the Aeneid, and I ask them to read the entire poem. If a student finds reading a poetic rendition simply adds to the confusion, then I recommend that the student choose a prose translation at the library or a local bookstore. I also remind the students that they will read closely in Latin certain books of the Aeneid and thus they should take advantage of the summer reading to familiarize themselves more thoroughly with books 7-12 in particular.
As they read, they are asked to write a summary of each book in their own words and to take notes following the prompts that I list below. Some of the prompts are best answered upon reflection on the entire epic while other answers spring to mind as the student reads. The students are asked to record the book and line number for each citation for future reference. This project serves well as the beginning of a comprehensive notebook for the yearlong course.
Reading Prompts: - Make an outline of each of the 12 books of the Aeneid.
- Make a list of the top 10 main characters in the Aeneid and identify them as either an ally or an adversary of Aeneas.
- Observe and comment on the following relationships in the Aeneid: lovers, best friends, father and son, father and daughter, and husband and wife. Be sure to list at least one specific pair for each category and give some identifying details.
- Make a list of supernatural interventions; list the gods and minor deities, their role with respect to the main characters, and the role of Fate in the epic.
- List or draw a map of Aeneas's route; list the major cities, islands, and landings as well as the major event at each location.
- Vergil explores many overarching themes of human existence: jealousy, love, anger, rage, loss of innocence, pursuit of excellence, compassion for others, pride, and recognition of mortality/sacrifice. Make a page for each of those themes and add characters and brief scene summaries in list form with the book and line cited.
- List and pay particular attention to the role of female characters in the epic. How are they unique? How do they follow convention? Describe each major female character's role.
- Define the adversaries in the major war covered in books 1-6 and the war waged in books 7-12; in books 7-12, keep track of the various Italian tribes and their allegiance.
- List the games played in book 5 and explain why the games were played.
- Draw a family tree for Aeneas, Evander, and Lavinia. In which family tree does Romulus fit?
- Explore in a short essay why Aeneas kills Turnus, making a connection between this act and the prophetic words spoken by Anchises in book 6 regarding the role of the Roman race.
After the students submit those assignments in September, I read them over for accuracy, then return them for use as future study guides. To encourage the students to make use of this work, I ask them questions throughout the year, which they can answer easily by referring to their notes. During the final review period in May, I ask the students to spend one night and one class day reviewing their notes and allow them to share ideas in class with one another.
Discussion Topics During the Year
Among the books not thoroughly covered in Latin, I assign the class to read an entire book in English in one night as we encounter each in the syllabus. This reading review is followed by a quiz in class the next day on certain characters or locations to stress the importance of reading the English. I encourage the students to study together for this type of quiz by drilling each other and making note of important points individual readers may have missed. Finally, I give a major review test on character and place identification in books 7-12.
When we reach the Latin readings in books 10 and 12, I try to drill the students orally. I ask such questions as: Who is Lausus exactly? Who is his father, and how did Vergil portray him to us? Why would Vergil mention Lausus at this point in the epic? Besides Aeneas and Anchises, and/or Aeneas and Ascanius, what father/son pair might Lausus and Mezentius recall for us? How is their relationship different from Lausus and Mezentius, yet how is it the same? Those questions, which relate the current Latin translation assignment to earlier passages found in the English version, serve to jog the students' memories and allow them to see the 12-book epic as a holistic piece of writing.
Another discussion topic to facilitate review of English passages is to study the role of Fate as described by Jupiter in books 1, 10, and 12. When we read in English the dialogue between Venus, Juno, and Jupiter at the beginning of book 10, a further burst of self-interest for these two goddesses and Jupiter's disinterest in their quarrel, I ask the students to revisit in Latin Jupiter's prophecy to Venus in book 1, lines 229-296. The final discussion between Jupiter and Juno in book 12, lines 791-842 draws our attention back to books 1 and 10, as the class discusses the role the gods and Fate play in the lives of mortals. For homework, the students write an essay discussing the progression that these three conversations follow with Latin support for books 1 and 12 and English support for book 10.
Certainly many topics in the Aeneid lend themselves to these overlapping reviews, but choices must be made in the interest of time. Some review topics can be written, while others take the form of swift class discussion and class notes. The lists students make over the summer become an invaluable review tool, and the students gain confidence by expanding their review notes with the year's assignments.
Sally Morris is the head of the Classics Department at Brooks School and has been teaching both Latin and Greek for 19 years, during which time she has been teaching AP Latin for 14 years (Vergil and Catullus/Horace). She spent a sabbatical year teaching classics at School Year Abroad, Viterbo, Italy. She was an AP Latin Reader in 2001, 2003, and 2004, and reviews AP Latin resources for AP Central.
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