4.5 Memory and the Past

📚 A-Level Classical Civilisation ⏱️ 45 min 📖 Virgil's Aeneid

Living With Loss

The Aeneid is fundamentally about REFUGEES. Aeneas and the Trojans are displaced people carrying their past into an uncertain future. They can't return to Troy (it's destroyed), but they can't fully embrace Italy (it's foreign, hostile). Memory becomes both burden and lifeline.

Why This Matters
Memory in the Aeneid isn't nostalgic sentimentality—it's about IDENTITY. When home is destroyed, how do you know who you are? The Trojans carry their gods (Penates), their stories, their grief. But to found Rome, they must eventually LET GO of Troy. The tension between remembering and moving forward drives the entire epic.

The central question: Can you honour the past while building a new future? Or does mourning trap you in what's lost? Aeneas must navigate between paralysing nostalgia (Dido's Carthage offers him a way to stop wandering) and forgetting Troy entirely (which would make his suffering meaningless).

What This Lesson Covers

  • Troy's Shadow: How the memory of Troy haunts every moment—Aeneas sees Troy's fall everywhere
  • The Penates: Physical objects carrying cultural continuity—gods become portable identity
  • Nostalgia: Longing for home that can destroy (Palinurus, Dido's offer) or motivate (founding new Troy)
  • Sunt Lacrimae Rerum: Virgil's philosophy of universal grief and recognition
  • Moving Forward: How the epic resolves (or doesn't) the tension between memory and destiny

Context: Refugee Experience in Roman Literature

Historical Background

Virgil wrote during Augustus's reign, after decades of civil war. Romans had experienced displacement, exile, property confiscation. Veterans were settled on confiscated land (Virgil's own family may have lost property this way). The epic's themes of loss, exile, and founding new communities resonated with contemporary experience.

The Trojan Myth

Romans claimed Trojan ancestry through Aeneas. This made them BOTH Greek (Troy was part of Greek myth-world) AND distinct from Greeks (they were Troy's survivors, not Greece's victors). It positioned Rome as heir to Mediterranean civilization while justifying wars against Greek states. Memory of Troy = political identity.

Why Refugees, Not Conquerors?

Virgil could have made Aeneas a triumphant warrior founding Rome through strength. Instead, he's a REFUGEE fleeing destruction. This complicates the imperial narrative—Rome's founders weren't conquerors, they were displaced victims seeking survival. But then they conquer Italy. The tension between victim and aggressor runs through the entire epic.

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Book 2: Telling Troy's Story

Aeneas recounts Troy's fall to Dido in Book 2. This is the most extended flashback in the epic—over 800 lines of memory. But notice: Aeneas is FORCED to remember. Dido asks; he doesn't volunteer. Memory is painful, but also necessary.

"You ask me, Queen, to renew unspeakable grief, how the Greeks destroyed Troy's wealth and sorrowful kingdom, the terrible things I saw myself, and in which I played a great part. What Myrmidon or Dolopian, or soldier of harsh Ulysses, could refrain from tears in telling such things? And now dewy night is falling fast from the sky, and the setting stars urge sleep. But if you have such desire to know our disasters, and briefly hear Troy's last agony, though my mind shudders to remember, and recoils in grief, I will begin."
— Aeneas to Dido, Book 2.3-13 (Kline)

The Cost of Remembering

  • "unspeakable grief": Literally "infandum dolorem"—grief that can't be spoken, yet must be
  • "terrible things I saw myself": Eyewitness testimony—not just history, but trauma
  • "played a great part": Participant, not just observer—guilt and agency mixed
  • "What Myrmidon... could refrain from tears": Even enemies would weep—universal human sympathy
  • "my mind shudders to remember": Physical response—memory causes present pain
  • "recoils in grief": Automatic avoidance—trauma response
  • "But... I will begin": Chooses to speak despite pain—narrative as duty

Why Remembering Hurts

Aeneas's reluctance isn't weakness—it's realistic trauma response. He's being asked to relive the worst night of his life: city burning, people dying, wife lost, father endangered. But telling is NECESSARY for two reasons:

1. Political: Dido needs to understand who the Trojans are and what they've suffered—this creates sympathy and hospitality.
2. Psychological: Narrative gives shape to chaos. By telling Troy's fall as a STORY (with beginning, middle, end), Aeneas makes it bearable. Memory becomes structured, not just raw pain.

Seeing Troy Everywhere

Throughout his wanderings, Aeneas encounters reminders of Troy. Sometimes comforting, sometimes devastating—but Troy's memory is inescapable.

"I looked up and saw a temple to Juno, and there were paintings of the Trojan War. There, the battles by Troy were known; tears for things, and mortal matters touched the heart. 'Here too,' I said, 'honour accrues to merit: there are tears for things, and mortal matters touch the heart. Dismiss your fears: this fame will bring you some deliverance.'"
— Aeneas in Carthage, Book 1.456-463 (Kline)

Sunt Lacrimae Rerum

  • "sunt lacrimae rerum": "There are tears for things"—the world's fundamental sadness
  • Aeneas sees TROJAN suffering commemorated in CARTHAGINIAN art
  • This proves suffering is universal, recognisable across cultures
  • Memory connects people—Dido's people understand Troy's tragedy
  • "this fame will bring you some deliverance": Being remembered = not dying in vain
  • But irony: Aeneas will later DESTROY Carthage through Dido's death

The Double Edge of Memory

Seeing Troy commemorated comforts Aeneas—it proves his suffering matters. But it also TRAPS him emotionally. He weeps seeing these images, reliving trauma. Memory validates experience but also perpetuates pain. This is the Aeneid's central tension about the past.

Helenus's "New Troy"

"We entered the city: Chaonia it was, and the kingdom of Priam's son Helenus. He had married Andromache, Hector's widow. [...] She was making offerings to the ashes, calling up spirits by Hector's empty tomb, which she had consecrated to his memory with green turf, and two altars, a place to weep."
— Book 3.294-305 (Kline)

Helenus's Solution: Recreate Troy

  • "Chaonia... kingdom": Greek land renamed after Troy
  • Helenus married Andromache (Hector's widow)—preserving Trojan lineage
  • "empty tomb": Cenotaph—memorial without body, memory without presence
  • "a place to weep": Institutionalised grief—mourning becomes permanent activity
  • He's built a FAKE Troy—rivers renamed, architecture copied
"Andromache cried: 'O, are you real, do you bring me true news, goddess-born? Are you alive? Or if blessed light has left you, where is Hector?'"
— Andromache to Aeneas, Book 3.310-312 (Kline)

When Memory Becomes Prison

Andromache is so trapped in the past that she mistakes Aeneas for a ghost—or wonders if SHE'S dead. She's recreated Troy physically (place names, architecture), but Troy is GONE. This "New Troy" is simulacrum, not reality.

Virgil presents this as WARNING. Helenus and Andromache are STUCK—they can't move forward because they won't let go of the past. They've chosen memory over future. Aeneas must learn from this: honour Troy, but don't try to rebuild it. Create something NEW.

Three Responses to Troy's Fall

  • Helenus/Andromache: Recreate Troy—trapped in nostalgia, can't move forward
  • Aeneas: Carry Troy's gods to Italy—honour past while building future
  • Greeks: Destroyed Troy—but haunted by guilt (Ajax's punishment, Odysseus's wandering)

Troy's Shadow in Italy

Even after reaching Italy, Troy haunts the narrative. The Italians compare Aeneas to Paris (who caused Troy's fall), and Turnus invokes Troy as insult.

"Take back your gifts. [...] We Italians are not Phrygians, not the conquered troops of Atreus, and you are not Achilles."
— Turnus to Aeneas's ambassadors, Book 11.371-375 (Kline)

Troy as Weakness

  • "We are not Phrygians": Phrygians = Trojans—implies weakness, effeminacy
  • "not the conquered troops": Reminds everyone Troy LOST
  • "you are not Achilles": Aeneas is lesser than Greek heroes who destroyed Troy
  • Turnus weaponises Trojan defeat—uses their past against them

Can Aeneas Escape Troy's Shadow?

The Italians see Aeneas as "Trojan"—defeated, foreign, effeminate (Roman stereotype of Eastern peoples). To succeed, he must somehow be BOTH Trojan (carrying gods, legitimacy) AND Roman (strong, martial, victor). The epic never fully resolves this tension. Troy's memory is both his legitimacy and his weakness.

What Are the Penates?

The Penates are household gods—small statues representing divine protection of home and family. When Aeneas flees Troy, he carries them. They're not just religious objects; they're PORTABLE TROY. As long as the Penates survive, Trojan culture survives.

"You, father, take the sacred objects and our country's gods in your hands: for me to touch them, fresh from such slaughter and recent bloodshed, would be sin, until I have washed myself in a running stream."
— Aeneas to Anchises, Book 2.717-720 (Kline)

Why Anchises Carries the Penates

  • "sacred objects": Physical manifestation of divine presence
  • "our country's gods": Not just family, but NATIONAL identity
  • "for me to touch them... would be sin": Religious pollution from battle
  • "fresh from slaughter": Violence contaminates—can't touch sacred immediately after killing
  • Anchises (old, pious, unblooded) = appropriate carrier
  • Aeneas carries his father; Anchises carries the gods—three generations united

The Most Famous Image

Aeneas carrying Anchises (who carries the Penates) while leading Ascanius is ANCIENT ART's most iconic image of pietas. It shows:

Vertical continuity: Past (Anchises), present (Aeneas), future (Ascanius) connected
Duty: Aeneas's burden is literal—he physically CARRIES tradition
Priorities: In crisis, he saves family and gods, not treasure
Vulnerability: Creusa is lost in this flight—pietas has costs

The Penates Speak

"I seemed to see the sacred images of the gods, the great Penates of Troy, [...] and they spoke to me clearly, and soothed my mind with these words: 'What Apollo would tell you, were you to reach Delos, he tells you here, and sends us to your threshold. We followed you and your weapons from burning Troy: we have travelled the swelling ocean with you in your ships: we will raise your descendants to the stars, and give empire to their city. Build great walls for the great, and do not abandon the long labour of flight. You must move your home.'"
— Aeneas's vision, Book 3.147-161 (Kline)

What the Gods Promise

  • "We followed you from burning Troy": Gods are mobile—they go where Trojans go
  • "travelled the ocean with you": Divine presence in exile—not abandoned
  • "we will raise your descendants to the stars": Future glory guaranteed
  • "give empire to their city": Rome's destiny confirmed
  • "Build great walls": New city, not reconstruction of Troy
  • "do not abandon the long labour": Perseverance required—destiny isn't easy
  • "You must move your home": Paradox—"home" is portable concept now

Portable Identity

The Penates transform identity from PLACE to PRACTICE. Troy (physical city) is gone forever. But TROJAN CULTURE survives because the gods survive. As long as Aeneas worships the Penates correctly, performs proper rituals, he IS Trojan.

This solves the refugee's dilemma: How do you maintain identity without homeland? Answer: religion becomes identity. The Penates let Trojans be Trojan ANYWHERE. But eventually, they must be HOUSED—hence founding Rome.

Anchises and the Penates

"Father Anchises, you alone were comfort in every sorrow, comfort taken from me."
— Aeneas mourning Anchises, Book 5.724 (Kline)

When Anchises Dies

  • Anchises dies in Sicily (Book 3)—before reaching Italy
  • He carried the Penates—when he dies, WHO carries tradition?
  • Aeneas must now be BOTH leader AND priest
  • No father to interpret divine will—Aeneas is alone with destiny

Anchises in the Underworld

Anchises returns as ghost in Book 6, showing Aeneas future Romans. Even in death, he mediates between past (Troy) and future (Rome). His role is INTERPRETATION—explaining how Trojan past leads to Roman future. The Penates are objects; Anchises is the wisdom to use them correctly.

The Penates in Italy

"I will set the Penates and the native gods in shrines."
— Aeneas, Book 12.192 (Kline)

Promise

  • Penates will be HOUSED—permanent shrine
  • Wandering ends when gods are settled
  • New city = new home for old gods
  • Continuity established through worship

Transformation

  • Trojan gods become ROMAN gods
  • Penates merge with Italian deities
  • Cultural fusion, not replacement
  • Rome = Troy + Italy, not just Troy relocated

Symbolism for Essays

The Penates represent cultural CONTINUITY through physical displacement. They prove that identity can survive destruction if core values (religion, family, duty) are preserved. But they also show ADAPTATION—Trojan gods don't just sit in Italy unchanged; they blend with local worship. Memory is preserved, but also transformed.

Nostos: The Longing to Return

Nostalgia comes from Greek: nostos (return home) + algos (pain). It's literally "the pain of not returning." The Aeneid is full of characters longing for what's lost—but unlike the Odyssey (where Odysseus DOES return), Aeneas CAN'T go home. Troy is ash.

Nostalgia vs Odyssey
Odysseus's story: leave home, struggle to RETURN, finally succeed—nostalgia fulfilled.
Aeneas's story: home destroyed, carry it as memory, build NEW home—nostalgia transformed, not fulfilled.
This makes the Aeneid fundamentally more MELANCHOLIC than the Odyssey.

Palinurus: Nostalgia Kills

"Palinurus, stretched on the stern, watching the stars, fell, torn from his place into the deep waters, taking the helm with him. [...] Aeneas himself took the helm and the ship's course, and groaned deeply, in spirit shaken by his friend's fate: 'O Palinurus, too trusting in calm sky and sea, you will lie naked on an unknown shore.'"
— Book 5.840-871 (Kline, condensed)

Why Palinurus Dies

  • "too trusting in calm sky and sea": Trusted stability—fatal mistake for refugees
  • Sleep (sent by gods) overcomes him—even duty can't prevent fate
  • "unknown shore": Dies in foreign land, unburied—worst fate for ancients
  • His ghost in Book 6 begs for burial—wants to "return" even in death

The Helmsman as Symbol

Palinurus steers the ship—he guides the journey home. His death suggests: there IS no return. Even the one who knows the way can't get there. Nostalgia (desire to return) must be abandoned. Aeneas must steer toward NEW destination (Italy), not lost home (Troy).

Dido's Offer: Stop Wandering

"Dido was burning with love, and wandered raving through the city, like a deer pierced by an arrow, that a shepherd hunting in the Cretan woods has struck from a distance, unawares, leaving the winged steel in her, while she flees through the woods and thickets of Dicte, the deadly shaft clinging to her side."
— Book 4.68-73 (Kline)

What Dido Offers

  • A KINGDOM—political power without conquest
  • A HOME—end to wandering
  • LOVE—personal happiness
  • CARTHAGE—new Troy without the burden of building it
"Is this Carthage not beautiful? Do you see the new walls of Carthage rising, the busy activity? You could rule here with me as equals."
— Dido to Aeneas, Book 4.96-98 (paraphrased from Latin)

Why This Is Temptation

  • "beautiful Carthage": Offers what Troy was—civilization, beauty, order
  • "new walls rising": Fulfills desire to build, but in WRONG place
  • "rule here as equals": Partnership, not subordination
  • Staying = abandoning destiny, but also END OF SUFFERING
  • Carthage lets him stop being refugee—but at cost of Rome

Nostalgia's False Promise

Carthage offers SUBSTITUTE for Troy—new home, similar culture, end to wandering. This is nostalgia's seduction: "You can stop hurting. You can stop searching. Just stay here."

But Dido's Carthage isn't ROME. It's a detour, not destination. Aeneas must reject comfort (Dido) for duty (Italy). The epic says: nostalgia for lost home must be RESISTED if you're to build new home. You can't recreate what's gone; you must create what's coming.

Sunt Lacrimae Rerum: Shared Grief

"There are tears for things, and mortal matters touch the heart."
— Book 1.462 (Kline)

Why This Phrase Matters

  • Most famous three words in Latin literature
  • "lacrimae rerum": Tears don't just belong to people—they belong to THINGS, to reality itself
  • Suggests the world is fundamentally SAD—grief is cosmic, not just personal
  • But also: sadness CONNECTS people—shared grief creates community
  • Aeneas sees Carthaginians understand Troy's fall—universal human sympathy

Philosophy of Memory

Sunt lacrimae rerum suggests that remembering painful things is ESSENTIAL to being human. If Carthaginians can weep for Troy, then Troy's memory matters beyond Trojans. Your suffering isn't isolated—it's part of larger human story. This makes memory MEANINGFUL even when it hurts.

Modern Resonance

  • Phrase used for: war memorials, disaster commemorations, refugee crises
  • Captures idea that grief is universal, recognisable across cultures/times
  • But also: danger of DROWNING in grief—Virgil shows both recognition and need to move forward

How Do You Let Go of the Past?

The Aeneid's final movement is Aeneas learning to BUILD rather than MOURN. He must honour Troy without being trapped by it. This is the refugee's ultimate challenge: integrate past into new identity without letting past paralyse present.

Carrying Troy

  • Penates (gods) travel to Italy
  • Trojan names continue (Ascanius = Iulus)
  • Cultural practices maintained
  • Stories told to next generation
  • Troy remembered in Roman identity

Leaving Troy Behind

  • Creusa dies, can't be recovered
  • Anchises dies, wisdom passes to Aeneas
  • Language changes (Latin, not Trojan)
  • Marry Italian (Lavinia, not Trojan)
  • Build NEW city, not recreate old one

Synthesis, Not Replacement

Rome isn't just "New Troy" (like Helenus's simulacrum). It's FUSION: Trojan gods + Italian land + new name + mixed marriages = something that never existed before. The past informs but doesn't determine. This is Virgil's model for moving forward: transform memory into foundation, not cage.

The Shield of Aeneas: Future Replaces Past

"There, Vulcan, not ignorant of prophecy, had created the story of Italy, and the triumphs of the Romans: there all the race of Ascanius's descendants, and the wars fought in order."
— Shield description, Book 8.626-629 (Kline)

What's On the Shield

  • Romulus and Remus (founding of Rome)
  • Sabine women (cultural mixing through marriage/abduction)
  • Porsenna's attack (Rome under siege—surviving, like Troy didn't)
  • Battle of Actium (Augustus defeating Antony/Cleopatra)
  • Augustus's triumph (imperial glory realized)

Shield Symbolism

  • Achilles's shield (Iliad): Shows universal human life—farming, war, marriage, death
  • Aeneas's shield (Aeneid): Shows ROMAN history specifically—past to Augustus
  • The shield is DEFENSIVE armor showing FUTURE—protection comes from destiny
  • Aeneas "lifts on his shoulder the fame and destiny of his descendants"
  • He LITERALLY CARRIES the future—just as he carried father/past

Why the Shield Matters

In Book 2, Aeneas looks BACK at burning Troy. In Book 8, he looks FORWARD to Augustan Rome. The shield represents narrative SHIFT: from refugee fleeing past to founder creating future. But crucially, he doesn't understand the images ("ignorant of their meaning, he delights in the image"). Future is opaque, known only through faith/fate.

Lavinia: The Future Made Flesh

"Lavinia blushed at these words, and burning shame flooded her cheeks: as when a man stains white ivory with scarlet dye, or when white lilies blush mixed with many roses: such colours showed in the virgin's face."
— Book 12.64-69 (Kline)

Lavinia's Symbolic Role

  • Silent: Lavinia never speaks in the epic—she's symbolic, not character
  • Italian: Represents the NEW land, not past homeland
  • Contested: Turnus wants her (Italian claim), Aeneas needs her (divine decree)
  • Mother of Romans: Her children will be first generation—Trojan + Italian = Roman
  • She's the FUTURE—marrying her = accepting new identity

Why Lavinia Is Silent

Lavinia's silence has troubled readers for 2000 years. She's fought over but never speaks. This could be: (1) Sexism—women as prizes, not people; (2) Symbolism—she represents ITALY itself, which can't speak for itself; (3) Aeneas's alienation—he marries for duty, not love, so emotional connection is absent. All three interpretations likely true simultaneously.

Does Aeneas Succeed in Moving Forward?

The epic ends BEFORE Rome is founded. We see Aeneas win the war, but not build the city. This creates ambiguity: HAS he moved forward, or is he still stuck?

Evidence He's Moved On

  • Reaches Italy (geographical goal)
  • Defeats Turnus (military goal)
  • Will marry Lavinia (political/dynastic goal)
  • Carries shield showing future (symbolically forward-facing)
  • Penates will be housed in permanent shrines

Evidence He's Still Trapped

  • Kills Turnus in RAGE (furor, not pietas)
  • Final act is REVENGE for Pallas (backward-looking)
  • Never expresses joy or satisfaction
  • Epic ends in death, not celebration
  • Silence about future—no vision of triumph

Ambiguous Resolution

Virgil deliberately leaves this UNRESOLVED. Aeneas fulfills fate's requirements (defeat enemies, reach Italy, prepare for Rome). But does he find peace? Happiness? Does memory stop hurting? The epic doesn't say. This mirrors real refugee experience: you can reach safety without reaching peace.

For Essays: Memory as Theme

Key Arguments About Memory

1. Memory is identity for refugees. When home is destroyed, culture survives through remembered stories, gods, practices. Penates = physical manifestation of portable identity.

2. But memory can trap as well as sustain. Helenus/Andromache stuck in fake Troy. Aeneas must honour past WITHOUT recreating it.

3. Nostalgia must be resisted to build new future. Dido offers end to wandering, but wrong destination. Carthage = nostalgia's false promise (home that isn't really home).

4. "Sunt lacrimae rerum" = philosophy of shared grief. Memory connects people across cultures. Carthaginians weep for Troy, proving universal human sympathy. But grief must not paralyse.

5. Rome = synthesis of past and future. Not "New Troy" (repetition) but "Troy + Italy" (transformation). Past informs but doesn't determine. Memory becomes foundation, not prison.

6. Ambiguous ending. Aeneas fulfills external goals but unclear if he achieves internal peace. Virgil suggests: collective destiny achieved, individual healing uncertain. This is profoundly realistic about trauma and displacement.

Ultimate Exam Point
Memory in the Aeneid is dialectical: THESIS (Troy was home, must be preserved) + ANTITHESIS (Troy is gone, can't return) = SYNTHESIS (carry Troy's essence to Italy, transform it into Rome). Show examiners you understand memory isn't static—it's active process of integration, selection, transformation. What you remember shapes who you become.
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