The Aeneid Love Quotes Page 3

In this scene, the goddess Venus is using her charms to get Vulcan, her husband, to make a suit of armor for her (but not Vulcan's) son Aeneas. The irony, of course, is that Vulcan is the god of fire – and hence of metal-working – but the fire of love is of another order entirely, and he is powerless to resist it. This passage incorporates motifs found in many other depictions of love elsewhere in the book. Can you see any connections between it and the other quotations in this section?

With these words, Nisus seals his fate – calling attention to himself in a desperate (but failed) attempt to prevent his young lover, Euryalus, from being killed. Nisus's closing words here – in which he refers to Euryalus's loyalty in coming along with him on the night expedition – show that their relationship was based on more than just Euryalus's good looks. The same conclusion can be drawn from Nisus's spirit of sacrifice.

The "I" in these lines is Virgil, who is singling out individual warriors for praise. "Amor," of course, is the personification of love. Two things are noteworthy in this passage. The first is the little flashback of Cycnus (whose name means "swan") turning into a swan out of grief for his dead friend Phaëthon, a pretty striking allegory of the power of this emotion. The second is Cupavo himself, whose reaction to all this is to "reproach" the god and goddess of love. Do you think this reproach might be why Virgil singles him out for special praise?