The Aeneid Primitiveness

These lines describe the natural harbor where the Trojans first come to land on the shore of Libya. Although we don't know it yet when we first read these lines, on returning to them they can be interpreted as a reminder that Carthage is only in its infancy when the story begins. They also look forward to the scenes of primitive Italy, which will appear in the second half of the poem.

Even more striking is the contrast Virgil here draws between Evander's settlement and the Rome of his day – which occupied the same site. Based on evidence elsewhere in Virgil's poem (or in his other poems, The Eclogues and The Georgics, if you have read them), do you think that Virgil thinks this change was for the better?

In this extended passage, Evander describes the primitive state of Latium, before it became the home for settled, human communities. Despite the contrast he draws between past and present, however, it is clear that the Arcadians live in relative harmony with nature.

In these lines, the Trojans sailing up the Tiber river to visit King Evander appear as representatives of a modern (comparatively) civilization entering the primitive wilderness. It is difficult to read these lines today without being reminded of countless images we have seen of the Europeans' first arrival in North America. Based on Virgil's poem, do you think the consequences of this arrival will be as dire for the local civilizations of Italy as they were for the original inhabitants of North America?

Now Evander instructs Aeneas not to look down on his humble life; heck, if Hercules thought it was OK, then anyone should. To gain a sense of the value Virgil's poem places on the simple life, compare Evander's instructions on how "to merit godhead" (i.e., become a god) with Anchises's discussion of how souls are contaminated by worldly desires when he teaches Aeneas about reincarnation in Book 6.

Here we see more evidence of the Arcadians' primitive, rustic way of life.

From Evander's perspective, this wouldn't count as primitiveness. The tough, agricultural life Numanus describes sounds a lot more like the "meaner, tarnished age" he describes in the third quotation from this section as having replaced the original golden age. Still, if you look at what Numanus is saying, here and in the rest of his speech, he is definitely portraying his own peoples' life as more primitive than that of the dandified city dwellers he imagines the Trojans to be. Numanus places a different value on primitiveness than Evander does – not as providing a life of harmony and peace, but as making a nation tough enough for war.

This description of the funeral of Evander's son Pallas reinforces the poem's depiction of the Arcadians as connected with the earth. This is achieved primarily through the simile (that is, a poetic comparison) that likens Pallas to a flower. And yet, if Pallas the Arcadian is like a flower, and a flower can be picked – and thus destroyed by the hand of man – what do these lines suggest about the potential fate of the rest of Arcadian society?

By taking care to indicate that the "height we now call Alban" did not yet have a name at the period when the Aeneid takes place, Virgil emphasizes the primitiveness of his poem's setting.

In these lines, Turnus draws a sharp contrast between himself (and, by extension, his people), who are from the land they are fighting in, and Aeneas and his men, who are potentially dangerous outsiders. By praying to the guardian spirits of the land, his primitive (in the sense of being their first) status in Italy pays off, when the gods prevent Aeneas from being able to pull his spear out of a tree-stump. Unfortunately, more powerful gods – and the fates – are on the side of the Trojans, and primitive Italy is destined to fall under the sway of a more modern empire.