Comparing Similes In 'Aeneas And Mezentius'
Aeneas and Mezentius
Book ten of The Aeneid incorporates varied similes on the heroic figures of Aeneas and Mezentius. These similes further illustrate to its audience the character and nature of Aeneas and Mezentius. Lines 778 to 783 offers an epic simile of Aeneas, “Just as Aegaeon, who had a hundred arms and hands-they say-and fire burning from his fifty mouths and chests, when he clanged at Jove’s thunderbolts with his fifty shields, each one just like the other, and drew as many swords, so does Aeneas rage on, victorious, across the field…”[1] Aegaeon was one of the three “hundred handed” monsters who were superior to the Titans, yet fought on their side against the Olympians in Greek mythology. Virgil likens Aeneas to one
Book ten of The Aeneid incorporates varied similes on the heroic figures of Aeneas and Mezentius. These similes further illustrate to its audience the character and nature of Aeneas and Mezentius. Lines 778 to 783 offers an epic simile of Aeneas, “Just as Aegaeon, who had a hundred arms and hands-they say-and fire burning from his fifty mouths and chests, when he clanged at Jove’s thunderbolts with his fifty shields, each one just like the other, and drew as many swords, so does Aeneas rage on, victorious, across the field…”[1] Aegaeon was one of the three “hundred handed” monsters who were superior to the Titans, yet fought on their side against the Olympians in Greek mythology. Virgil likens Aeneas to one