Pallas Represent Of Violence According To Aeneid

According to Aeneid Book 10, lines 595-603, the engravings on Pallas’ belt is a literal and

visual representation of the violent and gory murder of Aegyptus’ fifty sons by the hand of

Danaus’ daughters on their wedding night (Aeneid 10.595-603). The reason behind why Pallas

chose to wear a belt with those designs on it is unknown because the answer to that is not

mentioned in the text. However, if I didn’t know the story behind the belt and had to make one

reasonable guess as to why Pallas would wear it, I would say that it probably represented the

amount of violence and prevalent battles that he was fighting in at that time and his status as a

fierce, determined, and aggressive warrior (Aeneid 10.445-495). However, the belt
means

more to the Aeneid than just that, and carries a very prophetic meaning.

Although the belt may have served as a representation of violence and war, it’s no

coincidence that the story represented on the belt vividly parallels the fate of Pallas and

Turnus in the Aeneid. In Aeneid, Aeneas killed Turnus after he “buried his sword in Turnus’

chest” out of revenge for Turnus’ murder of Pallas (Aeneid 12.1155). In the case of Danaus’

daughters, Danaus commanded them to kill their husbands because he didn’t want his girls to

marry them. After one of the girls (Hypermnestra) decided to spare her betrothed (Lynceus),

Danaus felt extremely furious. Out of revenge for Danaus ordering his girls to slaughter his

brothers, Lynceus murdered Danaus because he was the cause of his brother’s deaths. One more

similarity between that story and the Aeneid is that new civilizations were started afterward,

with Lynceus and Hypermnestra starting the Danaid Dynasty, and Aeneas starting the “family of

Romans” (Aeneid 6.935-945). The reason why I don’t find it coincidental is because for those

two stories to line up almost perfectly in similarities, Virgil must have intentionally done that on

purpose in order to give us some clues that reveal how Aeneid ends.

I think that the belt’s engravings could’ve also been there to serve as a silent message to his

enemies that he’s a powerful warrior who shouldn’t be messed with or taken lightly because he’s

hostile and strong (Aeneid 10.460).
I made that assumption based on the fact that when people

look at frightening things, feelings of fear and intimidation can result. This may sound unusual

and unrelated, but Pallas having those graphic and violent engravings on his belt actually

reminds me of Entellus back in Book 5, because I remember hearing during one of our lectures

on that book that Entellus wanted to wear his huge, intimidating gloves in his fight with Dares

because he probably wanted to show Dares how tough he was (Aeneid 5.450). Based on both

situations, I think it’s possible that during Virgil’s time, some warriors of both combat sports and

actual battles liked to show off what they’ve got through their equipment because it could easily

instill reverence, awe, and fear into onlookers and enemies or opponents, and cause them to have

a certain respect for that warrior’s credentials.

The Augustan values in Aeneid that this belt and the situation of Aeneas vs
Turnus

symbolizes, are “furor” and violation of “clementia.” In both scenarios, violence was

applied instead of mercy in vengeful ways. I find it interesting that Pallas’ belt goes against

clementia because that’s the same value that Aeneas broke when he gave into his anger and

killed Turnus (Aeneid 12.1155). What the situations of Aeneas and Danaus’ daughters have in

common, was that both of them could have applied clementia by deciding to settle matters

peacefully instead of killing their enemies. However, although Aeneas could’ve chosen

clementia over furor, he’s had a history of not being in control of his emotions very well, which

is probably why clementia was a hard value for him to apply in some emotionally-charged

situations throughout the entire poem. In Book 2, lines 696-700, Venus (his mother) criticizes

him for the amount of “uncontrollable rage” that he was having during the fall of Troy and

wanted to know why he was so angry (Aeneid 2.696-700). Another example was Aeneas going

on a murderous rampage while seeking Turnus after Pallas died (Aeneid 10.620).

One reason behind why the belt may have affected Aeneas so much, is that since Pallas’

death, he has probably been feeling partially responsible for it even though he wasn’t

the murderer. After re-reading the passages in Book 8, lines 655-665 when Evander handed

Pallas over to Aeneas, I noticed that Evander wanted Aeneas to take great care of his son and

protect him, and that if something were to happen to Pallas, he (Evander) would lose the will to

live (Aeneid, 8.655-665).
Nobody would ever want to feel responsible for someone’s death,

especially the death of a child, and even Evander wished that his son didn’t have to die

before him (Aeneid 11.185). I know that Aeneas found taking care of Pallas a huge

responsibility, especially because of how distressed Evander was while and after Pallas was

turned over to him (Aeneid, 8.655-665). After Aeneas witnessed that, he probably thought:

“I’m making a very important commitment here and must not let harm come to him.” I think

that a lot of Aeneas’ grief stemmed from the fact that he couldn’t have done anything to prevent

the tragedy of Pallas from taking place, and was reminded of that grief when he noticed the

belt.

Of course, we must not forget that Juno played a role in leading Aeneas to kill Turnus by

sending down one of her furies which crippled Turnus and gave Aeneas the upper hand

(Aeneid, 12.1020-1045). I also don’t think that Aeneas seeing the belt of Pallas was
what

exclusively led him to slaughter Turnus, because he has been desiring to kill Turnus before then.

In Book 12, line 920, Aeneas and his soldiers were in hot pursuit of Turnus because they wanted

him dead (Aeneid 12.920). However, Aeneas’ glimpse of the belt still played a role in his choice

to kill Turnus. When Aeneas noticed the belt, I believe that he got terrible and disturbing

memories of how Pallas was killed because of the murderous scenes it contained. Considering

how Turnus rudely stole the belt for himself as a spoil to glorified himself, Aeneas probably felt

really infuriated that Turnus would disrespect his friend in that manner by stealing someone

else’s pride and making it their own in such a twisted way.

How the answers that I have provided to the preceding questions impact my interpretation of

the ending of the Aeneid, is that now I’m aware that Virgil had been hinting at the fate of

Turnus way before it ever happened. It made me aware that hints like that can be easily

missed if the reader is not aware of the symbolism that Virgil wrote included in such a sneaky

way. I also discovered that the Aeneid is full of a lot more hidden meanings and references than I

thought. One of the other hidden meanings in this poem is revealed in Book 6, lines 1065-1070

when Aeneas visits the Underworld and exits through the Gate of Ivory (Aeneid 6.1065-1070).

Although I don’t know the reason behind why he did that, I consider that action to be a hidden

meaning of some sort, because it’s very unusual and must mean something. Of course, many

hidden references are also shown in that same Book, particularly in lines 896-945 which

references “Augustus Caesar, born of the gods” who was actually ruling the Roman Empire

during the time that Virgil wrote Aeneid (Aeneid 6.896-945).

In conclusion, after re-reading the ending of the Aeneid again, I feel the drama and intensity

of those scenes even more than the first time I read it. That’s because I’m now aware of an even

deeper, symbolic reason behind why it happened, rather than just assuming that Aeneas did it out

of cold blood. If I were to go back and re-read the Aeneid again, I would never read it the same

way again because I would be on the hunt for hidden messages hinting at what’s to come. I also

find more sympathy for Aeneas and why he made the choice that he made. Being a person who’s

more on the diplomatic side, I remember when I first read the ending of the Aeneid and thought:

“wow, Aeneas must have been pretty darn mad to kill Turnus fair and square like that without

compromising. Why did he do this on such rash impulse?” However, after delving into the

symbolic natures of Pallas’ belt, I gained a greater and deeper understanding for why the ending

turned out the way it did despite Virgil’s cliffhanger.