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259–278: Back to The Future

1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 175.     What does Mercury see (261: conspicit) upon touching down in Carthage? Why would he have deemed the sight scandalous? What stylistic devices does Virgil use to reinforce the atmosphere of scandal?

2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 176.     Mercury is supposed to deliver Jupiter’s message to Aeneas. But he does not simply reproduce Jupiter’s speech verbatim to the Trojan hero. What does he add, what does he leave out, what does he adjust? And why?

3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 177.     261–64: Any comments on Aeneas’ sense of dress?

4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 178.     What type of dative is illi (261)?

5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 179.     Describe the tone of Mercury’s opening words to Aeneas (265–67: ‘tu nunc Karthaginis altae/ fundamenta locas pulchramque uxorius urbem/ exstruis?’) and perform them out loud.

6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 180.     What are the connotations of uxorius (266)?

7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 181.     Parse oblite (267).

8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 182.     In lines 268–70, Mercury reports that the message comes from Jupiter himself: how does he present the supreme divinity in his speech? Specifically, what stylistic devices does he use to underscore the grandeur of the father of the gods?

9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 183.     Parse teris (271).

Source: https://aeneid4.theclassicslibrary.com/2012/11/29/259-278%e2%80%82back-to-the-future/