The Primacy of Vision in Virgil's Aeneid

Chapter 4: Hic amor: Love, Vision, and Destiny

chapter 4 Hic amor love, vision, and destiny n I met a lady in the meads, Full beautiful, a fairy’s child; Her hair was long, her foot was light, And her eyes were wild. . . . I saw pale kings, and princes too, Pale warriors, death pale were they all; They cried—‘‘La belle dame sans merci Hath thee in thrall!’’ keats, ‘‘La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad,’’ 13–16, 37–40 In Keats’ ‘‘La Belle Dame sans Merci,’’ a lonely knight-at-arms encounters a dryadlike girl whose eyes capture his gaze. Although he symbolically endeavors to overcome her waywardness by closing her ‘‘wild’’ eyes with kisses, the knight senses that the relationship cannot endure. In his dreams, the knight can see the ‘‘death-pale’’ succession of lovers from the girl’s past. By the end of the poem, the knight has become a voyant-visible, able to see another ’s past and present while anticipating the dangerous future that awaits him should he remain where ‘‘the sedge is wither’d from the lake / and no birds sing’’ (3–4, 47–48). Virgil uses similar visual imagery in the Aeneid to illustrate the creation and destruction of Dido and Aeneas’ relationship. Virgil interweaves visual description with amatory allusions, contrasting vision and love of Aeneas’ future country with the lovers’ glances and the present reality of their love 97 the primacy of vision in virgil’s Aeneid affair. From their initial meeting, the way that Aeneas and Dido look at each other reveals that the development of their relationship will be indebted, in some measure, to the vision each has of the other. Aeneas’ focus on Dido temporarily obscures his vision of the land of his calling. Other significant passages in the Aeneid also reflect this pattern; near the poem’s conclusion, Aeneas’ future vision of Rome1 conflicts with Turnus’ vision of Lavinia.2 We can begin to examine the connection between Dido and Aeneas by contextualizing their initial meeting. Prima facie, Venus arranges the meeting of Dido and Aeneas to secure aid for her son in Carthage. Nevertheless, Dido and Aeneas’ relationship extends beyond a mere political alliance because of Venus’ desire to thwart Juno’s plans to dissuade Aeneas from his mission (671–672). The pair’s tender glances clash with the imperial visions of each for their respective countries, and each must eventually choose a primary object of vision. As Aeneas ceases to view his relationship with Dido as his central focus, his vision of Rome is reestablished, for such vision replaces the amatory gaze that had existed between himself and Dido.3 Application of Merleau-Ponty’s theory of the voyant-visible elucidates the importance of vision during each phase of Dido and Aeneas’ relationship, from meeting, to separation, to rendezvous in the campi lugentes. Virgil juxtaposes vision and verbal communication to illustrate the widening gap between the two, and consideration of Dido and Aeneas’ changing views of each other and of the future helps the reader to evaluate the evolution and eventual disintegration of the relationship. Analysis of the first encounter of Dido and Aeneas, with attention to an interesting remark by Servius on the passage, will provide understanding of the importance of vision in their relationship. aliud genus officii: vision and the second favor From the initial meeting of Dido and Aeneas, Virgil effects a synergy of vision and language. Dido’s first sight of Aeneas produces in her a response that befits both a noble ruler and a sympathetic human being. Dido’s gaze transforms Aeneas from hidden voyeur to voyant-visible, to whom Dido reacts with thoughtful speech. By contrast, Aeneas’ vision of Dido temporarily obscures the understanding that he has of his own destiny. Although he initially reciprocates Dido’s passion and devotion in the context of their relationship , Aeneas eventually looks afresh to his duty and true calling. In Aeneid 1, Dido addresses the Teucrian refugees with words of great encouragement and distinct compassion: 98 Hic amor Tum breuiter Dido uultum demissa profatur: ‘soluite corde metum, Teucri, secludite curas. res dura et regni nouitas me talia cogunt moliri et late finis custode tueri. quis genus Aeneadum, quis Troiae nesciat urbem, uirtutesque uirosque aut tanti incendia belli?’ Aen. 1.561–566 [Then Dido softly, briefly answers him: ‘‘O Teucrians, enough of fear, cast out your cares. My kingdom is new; hard circumstances have forced me to such measures for our safety, to post guards...