Turnus's Tota Italia: Italian Solidarity and Political Rhetoric in Aeneid 7–12

summary:

Upon the Trojans' landing in Latium, the many distinct peoples inhabiting the Aeneid's fictionalized Italy show little evidence of national solidarity as "Italians"; rather, they identify primarily with their local communities. But Aeneas's enemies, mobilizing resistance to an alleged foreign invasion, promote an amplified—and largely invented—claim of shared Italian identity constructed in militant contrast to the Trojan Other. This rhetorical strategy echoes Octavian's historical appeals to Italian unanimity in 32 b.c.e. against Cleopatra, which also promoted a sense of national solidarity that was, in reality, only emergent among communities characterized by strong and diverse local identities.