I've been reflecting a lot about The Aeneid this past year, especially in relation to the great spiritual and cultural darkening currently descending on the West. Three aspects in particular stand out - (1) The collapse of a civilisation - Troy for Aeneas, Christendom/Europe/America/The West for us, (2) The need to recognise what's of value in that civilisation, salvage it from the flames, and bring it with us into the future, the old finding new expression in a new and Divinely-appointed dispensation (Rome in Aeneas's case), and (3) - a corollary of (2) - the need to have faith in the future and to trust in the promptings of the gods.
Those are the master themes of Virgil's poem for me, with reference, as I say, to the civilisational car crash playing out around us. So with this in mind, I intend to post two retellings from this foundational text over the next month. The first, due on Sunday 28th all being well, is my take on the end of Book Two - Aeneas's flight from Troy. The second, which will hopefully appear towards the end of March, is a retelling of Book Six - Aeneas's encounter with the Cumean Sybil and his trip to Hades and the Elysian Fields.
There may be one or two shorter posts in the interim but this is where my imaginative focus will be between now and Holy Week. These acts of piety to a writer I and many others consider a prophet of Christ will, I hope, in their own small way, serve as a statement of intent in this dark time - an act of ressourcement - a return to the source and wellspring of European tradition, the aboriginal calamity of the fall of Troy, which yet bore fruit, according to legend, not only in the foundation of Rome but of Britain too. But that's another story!
So a nice way, perhaps, to mark (I won't say celebrate!) the one year anniversary of Covidworld's dismal eruption into our lives.
Strange, I've just started reading the Aeneid for the first time just last week. I look forward to your meditations which I'm sure will be a source of light on my journey through the Aeneid.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
Thanks Michael. Have hit some IT problems unfortunately (see most recent post) which means I've lost everything I wrote for the first retelling and have to write it out again. So it'll be at least a week before it's up.
ReplyDeleteI hope The Aeneid strikes a chord with you. What stays in my memory most from Book 1 is the frescoes of the Trojan War Aeneas and his companions encounter on the walls of Dido's palace. You can really feel his exasperation, as if no matter how far he goes he'll never be allowed to forget the pain and humiliation of it all.