『アエネーイス』におけるマルケッルス追悼の詩句について

Abstract

Why did Virgil add the lamentation over doomed Marcellus to his 'pageant of Roman heroes (Heldenschau)' in Aeneid Book 6? Whether it is really an inserted (or rewritten) passage or not, there is at least some clumsiness in the hasty transition from dark and sorrowful mood of the 'Marcellus episode' to somewhat brighter description of Anchises encouraging his son by revealing all about the future glories of Rome ('incenditque animam famae uenientis amore'). Marcellus, nephew of Augustus, was looked upon as the next ruler of Roman state by most people until his untimely death, and Virgil shared this expectation, too. Therefore he intended to depict the death of Marcellus as a great, irreparable loss to the Romans. This is why the poet included him in the catalogue of Roman rulers, i. e. 'Heldenschau'. In doing so, Virgil seems to have felt no need of reconciling his pitiful lamentation with the narrative flow of Aeneid Book 6.