Sunday, December 22, 2019

M/M: Dangerous Beauty: The Myth of Achilles and Troilus, Serv. 1.474

TRIGGER WARNING: Violence, Assault

Veritas quidem hoc habet: Troili amore Achillem ductum palumbes et quibus ille delectabatur obiecisse: quas cum vellet tenere, captus ab Achille et in eius amplexibus periit. Sed hoc quasi indignum heroo carmine mutavit poeta.

--Serv. Hon. In Verg. carm. coment. 1.474

The poet [Vergil] changed this, since it puts the hero in a bad light, but here's the truth:

Overcome by a love for the Trojan prince Troilus, Achilles offered the Trojan his favorite birds as a gift. But when Troilus reached for them, Achilles caught him in an embrace and he died in the struggle.

SERVIUS
MAP:
Name:  Maurus Servius Honoratus
Date:  4th – 5th c. CE (???)
Works:  In Vergilii carmina comentarii

REGION  1
Region 1: Peninsular Italy; Region 2: Western Europe; Region 3: Western Coast of Africa; Region 4: Egypt and Eastern Mediterranean; Region 5: Greece and the Balkans

BIO:
Timeline:
 Little is known about the author or manuscript tradition for the grammatical commentary of Vergil’s Aeneid.
 BYZANTINE / LATE LATIN
Early Roman Lit: through 2nd c BCE: Republican Rome: through 1st c. BCE; Golden Age: 70 BCE to 18 CE; Silver Age: 18 CE to 150 CE; Age of Conflict: 150 CE - 410 CE; Byzantine and Late Latin: after 410 CE