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Description
Aeneas’ (un)reliability in Aeneid 2-3 - Virgil Society Seminar series 2023
Abstract: this paper aims to assess how Vergil characterises Aeneas as a resourceful rhetorician in Aen. 2–3. I shall start by discussing Vergil’s rhetorical background and his posthumous appreciation as a rhetorician (esp. in Quintilian, Florus, and Macrobius). I will then focus on Aen. 2–3, discussing how Aeneas’ speech may be seen as an elaborate rhetorical construction, aiming to strike a chord with Aeneas’ narratees (Dido and the Carthaginians), as well as Vergil’s readers. I hope that this will make it possible to see Aen. 2–3 in a different light and, ultimately, to reflect on Aeneas’ reliability as a narrator.