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Show I CONDENSED CLASSICS VIRGIL'S AENEID I i ? i i. Condensation by V Prof. William Fenwlck Harris 2 ,? A IMS and The Man of Destiny are the subject of Virgil's story, in which he portrays the birth of a nation. The author goes far back into hh tory as Homer told it to find a national na-tional hero for his people. In Homer, Aeneas stands alongslds Hector as oue of the greatest champions cham-pions of Troy. When the city falls he ls one of the few Trojans to escape destruction. With hJs venerable father Anchlses on his shoulders, his eon held by the hand, and his wlfo following, he mnkea his way to tho BlKira and takes ship with a large company of his following to seek a new land and found a new kingdom. But he has hanging over him the Inveterate hostility hos-tility of the goddess Juno, the persistent per-sistent foe of all that was Trojan, It Is at this point that Virgil takes up the tale of his Man of Destiny. After the fashion advised by Horace, h plunges into the mldsrt of things. After some six years of wnnderlng Aeneas sets sail for Italy, after he has lost his father In Sicily. His wife had long since perished. At Juno's orders the god of the winds sends forth a tempest tem-pest which drives the shlp3 to Africa. His mother, the goddess Venus, doea her best to make up for the harshness of Juno, foretells to him the greatness that lies In store for him and his race, and directs him to Carthage, the rising ris-ing city of Queen Dido. Happy chance brings the hero and the queen together, a generous and kindly hospitality follows, fol-lows, the ever-watchful Venus produces pro-duces in place of Aeneas' son A3Canlus her own mischievous Cnpld, The quoin of Carthage can no more resist A regal entertainment is set before the visitors in a scene of vat magnificence. mag-nificence. At the end of the banquet the queen demands his story from the royal wanderer, just as King Al- clnnna hnrl nslred thft snmft from Od"VSx seus. With all the magnates of her court gathered around, with Aeneas' companions as well, the qneen fondling fon-dling the little Ascanius In her arms remomber that rogue Cupid was playing play-ing the part the prince began the famous fa-mous tale of the lost night of Troy, the stratagem of the wooden horse, the story of Laocoon, and all the rest to which follow his own escape with his people, and his many years' wanderings, wander-ings, his meeting with Andromache in Epirus, and all the events thnt had taken the six years of his life. Then follows the famous fourth book of the Aeneld, the great story of the passionate love of Dido for the Man of Destiny. The queen's confession of her love to her sister; the great hunting hunt-ing party for her lover's entertainment; entertain-ment; the storm thnt separates the hunters and drives the royal pair to a cuve alone ; the queen's tenderness ; and then the flight of the pious Aeneas ; the queen's entreaties ; the portrayal of all the passion of a slighted slight-ed woman ; and finally her own self-inflicted self-inflicted death as the hero flees to a higher duty It is splendidly done. For the hero as an Individual there can De nothing but the most perfect contempt His only excuse ls that he is the Man of Destiny; individuals must play a subordinate role in the great drama of a race. For the modern world the interest in the Aeneid grows less after the great talo of Dido's passion is told. The Trojans set sail for Italy once more, and once more are driven to Sicily. There the prince celebrates great funeral fu-neral games on the anniversary of his father's death, after the fashion of. those which Homer pictures Achilles celebrating in honor of the dead Patro-cluu. Patro-cluu. The Trojan women, weary of the long wanderings, try to burn the ships, but are only partly successful. Aeneas leaves them and all who wish to tarry, and at last reaches Italy, tvhere he makas the famous descent to the lower regions to consult his father; he perhaps, after the episode of Dido, feels the need of being told again of the great destiny of himself and his race. The Journey ls, of conrse, In imitation of Odysseus' descent to Hades, and was the grent model for Pante. Aeneas Journeys on to the mouth of the Tiber and forms an alliance with King Latlnus, which includes marriage with the king's duughter, Lavlnia. If the reader' ls inclined to murmur: "What again? Naughty man!" the answer Is that good Aeneas has been under the burden from the first of being be-ing the Man of Destiny, and the union with the daughter of King Latlnus ls to produce the Latin race. But not without a final struggle on the part of the Jealous Juno, who raises up enmity en-mity under the leadership of Turnus, one of the suitors for the hand of Lavlnia. La-vlnia. He can compete with fate no more successfully than could poor Dido, and after glorious battles perished per-ished in single combat at the hand of the Man of Destiny. Copyright 1S19. by the Poet Publishing Co. (The Boston Post.) Copyright In the United Kingdom, the Dominions, Its) Colontea and dependencies, under the eopsrigM act. by the Post Publishing Co., Boitosa Coe, U. S, A. AH rtabU euerrsf |