Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/50

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32
AENEAS.
AENEAS.

Aphrodite), Boiae in Laconia (where be built Etis and Aphrodisias, Paus. 3.22.9), Zacynthus (temple of Aphrodite), Leucas, Actiam, Ambracia, and to Dodona, where he met the Trojan Helenus. From Epirus he sailed across the Ionian sea to Italy, where he landed at the Iapygian promontory. Hence he crossed over to Sicily, where he met the Trojans, Elymus and Aegestus (Acestes), and built the towns of Elyme and Aegesta. From Sicily he sailed back to Italy, landed in the port of Palinurus, came to the island of Leucasia, and at last to the coast of Latium. Various signs pointed out this place as the end of his wanderings, and he and his Trojans accordingly settled in Latium. The place where they had landed was called Troy. Latinus, king of the Aborigines, when informed of the arrival of the strangers, prepared for war, but afterwards concluded an alliance with them, gave up to them a part of his dominions, and with their assistance conquered the Rutulians, with whom he was then at war. Aeneas founded the town of Lavinium, called after Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, whom he married. A new war then followed between Latinus and Turnus, in which both chiefs fell, whereupon Aeneas became sole ruler of the Aborigines and Trojans, and both nations united into one. Soon after this, however, Aeneas fell in a battle with the Rutulians, who were assisted by Mezentius, king of the Etruscans. As his body was not found after the battle, it was believed that it had been carried up to heaven, or that he had perished in the river Numicius. The Latins erected a monument to him, with the inscription To the father and native god. (Jovi Indigeti, Liv. 1.2; Dionys. A. R. 1.64; Strab. v. p.229, xiii. p. 595; Ov. Met. 13.623, &c., 14.75, &c., 15.438, &c.; Conon, Narrat. 46; Plut. Rom. 3.) Two other accounts somewhat different from those mentioned above are preserved in Servius (Serv. ad Aen. 9.264, from the work of Abas on Troy), and in Tzetzes (ad Lycophr. 1252). Dionysius places the landing of Aeneas in Italy and the building of Lavinium about the end of the second year after the taking of Troy, and the death of Aeneas in the seventh year. Virgil on the other hand represents Aeneas landing in Italy seven years after the fall of Troy, and comprises all the events in Italy from the landing to the death of Turnus within the space of twenty days.

The story about the descent of the Romans from the Trojans through Aeneas was generally received and believed at Rome at an early period, and probably arose from the fact, that the inhabitants of Latium and all the places which Aeneas was said to have founded, lay in countries inhabited by people who were all of the same stock--Pelasgians: hence also the worship of the Idaean Aphrodite in all places the foundation of which is ascribed to Aeneas. Aeneas himself, therefore, such as he appears in his wanderings and final settlement in Latium, is nothing else but the personified idea of one common origin. In this character he was worshipped in the various places which traced their origin to him. (Liv. 40.4.) Aeneas was frequently represented in statues and paintings by ancient artists. (Paus. 2.21.2, 5.22.2; Plin. Nat. 35.10.36.) On gems and coins he is usually represented as carrying his father on his shoulder, and leading his son Ascanius by the hand.

Respecting the inconsistencies in the legends about Aeneas and the mode of solving them, see Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, i. p. 179, &c. Respecting the colonies he is said to have founded, Fiedler, De Erroribus Aeneae ad Phoenicum colonias pertinentibus, Wesel, 1827, 4to. About the worship and religious character of Aeneas, see Uschold, Geschichte des Trojanischen Krieges, Stuttgard, 1836, p. 302, &c.; Hartung, Gescichte der Relig. der Römer, i. p. 83, &c.; and above all R. H. Klausen, Aencas und die Penaten, especially book i. p. 34, &c. [L. S.]


AENE'AS (Αἰνείας) GAZAEUS, so called from his birth-place, flourished A. D. 487. He was at first a Platonist and a Sophist, being a disciple of the philosopher Hieroeles (as appears from his Theophrastus, Galland. p. 629) and a friend of Procopius (as we know from his Epistles). His date thus ascertained is confirmed by his stating, that he had heard speak some of the Confessors whose tongues Hunneric had cut out, A. D. 484. (Ibid. p. 663c.) When a Christian, he composed a dialogue, On the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body, called Theophrastus from one of the interlocutors. This appeared first in a Latin version by Ambrosius Camaldulensis, 8vo., Ven. 1513, and 4to, Basil. 1516. The original Greek, with the Latin version of Wolf, fol. Tigur. 1559; with the Latin version and notes of C. Barthius, 4to. Lips. 1655 (see Fabricius, de Veritat. Relig. Christ. Syllabus, p. 107, Hamb. 1725); also in Gallandi's Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. x. p. 629, Ven. 1766; and with the notes of Boissonade, 8vo. Par. 1836. In Ebert's Dictionary is the following reference: Wernsdorf Pr. de Aenea Gaz., Numb. 1817, 4to. In the Aldine Collection of Epistles by Greek Authors there are 25 by Aeneas, Gr. 4to., Ven. 1499. See Fabricius, Biblioth. Graec. vol. i. pp. 676-690. Some of the letters of Aeneas may be found in the Encyclopaedia Philologica of Joannes Patusa, Gr. 8vo., Ven. 1710, vol. i. [A. J. C.]



AENE'AS SI'LVIUS, son of Silvius, and grandson of Ascanius. He is the third in the list of the mythical kings of Alba in Latium, and the Silvii regarded him as the founder of their house. (Liv. 1.3.) Dionysius (1.71) ascribes to him a reign of 31 years. (Comp. Verg. A. 6.769.) Ovid (Ov. Met. 14.610, &c.) does not mention him among the Alban kings. [L. S.]


AENE'AS (Αἰνείας), surnamed TACTICUS (ὁ Τακτικός), a Greek writer, whose precise date is not known. Xenophon (Xenoph. Hell. 7.3.1) mentions an Aeneas of Stymphalus, who about the time of the battle of Mantineia (362, B. C.) distinguished himself by his bravery and skill as general of the Arcadians. Casaubon supposes this Aeneas to be the same, and the supposition is confirmed by a passage (Comment. Poliorc. 27) where he speaks familiarly of an Arcadian provincialism. But, however this may be, the general character of this work, the names he mentions, and the historical notices which occur, with other internal evidence, all point to about this period. He wrote a large work on the whole art of war, στρατηγικὰ βιβλία, or περὶ τῶν στρατηγικῶν ὑπομνήματα (Plb. 10.40; Suidas, s. v. Αἰνείας), consisting of several parts. Of these only one is preserved, called τακτικόν τε καί πολιορκητικόν ὑπόμνημα περί τοῦ πως χρή πολιορκούμενον ἀντέχειν, commonly called Commentarius Poliorceticus. The object of the book