Patterns of Death in the Aeneid

Abstract

In the attempt to consider the end of the Aeneid from a different perspective, this article explores a number of its paired death-scenes: those of Lausus and Pallas, and of Mezentius and Turnus in particular, within the context of the epic as a whole.  The majority of the warriors who die young prompt some reflection, on the part of a character or the narrator, about the unfortunate nature of war.   But the death of Turnus does not, and nor does the death of Mezentius.  Other patterns, however, prevent the easy equation of the two men; Mezentius is impious, but perhaps redeemed, but the moral state of Turnus is left unclear.  So too, the death of Turnus bears similarities to that of Camilla, to Lausus and Pallas, and to Dido, insofar as he is young and the poem always finds the death of young people regrettable.  The end of the poem, therefore, is deliberately ambiguous, illustrating some of the regrettable necessities of war.