Of men; the gods beheld and caught him up The wine to Jove, and ever dwell with them. Of mighty fame, to whom five sons were born. And Hicetaon, trained to war by Mars. Capys, to whom Anchises owes his birth. Is noble Hector. Such I claim to be My lineage and my blood. In the same connection he also boasts of a divine mother: I boast My birth from brave Anchises, and can claim Venus as mother. 55. Ovid thus reviews the Royal line of Troy (Fast. IV. 31-40): Dardanon Electra nesciret Atlantide natum Scilicet, Electram concubuisse Iovi? Huius Erichthonius: Tros est generatus ab illo: Unde domus Teucros Iulia tangit avos. It will be observed that Ovid, selecting that portion of the story most inter esting to a Roman audience and especially to the house of Caesar, follows the line down through Assaracus, the second son of Tros, through Capys, Anchises, and Aeneas. 56. Vergil in no one place gives the complete genealogy; but by comparing different passages in his works, an almost complete history of the royal line may be obtained. This history is here given, as far as possible in Vergil's words. Dardanus' parentage: Dardanus, Iliacae primus pater urbis et auctor, Electra, ut Graii perhibent, Atlantide cretus, Advehitur Teucros; Electram maximus Atlas Edidit, aetherios umero qui sustinet orbes (Aen VIII. 134-137). His native land: Est locus, Hesperiam Graii cognomine dicunt; Hae nobis propriae sedes; hinc Dardanus ortus, Lasiusque pater, genus a quo principe nostrum (Aen. III. 163 seq.). He journeys to Thrace and Phrygia, the kingdom of Teucer : Atque equidem memini his ortus ut agris [Italy] Dardanus Idaeas Phrygiae penetrarit ad urbes Threiciamque Samon, quae nunc Samothracia fertur (Aen. VII. 205 seq.). Cf. also supra, VIII. 136. Advehitur Teucros. Here he marries Batea, the daughter of Teucer, king of a part of Troas. From this wife of the great Dardanus is probably named the mound mentioned by Homer (Il. II. 1019): In the great plain before the city stands A mound of steep ascent on every side; 57. Teucer ceded a part of his kingdom to Dardanus, who built a city called Dardania (cf. Homer, Il. XX. 272). Vergil seems to confound this city with Troy, for he calls Dardanus Iliacae urbis auctor (Aen. VIII. 134), and Troiae auctor (VI. 650); and he also calls Troy Dardania (III. 156). From Dardanus, their great founder (cf. supra "genus a quo principe nostrum"), the Trojans are called Dardanidae (Aen. I. 560 et passim). 58. But Teucer, also, is worthy of note, since from his blood, through the descendants of his daughter and Dardanus, the Trojans and their descendants, the Romans, sprung. Certe hinc Romanos olim, volventibus annis, Hinc fore ductores, revocato a sanguine Teucri (Aen I. 234). Teucer came originally from Crete, hence the error as to the fates into which Anchises and Aeneas fell (Aen. III. 104): Creta Iovis magni medio iacet insula ponto; Mons Idaeus ubi, et gentis cunabula nostrae. Maximus unde pater Teucrus Rhoeteas primum est advectus ad oras, Optavitque locum regno. From Teucer the Trojans are called Teucri (Aen. II. 252 et passim); and Troy is once called Teucria (II. 26). 59. From Dardanus sprang Erichthonius (cf. supra, Homer and Ovid). He is not mentioned in Vergil, the Erichthonius mentioned in Geo. III. 113 being one of the early Attic kings. Erichthonius had a son, Tros, that ancestor (Tros parens, Geo. III. 36) from whom the country Troas or Troia, and afterwards the city Troy, were named. From him also the Trojans are named (Aen. I. 574), and the Trojan women (Troades, V. 613). Tros had three sons, Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymedes. 60. Ilus built the city of Troy, which he called Ilium (I. 68 et passim). From his name Vergil has the adjective Iliacus (III. 336), and a name for the Trojan women, Iliades (I. 480). According to tradition, it was he who received from Juppiter the Palladium (II. 166). 61. Of Assaracus, Vergil makes the following mention: Cum domus Assaraci Phthiam Clarasque Mycenas Magnanimi heroes, nati melioribus annis, Ilusque Assaracusque et Troiae Dardanus auctor (VI. 649). Per magnos, Nise, Penates Assaracique Larem et canae penetralia Vestae Obtestor (IX. 258). Gente sub Assaraci (IX. 643); genus Assaraci (XII. 127). 62. Ganymedes, remarkable for his beauty, was carried off by an eagle to be the cup-bearer to the gods (cf. Homer, supra), and in so doing displaced Hebe, the daughter of Juno. Hence one cause of Juno's hatred to the whole race of Trojans (Aen. I. 28). Vergil vividly pictures the scene of the rape of Ganymedes (V. 252 seq.): Intextusque puer frondosa regius Ida Velocis iaculo cervos cursuque fatigat, Custodes, saevitque canum latratus in auras. 63. Ilus had a daughter Themis, who married Capys, the son of Assaracus, and who became the mother of Anchises; and a son Laomedon whose name became a synonym for falsehood and treachery : Satis iam pridem sanguine nostro Laomedonteae luimus periuria Troiae (Geo. I. 501). Laomedonteae sentis periuria gentis? (Aen. IV. 541.) Laomedontiadae, bellumne inferre paratis Et patrio Harpyias insontes pellere regno? (Aen. III. 248.) Apollo and Neptune were engaged to build a wall around Troy for a stated reward. But when the wall had been built, Laomedon refused to fulfill his part of the contract (cf. Geo. III. 36. Troiae Cynthius auctor, and Aen. II. 625. Neptunia Troia). Neptune, to punish the perfidious Laomedon, sent a seamonster to ravage his country. The oracle declared that in order to rid himself of it Laomedon must expose to the monster his own daughter, Hesione. He did so. She was afterwards rescued by Hercules, who imposed the condition that Laomedon should give him the mares which Tros had received from Juppiter in exchange for his son Ganymedes. Laomedon was again faithless to his word. Hercules thereupon raised a band of followers, sacked Troy (cf. Aen. II. 642: Satis una superque Vidimus excidia et captae superavimus urbi), and slew Laomedon and all his children except Priam and Hesione. Hercules placed Priam on the throne of his father, and gave Hesione to his follower Telamon, who became by her the father of Teucer. After the Trojan war, Teucer (on the Greek side), was banished by his father from Salamis because he did not avenge the death of his half-brother Ajax. He went to Cyprus and sought the aid of Belus: Atque equidem Teucrum memini Sidona venire Auxilio Beli. Ipse hostis Teucros insigni laude ferebat, Seque ortum antiqua Teucrorum ab stirpe volebat (Aen. I. 619). 64. Laomedon's son Tithonus was beloved by the goddess Aurora, and was, at her request, made immortal. Vergil thus beautifully alludes to Aurora and Tithonus: Ant ubi pallida surget Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile (Geo. I. 446). Et iam prima novo spargebat lumine terras Tithoni croceum linquens Aurora cubile (Aen. IV. 584). 65. Memnon was the son of Tithonus and Aurora: Nunc, quibus Aurorae venisset filius armis (Aen. I. 751). He was leader of the Aethiopian allies of Troy: Eoasque acies et nigri Memnonis arma (Aen. I. 489). According to mythology Aethiopia was in the East; hence eoas. He is supposed to have been slain by Achilles. 66. Priam, the only surviving son of Laomedon, married Hecuba, and had nineteen sons by her, though he had in all fifty sons (cf. Homer, Il. XXIV. 623): Vidi Hecubam, centumque nurus, Priamumque per aras Cf. also Homer, Il. VI. 319: And then he came to Priam's noble hall, A palace built with graceful porticos, For the tragic death of Priam, cf. Aen. II. 533–558. 67. Of the sons and daughters of Priam, Vergil makes the following mention. Hector is in Vergil only the slain and outraged hero: Saevus ubi Aeacidae telo iacet Hector (Aen. I. 99). Ter circum Iliacos raptaverat Hectora muros, Exanimumque auro corpus vendebat Achilles (Aen. I. 483). In somnis, ecce, ante oculos maestissimus Hector Vel Danaum Phrygios iaculatus puppibus ignis! (Aen. II. 270 seq.) 68. Hector had a wife, Andromache (coniugis Hectoreae, Aen. III. 488), and a son, Astyanax, who after the fall of Troy was slain by the Greeks. Thus Andromache to Ascanius (Aen. III. 489): O mihi sola mei super Astyanactis imago. |