ENDING THE "AENEID"?

CLOSURE AND CONTINUATION IN MAFFEO VEGIO'S

"SUPPLEMENTUM"
Author(s): EMMA BUCKLEY
Source: Vergilius (1959-), Vol. 52 (2006), pp. 108-137
Published by: The Vergilian Society
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ENDING

THE

AENEID

CLOSURE

AND

MAFFEO

VEGIO'S

CONTINUATION

IN

SUPPLEMENTUM

EMMA BUCKLEY
INTRODUCTION
The Florentine humanist Maffeo Vegio is chiefly known for his
audacious 1428 Libri XII Aeneidos Supplementum,a thirteenth
book of
about 600 verses thatattemptsto "finishoff' the Augustan epic.1 From
the controversyover the state of the Aeneid at Virgil's death and the
widespread use of Donatus' commentary,Renaissance readers of Virgil
were tacklinga textthey assumed to be incomplete;2and while several
continuationsof theAeneid were produced in response to the "lack of an
end" to the Augustan epic, Vegio 's, the most famous, was regularly
included in editionsof Virgil rightinto the 19thcentury.3This 13thbook
does not so much provide a sequel to the Virgilian epic as supplementa
perceived deficiencyin the epic's end by narrating"what (should have)
happened next": the Italian-Trojantruce,Aeneas' marriageto Lavinia,
and the hero's eventualtransferenceto heaven. Vegio quashes the moral
ambivalence and disorientationof the Aeneid's final lines to provide in
its place soothing reconciliation,dynastic assurance and the perfect
"Christianized"finale,a soul in heaven.
Vegio' s Supplement, awkwardly situated on the cusp of the
Renaissance proper, has been subjected to a number of overarching
historicistinterpretations.
Viewed as a medieval text,it has been argued
thattheSupplementtransforms
theAeneid intothe fullyformedChristian
allegory popularly promoted by the tradition of Fulgentius and
Bernardus' commentary,subjectingthe Augustan epic to the same kind
of Christianizingscheme (albeit at a much humbler level) set up by
1
three
other
neo-Latin
twoona "classical"
theme
Vegioalsowrote
epyllia,
(theAstyanax
andtheVellus
Aureum
a Christian
with
), theother
); thesecanbe found
epic(Antoniad
translation
inPutnam
a largenumber
of
English
(2004).Inlaterlife,Vegioproduced
concerned
withpedagogy,
andevenarchaeology.
Onthehistory
prosetreatises
religion
oftheSupplement
seeHijmans
and
(1971-2);Kallendorf
(1989)204(n.19);Brown
Kallendorf
seeCox-Brinton
(1990).OnVegio'slifeandworks
(1930)5-24;Schneider
(1985)14-16;Cosenza(1967)3593-8;Glei& Khler
(1998)1-11.
seetheimportant
ofKallendorf
below.
Though
qualifications
(1999)andfurther
3Forother
seeSchmidt
(1973).
supplements
52 (2006) 108-137
Vergilius

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum

109

Dante's Commedia.4 From a Renaissance perspective,the Supplement

standsas a showpiece of epideicticrhetoric,an instantiationof the fusion
of classical learning with the contemporaryconcern with oratoryand
winningthe argument,in which Aeneas starsas a model of Renaissance
virt.5And as modern critics have been notoriouslyif crudely divided
into"pro-" and "anti-" Augustancamps in theirchoices over how to read
the end of theAeneid, withall the ideological implicationssuch a reading
has forthe epic as a whole,6Vegio's mini-epichas been claimed forboth
sides; both as a harbourerof "pessimistic" undertones,and as a proto"pro-Augustan" text, foreshadowing a different kind of "forced
closure"- in Thomas's words, closure by "hermeneutics"ratherthan
- on theVirgilianepic.7
Vegio's methodof supplementation
Often writtenoff as a thoughtlesspastiche for a time that did not
understandthe Aeneid's deliberateequivocations,the wisdom of writing
the Supplementwas in fact a subject of considerable debate even in the
time of its publication, and the propriety of- or need for- the
Supplement was far from unanimously agreed even by humanist
contemporaries.One vivid example of such discomfortis to be foundin
the words of Vegio's earliesttranslator,Gavin Douglas, who in 1513 put
theSupplementintoMiddle Scots. Douglas protestedthatthe Supplement
was about as much use as the proverbial fifthwheel on a cart, on the
groundsthatits pagan subject matterwas immoraland, more strikingly,
that it was in literaryterms redundant.8This kind of contemporary
critical evaluation puts more emphasis on the need to explore how the
4Cf.CoxBrinton
(1930)24-9;Edwards
(1990)142;Fichter
(1982)12-15.Forthe
medieval
toVirgilseeComparetti
(1966).Onthemedieval
response
commentary
tradition
seeJones
(1986),esp.117-129;Desmond
(1990);Edwards
(1990).OnDante's
transformation
oftheAeneidseePutnam
"Christianizing"
(1991).
5Cf.Kallendorf
(1989)Chap.5; Putnam
(2004)xiii.Maguinness
(1968),examining
"Ontheeducation
ofchildren,"
thatthisis a
Vegio'sprosetreatise
emphasizes
humanist
workmarking
a radical
breakwiththemedievalist
tothe
thoroughly
response
Classics.
6OntheendoftheAeneidsee
reflections
onthe
(2001);formoregeneral
e.g.Putnam
ofinterpreting
theAeneid'
s endseeHardie(1997)andThomas
ideological
implications
(2001).
7Cf.Kallendorf
(1999)andThomas(2001)280.
waspublished
in 1553;cf.Watt(1920)andCoxBrinton
Douglas'translation
(1930)
critics
ofVegioseeCoxBrinton
33-6,93-124.Forcontemporary
(1930)29-32.Itshould
benotedthatVegioalsogainednotable
historian
PaoloGiovio
praise;thehumanist
claimed
thatVegiooutdid
allexcept
whileJ.C.Scaliger
ratedVegioabove
Petrarch,
Statius
andLucan.

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110

Emma Buckley

Supplementmightbe offeringa particularlycharged critical response,

going beyond supplementation in any simple sense.9 Indeed, the
anonymouswriterof the Vitaof Vegio suggeststhatthiswas theprimary
motivationforthe creationof theSupplement, comparingit to Quintusof
Smyrna's"continuation"of Homer and assertingthatVegio did notwrite
theSupplementbecause he thoughtVirgil's poem was unfinished.10
Vegio does not seek to provide overtideological justificationforthe
Supplement in the text itself, though it may be no coincidence that
Filippo Maria Visconti, Count of Pavia and the man Vegio would later
petition (unsuccessfully) for patronage by means of the panegyricalmythologicalConviviumDeorum (1430), tracedhis family's line back to
Aeneas himself.11Vegio does, however, constructa distinctlydynastic
allusive relationshipwith Virgil, offeringa more complex challenge to
theAenei s end thanhas sometimesbeen assumed. This articleseeks to
analyze the intertextual strategies behind the thirteenthbook's
"supplementary" ploys and argues that the sophistication and
deliberationof Vegio's criticalrewritebespeaks not a medieval-minded
thatconcealed the true spiritualmeaning
unveilingof the integumentum
of the Aeneid, but rather a forwards-lookingand typically humanist
manipulationof words forhis own ends. Indeed, examinationof notjust
the quid but also the quale of the Supplement foregrounds the
Supplement's susceptibility to a reading that privileges not just
Renaissance but even moderncriticalnotions of "supplementarity"and
"closure", revealing a remarkablyprescientunderstandingon Vegio's
9Cf.the
ofAriosto'
s vernacular
influenced
(andOvidian)
endings
analogous
Virgilian
ofthe"open"and"closed"
Furioso(1516),which
alsoplaysonthenotion
epicOrlando
withJavitch
( 1992).
( 1984)andSitterson
ending,
intheMaxima
Bibliotheca
Patrum
ThisVitaisprefixed
toVegio'swritings
, vol.26,
Aeneaegestis
librum
de ultimis
632(citedinSchneider
(1985)19n.39):Carmine
quidem
esseopus
Aeneidos
nonquasiimperfectum
& obitu,
decimum
nuncupauit,
quemtertium
ad quaeferebatur,
exercerei:
Maronis
sedutinPoeticisingenium
idque
putaret,
" lib.14addereestausus. his
("In
exemplo
Quinti
Smynaei,
quiHomero"paraleipomena
bookof
which
hecalledthethirteenth
poemaboutthefinaldeedsanddeathofAeneas,
thatVirgil'sworkwasunfinished,
notas though
hethought
theAeneid
, helaboured
this
inthepoeticmatters
towhichitwasdrawn;
butinorder
toexercise
histalent
whomadeboldtoaddhis14booksof
totheexample
ofQuintus
ofSmyrna,
according
'bitsleftout'toHomer.")
itslinefrom
Thisgenealogical
claimonthepartoftheVisconti
family,
tracing
Anglus
inPetrus
sonofAscanius,
ofAeneas,is recorded
deCastellato's
(1403)funeral
grandson
inexsequiis
Iohannis
Galeatiiducis
{Sermo
eulogyforGianGaleazzoVisconti
Nationale
ms.lat.5888,f.7-12).
Mediolani
, Bibliothque

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum 111

partof the kinds of holes in the Aeneid thatfundamentallydeny closure

to thetext.12
Beginning the Supplement, Ending the Aeneid
Imitativere-creationlies at the heartof Renaissance literarycritical
theory:the "classics" are held up as a perfectstandardwhich cannot be
bettered,and the humanistprojectis an attemptto recreatethatperfection
through ancient literaryculture.13No theoretical frameworkfor the
practice of imitatioexists for the period in which the Supplementwas
written,but fromVida's De arte poetica (1527) we findthe formulation
of an approach to the classics already obvious in practice: the art of
poetryis the artof the imitationof otherwriters,and the suprememodel
of artisticperfectionand an imitativeliterarytraditionis Virgil.14Vegio's
neo-Latin Supplement, so obviously and determinedlyshaped by Virgil,
seems an audacious example of this determinationto attain an ever- in taking up the storyof the Aeneid
nearer "Virgilian" gold-standard
where it abruptlyleftoff,Vegio stakes in the strongesttermspossible his
affiliationto the imitativere-creationof Virgil's master text. A close
look at the Supplementitselfshows thathowever misplaced the intention
to end theAeneid mightseem to a moderncritic,if Vegio's "addition" is
an attemptto get as close as he possibly can to Virgil, it is also a
sophisticatedcritiqueof thattextwhich deals notjust withthe gap at the
end but also otheropen-endeddissatisfactionswithinthe epic proper.15

12Martindale
defines
thiskindof"supplementari
of
(1993)37 usefully
ty":"themeaning
a textis never
butalwayscontains
a supplement.
Thesignifier
is so charged
completed,
withanexcessofenergy
thatitgenerates
further
fictions
whichservetoanswer
fictions,
unanswered
fill"gaps,"explain
"contradictions,"
questions,
perceived
"provide
sequels."
Smith
thefirst
formalist
of"closure,"
(1968)offers
study
arguing
(p.2),"whether
ortemporally
a structure
as
received,
spatially
appears'closed'whenitis experienced
andstable."
Lorenzo
and
coherent,
Valla,Vegio'scontemporary
integral:
complete,
hadalready
offered
adviceonthetopicof"closure"
inhisElegantiae
friend,
(3.85),ina
entitled
"OnExpressions
thatSuittheEndofa Work."
chapter
Cf.Greene
riskofRenaissance
imitation
(1982)31: "thecharacteristic
layinthe
ofitspieties,
ina rhetoric
so respectful
ofitssubtexts
thatnovital
potential
paralysis
from
thetradition
couldoccur."
emergence
14Cf.Moss
dogiveus some
(1989a),whocomments
(98) thatnotesandmarginalia
forpre-Vida
Moss(1989b)discusses
theRenaissance
useofimitatio
and
works;
steering
aemulatio
intheattempt
togetcloserto"Virgilian"
status.
Putnam
thecritical
nature
ofVegio'sengagement
withthe
(2001)334-5stresses
Aeneid
; cf.alsoSchneider
(1985)20-1.

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112

Emma Buckley

Vegio is oftencast as a "loyal" continuatorof Virgil, but while the

sentimentbehind this characterisationmay be accurate, the aggressive
and even parasiticallusive policy of the Supplement, which aims to pose
as an integralpartof theAeneid fromthe veryfirstline, demands further
consideration. In Vegio's other epyllia, the poet adopts established
classical precedentsforthe opening of his text,invokingthe help of the
Muses in theAstyanaxand VellusAureum, or, in the case of his Christian
mini-epic,the Antoniad, ostentatiouslyjettisoningdivine assistance for
his song. In the Supplement, however,Vegio plunges straightin, picking
up theVirgiliannarrativeat the exact momentit leftoff,over the body of
Turnus: Turnus ut extremo devictus Marte profudit/ effugientem
animam... ("When Turnus,beaten in the final bout of war, poured forth
his fleeting life").16 Recalling the final lines of Aeneid 12, ast illi
soluuntur/rigore membra/uitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub
umbras ("Turnus' limbs loosed in cold; and with a groan his life,bitter,
left,fleeingdown to the Shades," Aen. 12.952-3), Vegio binds his book
intotheAugustantext,combiningthisbackwardsglance withan allusion
to the beginning of Book 12 that serves to encapsulate Virgil's final
book: ( Turnus ut infractos aduerso Marte Latinos / defecisse uidet
("When Turnus saw the Latins brokenand flaggingwith the bout lost,"
Aen. 12.1-2). In his first two lines Vegio identifies the significant
markersof the final book-divisionof the Aeneid, synthesizesthem in a
neat repetitionthat marks the beginningof his own text, and assumes
their "authorizing" power as the basis on which his own work will
proceed.
stresses,unityand coherenceis
If, as modernwork on intratextuality
what we say about a text ratherthan a featureof it, Vegio's clever
exploitationof the Aeneid here to create a typically"Virgilian" bookdivision demands provisional status for the end of the epic as Virgil
wrote it and stakes a strongclaim forthe Supplementto be read as the
"natural" ending of the Aeneid itself.17 In identifying Virgil's
sophisticateduse of book-division to theme closure and continuation
throughoutthe Aeneid and startinghis own work by drawing upon the
strongclosural associations book-ends and beginningshave, he not only
16Alltranslations
Putnam
oftheSupplement
aretakenfrom
(2004).
17On
tricks
that
seeesp.Sharrock
(2000)21;onthedifferent
Virgilian
intratextuality
intheAeneidseeNagle(1983),Fowler
structure
andendings
(1989),(1997a)
beginnings
, Fowler
(1975),
(2000);forencapsulation
Galinsky
(1997b);formise-en-abyme
vonAlbrecht
Hershkowitz
(1999).
(1991);formirroring,

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum

113

undoes the powerful circularityof the final lines which turn inwards,
the
reiteratingthe death of Camilla (cf. Aen. 11.831) and foregrounding
of
the
Aenei
s
he
also
end;
repetitiousregression
signals recognitionof
and exerts cleverly directedpressure on the Aenei s status as epic of
beginnings and endings par excellence,18 With the application of this
structuring
strategy,which demands a recognitionof his own Supplement
as somehow "intratextual."Vegio inauguratesa poem thatis at once his
own and at the same time tendentiously "part" of the new and
"complete" 13thbook of theAeneid.
The firsttwo lines of the Supplementcontain another clue to the
Virgilian-driveninterplayof dependence and independence in Vegio's
device of repetitionto shift
continuation,once again using the structuring
the closural boundaries of the Aeneid. With the declarationthatthe last
battleof the epic has been fought( extremo... Marte, Suppl. 1), Vegio's
text moves into post-bella epos: Virgil's dicam hrrida bella ("I shall
speak of fearsome fighting," Aen. 7.41) and the Ars Poetica' s
prescriptionof horriblewars, tristia bella (A.P . 73) for epic material,
itselfas faras Vegio
gives way to song concernedwithwar's aftermath,
is concerned,a maius opus {Suppl. 57, cf. Aen. 7.45). Once again, this
"post-Virgilian" epos is writtenthrough close engagement with the
Aeneid, and forVegio thisaftermathtakes the formof a retrospectiverepatterningof the largest structuralfeature of the Aeneid. While the
Virgilian epic works from an Odyssey-modelled firstsix books to the
Iliad-centred second half, the Supplement mirrors and reverses the
process. The first300 lines of the Supplement,concerned with lament
and mourning,provide the Iliadic-style resolution affordedby burial
ritual so conspicuously lacking in the Aeneid proper. This "Iliadic"
ending is paired with another start-pointto the Supplement half-way
through,again worked throughallusion to the opening of Aeneid 12, but
this time providingan Odyssean model of closure: tuncpater infractos
fatali Marte Latinus / defecisse videns (Then fatherLatinus, beholding
the Italians broken and falteringfromthe fate of Mars... Suppl. 303-4)
once again plays off Turnus ut infractos aduerso Marte Latinos /
defecisse uidet (Aen. 12.1-2). This time, however, the Supplement's
departurefromAeneid 12 inauguratesnot a period of resolutionthrough
mourning,as would be fittingfor the ending of an Iliad, but the
appropriatenostos of an Odysseus returninghome to his rightfulwife,
replayingthe ending of the Aeneid as romance. Vegio thus signals his
18On
bookdivisions
seeDuckworth
Virgilian
(1957),(1962);Harrison
(1980).

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114

Emma Buckley

awareness of a major structuralfeature of the Aeneid- its bipartite

division into Homeric halves- and responds to this, mirroringand
reversingtheAeneid, allowing the "tragic"Iliad to be supersededby the
"comedic" Odyssey.
A close look at some pointedmomentsof allusion in the Supplement
thusreveals Vegio's recognitionof the varied and sophisticatedmethods
employedby Virgil to enforceor underminethe sense of an endingin the
Aeneid. Ready to respond to anythingfroma single verbal repetitionto
the broadest structuralfeature of the work, Vegio demonstrates a
willingness to use the very same methods against the master text to
negate the Aenei s ending as we have it.19In additionto these closural
strategiesthat work against the ending, however, Vegio also looks to
choke offopen-endedpossibilitiesat a broaderthematiclevel, displaying
a keen eye forsome of the major stickingpointsto any simple "ending"
to the Aeneid. An obsessive fixation with the idea of "The End" is
- a sample fromthe firstthirty-five
expressedthroughoutthe Supplement
lines alone reveals the redeploymentof the crucial Virgiliantermswhich
somehow signifyclosure- -finis,quies , meta, suprema dies (Suppl. 12,
22, 31, 33)20- but this fixation also addresses the beginning of the
head-on the emotionantitheticalto closure in
Virgilianepic, confronting
the Aeneid- dolor- and the source of narcological power that drives
the epic on, Juno.21When the grievingqueen of the gods appears {dolens
regina deum, Aen. 1.9), her anger and inabilityto let the past go are
foregrounded(<causae irarumsaeuique dolores, Aen. 1.25): nursingan
eternalwound deep in her heart( aeternumseruans sub pectore uulnus,
Aen. 1.36), she is contemptuouslydismissive of the fates (quippe uetor
fatis, Aen. 1.39). Vegio resurrects this dolor at the start of his
Supplement, but draws the poison- and narcological power- of this
this emotion to the defeated and powerless
sentimentby transferring
Rutuli. Evoking the deep-set grief of the Latins at the death of their
leader, Vegio has his Italians disgorge theirown dolor ratherthan cling
to it (et durumex alto revomentescorde dolorem, Suppl. 5), and theydo
not tryto fightthe fates: ultro/ quamquam animumdolor alius habet,
parere fatentur(Suppl. 17-8). Above all, the Rutuli ratepeace (aeternam
19Cf.Thomas
and
aretiedoff,
uneasiness
(2001)281:"looseVirgilian
strings
quelled,
details."
theradically
textis closedoffinallpossible
open
Virgilian
20Theseterms
: seeSchneider
arereiterated
theSupplement
(1985)141-67.
throughout
21Cf.
(1991).
Feeney

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum

115

quietem) as more importantthan the kind of revenge driven by Juno's

aeternumuulnus:
non aliterRutuli,licet ingensmaeroradhausit
pectorapulsa metucaesi ducis, inclitamalunt
arma sequi et PhrygiumAeneam foedusque precari
pacis et aeternamrebus belloque quietem.(Suppl. 19-22)
(So theRutuli,thoughvast griefengulfstheirheartsand fear
assails themat the slaughter of their lord' prefer to follow
famous arms, and Aeneas of Troy. Theysolicit the compact
ofpeace and enduringquiet inplace of theaffairsof war.)
Dolor now becomes not an instrumentto drive the plot on, but the
distinguishingcharacteristicof the defeated and helpless, a powerless
emotion. Of course, the Aenei s famouslycyclical ending transfersthe
dolor and furor felt by Juno onto the enraged Aeneas himself (furiis
accensus et ira terribilis
, Aen. 12.846-7), who is provoked into
Turnus
at
the
murdering
sight of Pallas' belt, itself identified as
monimentadoloris {Aen. 12.945). Now Vegio presentsus with a calm
and collected hero, excelling all othersin gentleness( Anteomnes mitior
unus, Suppl. 73) who speaks gently{placido ore, Suppl. 23) and firmly
shiftsthe blame onto Turnus and the Rutuli forthis war {Suppl. 24-48),
ending his speech with the claim that he was in fact driven by Italian
furor, "it was never my pleasure to thrustmy soldiery,never my own
weapons, into battle, but driven by your madness..."{Numquam acies ,
numquamarma libens in proelia movi, / sed vestrisactusfuriis...,Suppl.
46-7). The Supplement thus stages epic "repetitionas mastery" in a
process that puts the "words of the victors" into action: Vegio goes
beyond straight-forward
supplementationto work on a "gap" in the text
of the Aeneid notjust unfinishedin narrativetermsbut also open-ended
in its potentialto problematizea clear-cutendingfortheAeneid. Vegio's
bluntreformulation,
which elides the ambiguitiesof theAeneid' s end, at
the same time reveals a strikingdegree of sensitivityto just how broad
the categories of "open-ness" and "unfinished-ness"can be in the
Augustanepic.22
22
ofepic's"repetition
as regression"
and"repetition
as mastery"
Quint's(1993)thesis
thefollowing
formoreonVegio'sproject
of"mitigation
and
discussion;
underpins
seeThomas(2001)282-4.
transference,"

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116

Emma Buckley

This sensitivitymay be seen in the Supplement's "recycling" of

another notoriously open-ended episode in the Aeneid, the stay at
Carthage and Dido's death (Aen. 4.612ff.). Vegio identifiesimportant
structuraland thematic links between Dido and Turnus already to be
found in the Aeneid and uses the events after Dido's death as an
exemplum for his treatmentof Turnus. The funeral pyre of Dido is
associated figuratively
withthe burningfall of Carthage(Aen. 4.668-70),
and Turnus' deathprovokesthe fieryfall of Ardea ( Suppl. 208-213). The
association is strengthenedas Vegio recalls in the fleeing people of
Ardea the descriptionof theTrojans leaving Carthage,figuredas a group
of ants stockpiling for the winter: ac uelut ingentemformicae farris
aceruum / cumpopulant hiemis memorestectoque reponunt,/ it nigrum
campis agmen. ("Just as when ants, mindfulof winter,plunder a great
heap of grain and hoard it at home, and the black column travelsacross
the plain.", Aen. 4.402-4). The Supplement'sArdeans are also figuredas
an industriousgroup of ants, yet the hardworkingTrojan ants who
succeed in theirmission are here replaced by a group whose home is
graphicallydestroyed:
Ac veluticum nigracohors posuere sub alta
arboreet in fixa radice cubilia longo
formicaeinstantesoperi,sin dura securis
incumbatversoque infringat
culmineparvas
saeva casas, mox certatimsese agmine fuso
corripiuntmaestaeque fugatrepidaequeferuntur.
{Suppl. 220-224)
(As whena black squadron of ants,strugglingover theirlengthy
task, have positioned their abodes in a firmlyplanted root
beneatha loftytree: ifa cruel ax applies itsforce and, breaking
the towering crest, savagely shatters their tiny dwellings,
immediatelytheyvie witheach other in sallyingforth,the whole
army in a rush, and, mournfuland terrified,theyare propelled
along inflight.)
The contrastingfuturesof the two peoples are made abundantly
clear. Nor will thisItalian cityhave the regenerativeforceof a Carthage,
which will rise again to challenge Rome, led by an avenger arisen from

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum

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the dust of Dido's bones ( Aen. 4.625). Ardea's ashes will produce the
harmless heron {Suppl. 234), a creatureforevertrapped in the natural
world, and Turnus will not returnto haunt Aeneas, but will endlessly
battle for a bride in the Underworld {Suppl. 355). Recognizing the
dangerouslyunfinishedbusiness representedby Carthage in the Aeneid,
Ardea has no such
Vegio makes sure thatin his retellinghis mirror-city
afterlife.
threatening
Encapsulation and Reversal
A close examination of the opening half of Vegio's Supplement
reveals a rather more sophisticated allusive relationship with the
Virgilian mastertext than has been assumed, then. Vegio's obsessively
close rewriteof theAeneid betraysa keen eye forthe kind of detail in the
text that has provided fuel for future"anti-Augustan" readings that
privilegethe dangerousemotionsand violence thattheAeneid itselffails
to close down at its end, resultingin the creationof a textthatserves both
as an "aftermath"and as the tendentiouslyasserted inherent,integral
piece that makes the poem "whole" and thereforeclosed. Above all,
Vegio is an adept reader of structureswithinthe Aeneid that bespeak
different
in his own textthe dictum
beginningsand endings,instantiating
establishedby the firststructuralstudyon closure,that"the perceptionof
closure is a functionof the perceptionof structure."23
This perceptionon
Vegio's part, in addition to the poet's obsessive attemptsto close off
interpretative
gaps in the textbeyond the "hole" at the end of theAeneid
itself,is expanded intoa major compositionalpracticeof theSupplement,
as Vegio goes on to rewriteand remaketheAeneid fromthe inside out.
Indeed, the "retrospective patterning"we may perceive in the
Supplement'sattemptto re-writeVirgilian historyis notjust a reflection
on theAeneid; it is also a reflectionof theAeneid, a "mirrorin the text"
thatencapsulates the Aeneid as a whole. As Vegio ruthlesslyprogresses
the storyof Aeneas to its end point,his apotheosis,he is at the same time
retellingthe storyof theAeneid, repeatingtheAeneid otherwise,running
its orderbackwards and effectinga powerfulformof closure on the text.
This strategy,played out througha series of episodes thatare reworked
"mirrors"of scenes in the Augustan text, once again adopts Virgilian
tacticsand turnstheminwards;just as theAeneid uses encapsulationand
mise-en-abymeat the level of the individual book (as well as at other
levels) to reflecton the Aeneid as a whole, Vegio's 13thBook, a mini23Smith
(1968)7.

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Aeneid in itself, attains tendentious status as a final model for

of the epic as it draws the reader of the Supplementback
interpretation
fromthe fightingand death of Turnus in Aeneid 12 to the prophecyof
Jupiterin Aeneid 1, playing the narrativearc back from the cyclical
chaos of Aeneas' final action to the authoritativeend prophesiedby the
kingof thegods. IncludingitselfwithintheAeneid even as it includesthe
Aeneid in itself,the Supplementretrospectively
reorderstheAeneid from
a vantage point that declares a final, "closed" work. The following
sections sketch Vegio's allusive strategyin the major episodes of the
Supplementand their"mirrors"in the Virgilian text,focusing on three
Aeneid to provide
major strandsthattogethercreate a reverse-patterned
retrospectivecommentand closure to thetext.
Cease-fire and Burial
In the immediateaftermath
of Turnus' death,Aeneas makes a speech
that
further
war
shall
cease since Turnus alone is to blame
declaring
{Suppl. 23-48), and preparationsare immediatelymade forsacrificeand
thanksgiving.This ritual replays the events of the last book of the
Aeneid, in which the sacrificial preparationsof Aeneas and Latinus,
made in accordance withthe treatyof Aen. 12.161, were disruptedby the
omen that provoked full-scale battle (Aen. 2.258). In a significantly
repetitivegesture that emphasises their submission, the arms that the
soldiers had taken off in order to watch the duel at Aen. 12.707-8
(armaque deposuere umeris), itself a repetitionof the failed duel of
Aeneas and Turnus ( defigunttellure hastas et scuta reclinant, "They
sticktheirspears in the groundand lean theirshields," Aen. 12.129), are
once again downed in a gestureof finalsubmission:
Tum tela infiguntterrae,et mucronibushaerent,
scutaque deponuntumeris,et proelia damnant,
insanumquehorrentoptatiMartis amorem.
{Suppl. 9-10)
(Then theystab theirspears into theground and slump on sword
hilts.Theylower shields and curse theconflict,shudderingat the
crazed passion for Mars theyonce desired.)
The flawed sacrificein the last book of theAeneid is also repeatedin
a "corrected"fashion by Vegio. The elaborate animal sacrifice {Suppl.
57-71), directed by Aeneas with "appropriate honours" to the gods

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum

119

{mritos... honores, SuppL 58), serves to overturnthe smashing of the

altars and transgressivehuman sacrifice carried out by Messapus ( Aen.
the strategyof reversalto be found in large-scale
12.296). Furthermore,
conflictis matchedwith attentionto the main combatantsof Aeneid 12,
Turnus and Aeneas themselves, for Vegio writes Rutulian submission
througha bull-simile which cannot fail to bring to mind the Aenei s
figurationof the duelling Aeneas and Turnus as bulls fighting(an image
which itselfplays into Virgil's descriptionof the bulls in his Georgics
3.215-41):
Sicut acerba duo quando in certaminatauri
concurrantlargo miscentessanguinepugnam
cuique suum pecus inclint,sin cesserituni
palma duci, mox quae victo pecora ante favebant
nunc sese imperiosubduntvictoriset ultro. {Suppl. 13-17)
(So it is when two bulls charge towards one another, into the
bitternessof strife
, minglingtheir struggles with a slather of
herd
gore-his
champions each. But should thepalm of success
to
the
lot
fall
of one lord' soon the cattle, which before offered
to
the vanquished' now humble themselves to the
allegiance
victor's sway and, thoughdeep sorrow grips theirspirits, they
willinglyprofess theirsubmission.)
Richard Thomas pointsto this "aftermath"at the imagisticlevel as a
"brilliantlegitimization"of the Virgilianbull-simile.24The firsteventsof
the Supplement thus encapsulate and reverse in sophisticated fashion
some of the key images of the chaotic fightingof Aeneid 12. They also
exemplifya move that will prove typical for Vegio- the twinningof
- to assert a new
verbal repetition with repetition in emplotment
that re-stylesopen-ended lack of resolutionas fulfilment
interpretation
and closure.25
The end to fightingoffers the opportunityfor the first major
resolutionof the epic- the burial of Turnus. Vegio's evocation of this
ritualdrivesthe Aeneid backwards,dependingon the burial of Pallas for
its reformulationfor Turnus. In speeches made by Aeneas, Latinus and
24Thomas
(2001)281-2.
25Onthedifference
between
verbalandplotted
as wellas comment
onthe
repetition,
ofrepetition
forinterpretation
seeKennedy
helpfulness
(1997).

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Emma Buckley

Daunus, major elements of the death of Pallas and his funeral are
recalled; most strikingly,Aeneas' speech over the body of Turnus
replays and "recuperates" Turnus' own vaunting words over Pallas'
body.26 The description of the funeral procession ( Suppl. 185-203)
evokes stronglythe equivalent scene in Aeneid 11: the bier is heaped
with booty the dead man had won, evoking Pallas' own spoils {Suppl.
189-91; cf. Aen. 11.78-80); Turnus' horse weeps forits owner,as Pallas'
had {Suppl. 194-6; cf. Aen. 11.90); a crowd of youths attendthe bier,
their weapons reversed, following the precedent set by the fimeral
procession of Aeneid 11 {Suppl. 197-8; cf. Aen. 11.92-3). Vegio brings
otheraspects of Pallas' death to the fore;Daunus' speech reacts strongly
to Evander's lament, and he repeats the Aeneid''s historyas he flings
himselfonto the bier {Suppl. 252-6; cf. Aen. 11.149-151). Evander had
chided his dead son, "this is not the promise you had given your father,
that you would take care as you committedyourselfto savage battle"
{"non haec, o Palla, dederas promissa parenti,/ cautius ut saeuo uelles
te credere Marti," Aen.11.152-3): now it is Daunus' turnto make the
"
same lament; Haec ilia quies promissa parenti / afflictototiens,haec
meta optata laborum?" ("Is this that calm pledged your fatherin his
many moments of distress, is this the end of sufferingsfor which I
pined?" Suppl. 263-4). In a bold play utilisingthe evidentlove displayed
by Amata forTurnus in theAeneid to emulate Evander's call to his dead
wife {Aen. 11.158-9), Vegio even has his Daunus cryout
"O felixtam gratocaedis Amata
successu laetaretuae; quae tantadolorum
fugistimonimentagravisque immaniacasus
{Suppl. 286-9)
pondera!"
("Ah, fortunateAmata, takejoy in the welcome advent of your
death. Whatremindersof suffering
you have escaped, what huge
burdensof misfortune
's weight!")
In these words, key repetitionreminds the reader of the cause of
Turnus' death,as the "huge burden"of Pallas' belt, the immanipondera
baltei {Aen. 10.496), is now matchedby the huge burdenof griefevaded
by Amata. With this tellingecho, Vegio replays the death and burial of
26For
intheSupplement
seeKallendorf
discussion
ofthisandother
in-depth
speeches
(1989).

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum 121

Pallas to pointthe moral the more strongly:the loss of Pallas is balanced

and rightedwithTurnus' death and burial.
Marriage
- Aeneas'
With Turnus buried, the Supplementturnsto the future
marriageto Lavinia. First friendlyrelationsmust be re-established,and
Vegio's Latinus now sends an embassy to Aeneas seeking a truce.This
embassy recalls the deputation of Latinus' men in Aeneid 11 ( Aen.
11.100-20) and mirrorsthe embassy that Aeneas had sent in Aeneid 7
asking foralliance withLatinus (Aen. 7.152.). When Latinus calls up one
thousand specially chosen men (Suppl. 308-9), he echoes (with some
amplification)Aeneas' embassy of one hundredmen (Aen. 7.152-4), and
both deputationswear the clothingof diplomacy,olive wreathes(Suppl.
325-6; cf. Aen. 7.153-5). Once again, the multipleresemblancesof these
mirror-scenes,signalled by a close- or even over-close- strategyof
allusion, is merely the startingpoint for a more deep-set engagement
with the mastertext,forthe embassy of the Supplementnow goes on to
answer and affirmthe questions and proposals of the Aeneid' s embassy.
Ilioneus had asked for permission for the Trojans to settle,grantedby
Latinus, who had also promised Lavinia to Aeneas. The interventionof
Juno undid that accord, but now the same ground is revisitedand this
timethe termsof the alliance are conspicuouslyand lastinglysuccessful.
The eloquent but troublesomeDrances of the Aeneid is now put to good
use (Suppl. 330-373), emphasisingas spokesman his side's wishes fora
peaceful alliance as Ilioneus had done (Suppl. 357ff; cf. Aen. 7.236ff),
and reiterating
thewish thatAeneas marryLavinia:
In te unumconversioculi. Pater ipse Latinus
iam seniorsola haec longaevae mueravitae,
quod natamtibi iungat,habet,generiquenepotes
Troianos Italo admixtosin saecula mittat. (Suppl. 368-371)
(Toward you alone our eyes are turned.Father Latinus himself
in his old age has only these duties afterlife's lengthyspan- to
unite his daughter with you, and to impart to the ages his
descendants, Trojans blended withtheItalian race.)
The admixtureof Trojan and Italian- grudginglygiven the go-ahead
by Juno at the end of the Aeneid- is here reiteratedyet again, but this

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Emma Buckley

time thejoining will be realised in the text. The hopes of marriageand

alliance, so long waited for, are now realised in the Supplement: this
embassy proves totallysuccessful,as Vegio invertsthe previous, failed
embassies of theAeneid.
Before thewedding takes place, however,Aeneas meets Latinus,and
here once again the reader is faced with Vegio's concerted effortsto
replay the Aeneid backwards and "otherwise." For in his meetingwith
this older man, the Supplementre-createsthe meeting of Aeneas and
Anchises in the Underworld, literally resurrectingthe father/son
relationship; Latinus embraces Aeneas as both son-in-law and son,
generum et natum ( Suppl. 439), and is styled by Aeneas as not just
father-in-lawbut also father,patrem et socerum {Suppl. 444). Latinus
greetsAeneas withtheverywords Anchises had used "You've come at
last!" ( venistitandem, Aen. 6.668; Suppl. 424, and cf. also Suppl. 424-5
with Aen. 6.691) - and both fathersallude to the troubles Aeneas has
been subjected to throughreminiscence of the beginnings of Aeneas'
quest, the dangers and disastersthe hero has had to meet {Aen. 6.692-3,
with Aen.1.3-4; cf. Suppl. 426, with Aen. 1.239). In one important
respect,however, the Supplementreacts stronglyagainst the backdrop
affordedby Aeneid 6; for while Anchises is an importantmodel for
Latinus, the pervasive atmosphere of illusion, incorporeality and
deception in Aeneas' trip to the Underworld, framed by the deeply
ambiguousexit via the ivorygates,portalsof false dreams{Aen. 6.893-9)
is comprehensivelydispelled in the Supplement's reformulation.When
Latinus catches sightof Aeneas, Aeneas' trueimage does not delude him
{vera haud illusitimago, Suppl. 418); in Aeneas' own declarationthatin
Latinus he sees his own father{Magni mihisurget imago / Anchisae, et
rursumardebo genitoris amore, Suppl. 445-6) the gloomy image that
constituted the dead Anchises {tristis imago, Aen. 6.695) is now
overwrittento create a vital figurethatcan not just speak with Aeneas,
but also shake hands {Suppl. 422-3)- in pointed contrastto the bodiless
wraithAeneas had tried and failed to embrace {Aen. 6.669-70, 678-9).
And while Aeneas could only brieflyvisit the land of the dead and a
fatherwith backwards-lookingconcerns for Carthage {Aen.6.694), his
meeting with Latinus bespeaks the living futureof the Roman race,
emphasized by Latinus' eagerness to marryhim to his daughter:"now is
the time, mighty leader of the Trojans, to enter upon the marriage
compact and promisedwedding" {"Nunc age," magne Phrygumductor...
/ ... conubiis succede etpromissis hymenaeis, Suppl. 434-6).

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum 123

Only now does Vegio cement the alliance that Latinus and Aeneas
have made with the marriagethat had been prophesied,hoped-forand
thwarted so often in the Aeneid itself. Using the template of the
what had been a purelydynastic
Carthaginianepisode and transforming
matchin theAeneid, the Supplementinfusesthis importantalliance with
all the passion and romance of Aeneid 4. The deliberateconflationof the
Dido and Lavinia stories in the Aeneid is not just concerned with a
properly"Renaissance" view of romanticlove; Vegio here tackles headon an episode thataffordedAeneas criticismeven in the Renaissance to
"cancel out" the Carthaginian love-affairby means of this new and
loving marriage.27Indeed, the entranceof Lavinia introducesthisprocess
of fusion:
Haec intermatruminnumeranuruumquecaterva
in mediumcomitatavenitLavinia virgo
sidereos deiecta oculos; quam Troius heros
virtuteet formaingentem,mirabiledietu,
ut vidit,primoaspectu stupefactusinhaesit
et secm Turnicasus miseratusacerbos. (Suppl. 466-471)
(While this was happening the maiden Lavinia entered their
midst, accompanied by a full entourage of mothers and
daughters,her glisteningeyes cast down. Whenthe Trojan hero
first beheld her grandeur of soul and body- a wonder in the
telling- he paused enchantedat the sight,and to himselfpitied
thebitterchain ofsufferingsenduredby Turnus.)
Lavinia here is walking with the steps she had taken in Aeneid 11,
but at the same time Vegio's words recall the entranceof Dido in Aeneid
1 as Aeneas gazes at the frieze depictingPenthesilea (herselfa notably
Dido-like figure):
nec non ad templmsummasque ad Palladis arces
subuehiturmagna matrumreginacaterua
dona ferens,iuxtaque comes Lauinia uirgo
causa tantimali, oculos deiecta decoros. ( Aen. 11.477-80)

27OnLaviniaandDidointheAeneidseePerkell
(1981).

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(The Queen, bearinggiftsand accompanied by a great throngof

matrons,is borne to the temple,the loftycitadels of Minerva;
and by her side as companion the maiden Lavinia, the cause of
such evil, her decorous eyes downcast.)
haec dum Dardanio Aeneae mirandauidentur
dum stupetobtutuquehaeretdefixusin uno
reginaad templm,formapulcherrimaDido
incessitmagna iuuenumstipantecaterva (Aen. 1.494-7)
(While these marvels are seen by Dardan Aeneas, while he
wondersand clings transfixedin thisgazing alone, Queen Dido,
stunninglybeautiful,proceeds to the temple accompanied by a
great throngofyoung men.)
Aeneas' reactionto theentranceof Lavinia maintainstheconnection,
forhis stupefaction( Suppl. 468-70) bringsto mind not just Dido's first
stunnedglimpse of Aeneas ( obstipuitprimo aspecto, Aen. 1.613) but also
Aeneas' glimpse of her at theirfinal meeting- in the Underworld("As
soon as the Trojan hero stood near her and recognisedher",quam Troius
heros / utprimmiuxtastetitagnouitque,Aen. 6.451). Once again Vegio
recycles this troubledrelationshipto supersede and supplant; repeating
the Carthaginianepisode to masterit, Vegio charges the firstmeetingof
his Aeneas and Lavinia withall theeroticimpactof the Dido affairas his
hero makes the "correct" connection with the co-founderof the new
Roman race.
The lavish ceremonialof the wedding itselfcontinuesthistrend.The
wedding giftsthatAeneas bestows, loaded withresonance of the Trojan
past, bear a distinctresemblanceto those given to Dido:
At fidumintereaAeneas affaturAchatem,
vadat et Andromachaequondam data muera,vestes
intextasauro feratet, quod saepe solebat,
dum res Troianae stabant,circumdare collo,
auratamgemmiscircumseptumquemonile,
praetereamagnumcratera,in pignus amoris
quem PriamuspatriAnchisae donaveratolim.
(Suppl.47 8-484)

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum

125

(Meanwhile Aeneas requestsfaithfulAchates to make his way

and retrievegiftsonce presented him by Andromache- raiment
threaded withgold' and a gilded necklace crusted withjewels
withwhichshe was wontto adorn her neck while Troyyet stood.
There was also a magnificentmixing-bowlwhich Priam had
once bestowedonfatherAnchises as a tokenof affection.)
Aeneas sends Achates off to fetchthe gifts,just as he had done at
Carthage, gifts snatched from the ruins of Troy (Aen. 1.643-655),
including a tunic stiffwith gold embroidery,a cloak with a saffron
border{paliam signis auroque rigentem
, / et circumtexto
strawberry-leaf
croceo uelamen acantho, Aen. 1.648-9), a necklace and a crown of gems
and gold (<colloque monile / bacatum et duplicem gemmis auroque
coronam, Aen. 1.654-55). Replacing one princessdressed-upas a Trojan
for another, Lavinia is an uncannily figured double of Dido at the
wedding feast. Typically, this risky policy on Vegio's part is
accompanied by a strongtwistto the Virgilian episode, forVegio's prewedding gift exchange ruthlesslypresses his text's policy of enforced
resolution;while Dido produces a drinking-bowlafterthe mannerof her
ancestors and prays to Jupiter'sauthorityin the matterof hospitality
(Aen. 1.728-35), this short-livedtoken of alliance between Trojan and
Carthaginianis reworkedin the Supplementin Aeneas' giftof a mixingbowl to Latinus, a vessel which had been Anchises', and Priam's before
that.This joining of two peoples is, forVegio, a returnto originsrather
thana new beginning;as the Latins feast(Suppl. 490-500; cf.Aen. 1.699708) a new combinedpast and futureis envisaged in the talk of lulus and
Latinus (Suppl. 501-8)- a scene that supplants the disturbingly
ambiguous undertonesof Dido's talk withCupid-as-Iulus (Aen. 1. 695ff,
esp. 712-22)- and when conversation arises, just as it had done in
Carthage (Aen. 1.747), about the adventuresand wars undertakenby the
Trojans, this time the recent battles of the Italians are joined to
reminiscenceof the Trojan War (Suppl. 501-5). Trojan and Italian alike
are now partof the same rememberedhistory,and the recollectionof the
origins of the Latin race fromSaturn,expelled by Jupiter(inspired by
Evander's speech to Aeneas in the Virgilian epic) twinnedwith the fate
of Dardanus, also descended of Jupiter,settlerin Troy and founderof the
Roman race (Troianae stirpis origo, Suppl. 528) instantiates the
completionof the nostos, or returnto originsthatit is Aeneas' mission to
complete. In this way the wedding,engagingwith a particularlyperilous

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momentof threatto the futureRoman dynastythatis Virgil's Carthage

episode, cements both a returnto common origin between Trojan and
Latin and alliance forthe futureof Rome.
Apotheosis
As a coda to the centrally-important
wedding staged by the
Supplement(and the foundationof Aeneas' new city,dealt with at much
more breath-taking
pace, Suppl. 537-9), as well as the precursorto the
heavens-directedclimax of the Supplement, a remarkableflame-omen
occurs:
Ecce autem,fatuhaud parvum,diffondereflammam
ingentemet fulgorelevem et se nubibusaltis
miscenteme summo Lavinia verticevisa est.
ObstipuitpaterAeneas duplicesque tetendit
ad caelum cum voce manus: "Si, Iuppiter,umquam
gens monitisTroiana tuis terraquemarique
paruitimperiisquelibens,si, numina,vestras
si meruicoluique aras, per si quid agendumest,
quod restt,placidam feliciaffertequietem
augurio et firmatemalisque imponitefinem!" (Suppl. 540-9)
(But look, memorable to tell: Lavinia, from the crown of her
head, seemed topour fortha hugeflame, nimblein its brightness
and soaring into the clouds above. Father Aeneas, astonished at
the magnificenceof the image, stretchedforthboth his hands to
heaven and spoke: "If ever,Jupiter,the Trojan people willingly
respectedyour portents and your mandates, both on land and
sea, ifI, heavenlypowers, revered and worshippedyour altars,
by whateverelse in the offingremains to be effected,affordus,
confirmfor us, peace's halcyon time, bring our evils to a
close. ")
Flame-omensare of course nothingnew to Lavinia, who has already
sufferedthe same occurrencein Aeneid 7. There the flamehad portended
a great marriage,but also a magnumbellum for her people ( Aen. 7.7280). This, however, is not the only flame-omenof the Aeneid, and in
Aeneas' response to this portentwe are forciblyremindedof the flameomen of Aeneid 2, when Ascanius' hair too went up in flames {Aen.

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum 127

2.682-4). Anchises' response had been prayer as well ("JoyfulFather

Anchises liftedhis eyes to the starsand held up his hands to heaven as he
prayed," at pater Anchises oculos ad sidera laetus / extulit et celo
palmas cum noce tetendit,Aen. 2.687-8); but while Anchises' request is
fora sure omen fromJupiterto confirmthatTroy mustbe leftand a new
beginningbe made {Aen. 1.690-1), the thrustof Aeneas' prayeris firmly
directedatfinis. lulus' flame-omen,which startedthe familyof Aeneas
on theirway, along with the portentthatbespoke the maius opus of the
second halfof theAeneid is regeneratednow to proclaima finalclosure.
Aeneas' prayersets up a transitionfromthe world of the human to
the divine, for the epiphany of Venus is the immediateresponse to his
words. In the climacticsectionof theSupplementVegio presses back yet
further
the scheme of theAeneid, as thismeetingof son and motherplays
out once again the confrontationof Aeneas and Venus at Carthage in
- Venus had
Aeneid 1. While that encounterwas shrouded in mystery
appeared in disguise, denied her own divinity and given Aeneas a
riddlingaugury before assuming her divine formonly as she departed
{Aen. 1.314-417)- there is no game-playingor ambiguityin this final
meetingof motherand son. Typically,Vegio's replaycontainselements
of several different
propheciesand divine episodes in theAeneid, but this
final scene is driven stronglythrougha fittingVirgilian frameworkto
end the piece on- a combinationof the reconciliationof Juno {Aeneid
12) and Jupiter'sprophecyof Aeneid 1.
The Supplementstages the meetingof Venus and Aeneas as a replay
of a crucial startpointto theAeneid's story,the sack of Troy. There,with
Ilium in flamesand Aeneas in a mad fury,Venus appears to him:
pura per noctemin luce refulsit
alma parens,confessa deam qualisque uideri
caelicolis et quanta solet,dextraqueprehensum
continuitroseoque haec insuperaddiditore:
"nate, quis indmitastantusdolor excittiras?
quid furis?aut quoniam nostritibi cura recessit?"
{Aen. 2.590-5)
(Declaring herselfgoddess, mygentle mothergleamed in a pure
lightpiercing the night, just as the Heaven dwellers see her;
having taken me by the righthand she checked me and spoke

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Emma Buckley

from rosy lips: "Son, what mighty grief arouses these

unquenchable angers? Whydo you rage? Have you forgotten
your care for me? ")
This wretchedscene is transformedin the triumphantwords Venus
now has forher son, which declare not the beginningof thejourney he
mustmake, but the finalrestachieved with the accomplishmentnotjust
of his quest but also his life:
aurea mater
Talia iactantemcircumstetit
se Veneremconfessa almo et sic ediditore:
"Nate, animo pone hanc curamet melioracapesse
signa deum gaudensque bonis succede futuris.
Nunc tibipartaquies, nunc meta extremalaborum,
nunc tandemoptatamcomponuntsaecula pacem."
(Suppl. 550-555)
(While he was thusexclaiming,his golden motherembraced him.
Declaring herselfVenus,she spoke thesekindlywords: "My son,
put this worryfrom your mind, lay claim to the gods' more
propitiousomens,and, glad at heart,enteruponyour auspicious
future.Now peace is granted to you, now at last is the end of
your sufferings.Finally, now, the ages accept the covenant of
peace long craved. ")
This meeting serves as the launch-pad for a speech from Venus
which shrewdly draws together the promises and predictions made
throughouttheAeneid, foretellingthe Trojan destiny,explainingthatthe
Penates have found theirrestingplace here, and relatingthe course of
events that will bring Aeneas first to power, and then to heaven.
AppropriatingJovian authorityto conclude her speech ("So have the
gods decreed,"sic stat sententiadivum,Suppl. 583, playing offJupiter's
promise to Venus at Aen. 1.259-60, "You shall bring great-hearted
Aeneas on high to the stars of heaven- nor has my decree changed,"
neque me sententiauertit),Vegio throughVenus thusbringstogetherthe
divine and humanperspectivesat the end of thework.As the narrativeof
the Supplementcomes to its conclusion, it bringsus neatlyback, in only
600 lines of compressionand reversal,to the beginningof theAeneid. In
runningthe events of the Virgilian epic backwards fromthe climactic

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum

129

death of Turnus at the end of Aeneid 12, Vegio short-circuitsthe

shocking cyclicity of Aeneas' actions and restores to the poem a
powerfully teleological drive which provides both the resolution so
desperatelyneeded to make sense of Turnus' death and the look forwards
to the apotheosis of Aeneas never more thanhintedat or promisedin the
Aeneid proper.In fixingon and manipulatingthe complex relationshipof
beginningsand ends to be found in Virgil's mastertext,Vegio unbends,
stabilises and disables the dangersrepetitionand "un-endedness"pose to
the plot, and in drivingtheAeneid back to the point of the eternalfuture
prophesied by Jupiterin Aeneid 1 and Venus in the Supplement, Vegio
accurate choke hold on the suggestive ambiguities
puts a frighteningly
thatrunthroughthe epic as a whole.
Indeed, when it comes to the process of apotheosis, Vegio confirms
thisclosural intentby close engagementwiththose featuresof Aeneid 12
that threatenany kind of satisfactoryresolution for the epic. It has
already been noted that Vegio dead-ends the powerful narratological
force of dolor, especially in Juno's hands, and the poet's preoccupation
with neutralisingthe negative influence of Juno is exaggerated yet
further
a much more prominentrole forthe goddess,
here,foregrounding
who positively encourages the hero's apotheosis. Modern critics have
wondered at the sincerityof Juno's apparentreconciliationto the Jovian
world plan at the end of the epic, and it seems that Vegio too has his
doubts;28at any ratehe is keen to depict a Junowhose supportof Aeneas
now becomes positivelyoutspoken:
Assensere omnes superinec regia luno
abnuit;at magnumAenean suadebat ad ipsum
efferricaelum et voces addebat arnicas. (Suppl .620-2)
All the gods granted approval <to Jupiter's proposal to
catas terise Aeneas>. Nor did royal Juno demur. To complement
her words of friendship, she urged that Aeneas be borne to
heaven itself
Justas Vegio re-craftsthe disturbingdistance between human and
divine at the end of theAeneid to writea climax thatbringsgod and man
together,he also draws inspirationforAeneas' apotheosis fromanother
ambiguous and negatively-chargedscene from the Aeneid' s end, re28See
esp.Feeney(1984).

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Emma Buckley

shaping the ominous visit of the swooping Dira to Turnus in Venus'

journey to Laurentumto prepare her son fordeification( Suppl. 623; cf.
Aen. 12.845). The presence of the Dira presages downwards flightinto
the Underworld for Turnus' shade, which flees indignantlybelow
(indignata,Aen. 12.952); Aeneas also leaves the mortalbody behind in
the riverNumicius {Suppl. 626-7), but his immortalessence begins its
upwardsjourney to the stars guided by a rejoicing Venus ( laeta , Suppl.
627). Vegio does his utmost to counter the gloomy and morbid
sentimentsof theAenei s end withhis own reversedimage, creatingfor
the Aeneid the happy ending hardlycountenancedin the closing scenes
of theVirgilianepic.
Continuation: Vegio and Ovid's Metamorphoses
The language of the Supplementis influencedby a broad range of
Classical and post-Classical prose and poetry,but is dominated by an
allusive strategythat privileges Virgil, and the Aeneid in particular,
above any other author.29With the treatmentof the deification itself,
however,Vegio mustdepartfromthe Virgilianmodel, and the finallines
of the Supplementare instead directedthroughengagementwith Ovid's
Metamorphoses,which has alreadyofferedone versionof an "apotheosis
of Aeneas." Vegio's options as far as imitado and aemulatio are
concerned are now limited, and Ovid's epic is the natural foraging
ground for Vegio to exploit, but it is strikingnonethelessthat Vegio's
adoption of an "Ovidian" ending to his "Virgilian" Supplement itself
confirmsan awareness of other endings to the Aeneid already written;
Ovid has "finishedoff' Virgil's epic once already.30
Perhaps Vegio's adoption of an Ovidian template to write the
apotheosis is not such a shock, given the underlyingstrategyof the
- to use compression,repetitionand distortionin the attempt
Supplement
(however unsuccessful)to draw the Aeneid withinits own gravityfield,
in a mannerthatbears at least some resemblanceto the tacticsOvid had
already deployed in his epic's "little Aeneid!"31 Indeed, Vegio signals
awareness of an "Ovidian" approach to the subject matterof the Aeneid
with a switch in compositional technique when it comes to the
deificationof Aeneas. As Maguinness has pointed out, the jarring and
29On
seeSchneider
post(1985)21 etpassim.Metrically,
Vegiofollows
Vegio'ssources
cf.
Duckworth
(1969).
Virgilian
style;
JU
Cf.Blandford
(1959)248;Parker
(1979)42.
Aeneid"seePapaioannou
OnOvid's"little
(2005).

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum 131

sudden narrative acceleration in the Supplement from marriage to

prophecyof Aeneas' stellificationand its accomplishmentis in itselfan
Ovidian kind of move,32 and Venus' request to Jupiterthat her son
should receive apotheosis is obviously modelled not just on Jupiter's
prophecy of Aeneid 1, but also her past request of her fatherin the
Metamorphoses'.
"omnipotensgenitor,quis solus ab aetheresummo
cuncta moves, qui res hominum,curasque recenses;
dum Teucros traheretfortunainimica,recordor,
spondebas finemaerumnis,rebusque salutem."
(Suppl.595-S)
("Almightysire, who from heaven's zenith solely guide the
affairsof all and scan man 's enterprisesand his cares, it is my
memorythat, when ill-fortuneheld the Trojans in its grip, you
promised themsecurityand an end to trouble.")
Iamque deos omnes ipsamque Aeneia virtus
Iunonemveteresfinirecoegeratiras,
cum, bene fundatisopibus crescentisIuli,
tempestivuseratcelo Cythereiushros,
ambieratqueVenus superos colloque parentis
circumfusasui "numquammihi" dixerat"ullo
temporedure pater,nunc sis mitissimus,opto,
Aeneaeque meo, qui te de sanguinenostro
fecitavum, quamvis parvumdes, optime,numen,
dummododes aliquod! satis est inamabile regnum
adspexisse semel, Stygios semel isse per amnes."
{Met. 14.581-91)
J
(Now had Aeneas courageous soul moved all thegods and even
Juno to lay aside theirancient anger, and, since thefortunesof
the budding lulus were well established, the heroic son of
Cytherea was ripe for heaven. Venus had approached the
heavenlygods and, throwingher arms around herfather's neck,
had said: "O father, who hast never at any time been harsh to
me, now be most kind, I pray. To my Aeneas, who is thy
32Cf.
(1968).
Maguinness

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Emma Buckley

grandson and of our blood, grant him, O most excellent,some

, however small I care not, if only thou grant any. It is
divinity
enough once to have looked upon the unlovelykingdom,once to
" 33
have crossed theStygianstream. )
When she says recordor, Vegio's Venus plays on anotherapotheosis
in Ovid's text where the same ploy has been made. Ovid's Venus,
working on behalf of Aeneas' descendant Julius Caesar, asks Jupiter,
"
quid nunc antiqua recordor/ damna mei generi?" ("Why do I recall the
ancient sufferingsof my race?" Met. 15.744-5), and Vegio has allowed
for this opportunitywhen his Jupiterfollows this up with the hintthat
descendants of Aeneas may achieve the same fate as their illustrious
forebear ("Also, if others possess his excellence, who encompass
themselves with immortal praise and embellish the world through
outstandingfeats,I will convey themin turnbeyond the Aether,"Suppl.
617-20). Her request,thather fathercome good on his promise to place
Aeneas in thehighestheaven,culmina caeli (Suppl. 602), seems a further
calculated ploy here- for Ovid's Mars, requesting apotheosis for
Romulus, had thenremindedJupiter(by way of citationof Ennius) that
he would place someone in the caerula caeli , the blue-greyheaven {Met.
14.812).34 Venus in the Supplement, recalling here her own Ovidian
historyof remembrance,divertsthe readernotjust fromVirgil's Aeneas
to Ovid's, but also to the post-Aeneas historyof the race thathis own
Supplementnow obliquely contains, lettingin throughthe back-door a
much broader Virgilian "aftermath"than his own Supplement can
encompass.
The presence of Ovid at the end of theSupplement, then,complicates
the emphaticclosural strategyset out in Vegio's text,offeringthe reader
a rather different"supplementary" game to play. This is further
underlinedwhen we set the "Ovidianized" apotheosis of Aeneas against
the only other major instance of Ovidian literaryincursion into the
- Vegio's account of the fateof Ardea, metamorphosedinto
Supplement
33Alltranslation
is from
Goold(1999).
oftheMetamorphoses
of"metaliterary
Cf.Hinds(1998)99-121ontheseOvidianinstances
memory."
Vegio
withlanwhenherecallsAeneas'famous
thistechnique
himself
forsanethaec
deploys
olimmeminisse
iuuabit
("Oneday,perhaps,
youwillbepleasedtorecallthese
thatI often
reminded
"I
now
recollect
Aen.
youthatthisday
1.203),
asserting,
hardships,"
meminisse
wouldcometopassunder
futuram
gods":saepetibidiisauspicibus
auspicious
/iammemini
{Suppl.80-1).

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Closure and Continuationin MaffeoVegio's Supplementum 133

the heron ( Suppl. 234-8).35 The Trojans go nowhere near Ardea in the
Aeneid,but thisuncharacteristic
injectionof non-Virgilianmaterialis not
a haphazard choice on Vegio's part, for the 400 lines between the
Supplement's,Ardea and apotheosis narrativesprovide substantialfilling
- of Ovid's Metamorphoses,
out- in other words, supplementation
whose narrativeruns direct from Ardea' s fall to Aeneas' apotheosis
(Met. 14.580-1). Justas Ovid had manipulatedVirgil's text,expanding
and opening out minorepisodes in theAeneid, the readercan now regard
the Supplementas itselfthe opening out of an Ovidian attemptto "close
off' the Aeneid. The Supplementthus stages a process of post-Virgilian
reception;Vegio has an eye to the literarygame of supplementationOvid
has alreadyplayed withtheAeneid, and writes300 lines intothe Ovidian
text, making his own Supplement a supplement of the Ovidian
supplementof theAeneid.
Conclusion
A focused examination of the Supplement and its allusive
relationshipwith the mastertextworks as a critical commentaryon the
Augustan epic thus shows thatVegio's strategiesof imitationare rather
more sophisticated than has been assumed. Though Vegio's work is
often criticised as having "cento'Mike qualities, the Supplement is
emphatically not just a mishmash of phrases, half-lines and
reminiscences.As Vegio ruthlesslyprogressesthe storyof Aeneas to its
end-pointin apotheosis, he is at the same time retellingthe storyof the
Aeneid backwards,repeatingthe Aeneid to masterit. There is no doubt
thatVegio's readingof theAeneid is "orthodox"and "loyal" insofaras it
seeks to remove any groundsformoral criticism;but in this endeavour,
which bridges the pagan and Christian worlds, it is importantto
recognise that Vegio achieves his aim througha typically humanist
philological awareness, and a linguisticsensitivitythat deserves to be
acknowledged as a formof creative imitation.A close reading of the
closural strategiesof the Supplementthus reveals thatVegio's 13thBook
in itselfconstitutesa criticallyengaged meditationon the text,a keenly
attenuatedreply not just to the epic's end, but to the Aeneid in its
entirety. In the competitive tussle between incorporating and

35Cf.Henderson
(2000).

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Emma Buckley

incorporatedtext,the Supplementnever emergesfromthe shadow of the

Aeneid - butthenthat,in the end, was thewhole pointforVegio.36
ST. ANDREWS

UNIVERSITY

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