public · Roman

The oath of Aeneas and Latinus

Sol · Earth · Jupiter · Juno · Mars · Janus · Apollo · Diana · Dis Pater · the Manes

May the Sun now bear witness, and so too the Earth, I pray, for whom I have been able to endure these many labors, and you, Almighty Father, and you his consort (Juno), daughter of Saturnus, at one time more beneficial, at another kinder, be so now as I pray to you, O Goddess, and to you, too, Father Mavors, who wields all warfare under your powers, and on all the springs and rivers of this land I invoke as witnesses, and all the powers of the high heavens and those of the deep blue seas on whom it is proper to call. By these same deities I, Aeneas, swear, by the Earth and the Sea, by the stars and Latona's twin children, and dual-faced Janus, and the powers of the gods below, and the harsh shrines of Father Dis. May the Great Father hear my vow, he that sanctions alliances with his thunderbolt. I touch the altars, and by the fires and by the divine powers who I have called to witness, I so swear, that never shall I breach this alliance or the peace of Italy, no matter what or how things happen, nothing shall divert my will, not even if waves would cover the earth, plunging all into deluge, and the Heavens fell into deepest Tartarus.

Commentarius · Commentary

The twelfth book of the Aeneid: before the duel of Aeneas and Turnus the two sides conclude a treaty, and both swear. Both halves are given here, across the seam […]: first Aeneas speaks, then Latinus.

The list of witnesses is the fullest in Virgil. Sun, Earth, Jupiter, Juno, Mars, springs and rivers, "whatever is holy in the high aether and whatever divinities are in the blue sea"; in Latinus' half — earth, sea, stars, Latona's twin offspring, two-faced Janus, the powers below and Dis. This is the structure of an actual Roman treaty oath: heavenly, earthly, infernal, so that no tier is left before which the matter has not been filed. The same tripartition appears in the fetial formula (janus-004).

But the most human thing here is a parenthesis. Et tu Saturnia coniunx (iam melior, iam, diva, precor): and you, Saturnian consort — kinder now, now, goddess, I pray. Aeneas calls to witness the goddess who has been destroying him for twelve books, and in the middle of the address he breaks down and asks. Inside a legal formula, a voice breaks through.

He will keep the oath. The Latins will break it — Juturna will rekindle the fighting — and this whole assembly of witnesses will have been convened precisely so that the perjury may be committed in front of them. That is the point of the scene: the gods are summoned not to prevent but to see.

Fons · Source

AuthorVirgil

WorkAeneid

Section12.176-82; 197-211

Periodlate 1st c. BC

OccasionAeneas's solemn oath before the treaty with Latinus — invocation of witnesses before single combat with Turnus

Classificatio · Taxonomy

CultureRoman

Formpublic

DeitiesSol, Earth, Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Janus, Apollo, Diana, Dis Pater, the Manes

FunctionsOath · Invocation

SphereCivic · Military