Animal Imagery in the Drn and the Aeneid

The DRN and the Aeneid have been compared on certain main features. Pastoral society, the Golden Age, the role of Venus, and political ethics are some of these. Yet one feature that has not been studied is the way that animals are used in both epics. This is surprising because there is a large number of animals in both works. It is also surprising because animals play an essential role in the characterization of the hero in both. As this essay is designed to show, destruction of animals in both works is used to indicate the hero's loss of personal character, or of the good, instinctual self akin to animal nature. As corollary, purely violent animals represent the character of the hero changed for the worse (leaving until later the question of who might be considered the hero of the DRN).