Berkeley Undergraduate Journal of Classics

The Hercules and Cacus episode in Book VIII highlights the problematic nature of Aeneas’ exploits throughout the Aeneid. Through the violence of Hercules, Vergil makes the reader question whether a story like the founding of Rome and its eventual imperial expansion can be as cut and dry as the story of a rugged hero slaughtering someone whose name literally means “evil one” might superficially seem. Calling into question Aeneas’ morality and his justification for settling in Italy in turn casts doubt on Augustus’ own means of attaining power.

The Hercules and Cacus episode is fundamental to our understanding of the Aeneid as a whole inasmuch as it brings up the question of right. The question of the rightful owner of Geryon’s cattle finds its parallel in Aeneas and Turnus’ dispute over betrothal to Lavinia, as well as in Augustus’ contested claim to rule Rome. The Italy of Hercules’ day, in which violence determines right, must be compared with the universal empire Augustus will eventually establish. This paper explores to what extent the Hercules and Cacus episode can influence our understanding of Aeneas and Augustus and how Vergil might be reacting to the political climate of his day through his poetry.

N.B. I give citations in Latin throughout the paper, with my own English translations in the footnotes.