ANCORA SU DEO / DEA IN VERG. AEN. II 632

Abstract

ABSTRACT – The article (which takes up the study published in «Sileno» 43, 2017, 343-358)
is divided into two sections. a) The ducens deus of Verg. Aen. II 632, which preserves Aeneas
flammam inter et hostis, can only be Jupiter, not another deity, like Mercury, hypothesized
on the basis of the Tabula Iliaca Capitolina, since only Jupiter had the auctoritas necessary
to counteract the divom inclementia against Ilium and the Trojans (cf. vv. 602 ff.) with the
fates favourable to Aeneas. b) Analysis of the Horace’s ode IV 4, which has close relations
with Aen. II, confirms that for Horace too the patron god of Aeneas on that night was specifically
Jupiter.