Page:Folklore1919.djvu/462

96 "Then arose Drances once more in anger, whom the glory of Turnus galled with the bitter goads of crooked envy. Wealthy was he and no laggard in speech, but dastard in battle; in the council-chamber men thought his advice of worth; a mighty man in faction (his mother's high descent gave him pride of rank; he traced his father's kin but dimly)."

The words in brackets are to Prof. Ridgeway "a sufficient indication that Virgil, who had so wide a knowledge of ancient Italian lore, deliberately adopted this language, because he was fully aware of the ancient mode of reckoning descent amongst the indigenous people of Latium."

In considering this passage we have first to reckon with the fact that Drances' real father is simply the poet's brain. The ancient commentators, generally so ready with illustrative myths, have not a word to say about him, but only a few generalities on the excellence of Vergil's description. We must furthermore consider the whole context. Turnus is here the central figure; young, brave, generous, noble, but headstrong (uiolens), and so doomed to fall before Aeneas. But the Trojan is not to be pitted against an unworthy opponent; Turnus is not a villain, but a hero who blunders tragically. His worth is the more clearly shown by this foil. Drances is an old man (122, senior …Drances|infensus iuueni Turno), a natural opponent to the young prince; he is a coward, but a clever and prudent coward, the very antithesis of unthinking valour. Turnus is of royal, even divine rank; what is the proper antithesis here? Not a man of the people, who in the heroic society would be a mere Thersites, of no weight in council, but something much more formidable; the bastard of a great house, born discontented and a natural leader of faction. Vergil, who happens to be a true poet and a consummate story-teller, sketches the man's history in a few brilliant lines, and leaves his readers to fill up the sordid details for themselves.