| By the time Vergil was writing (40-19 B.C.) there was already a long tradition of dreams in ancient literature. From the beginning dreams were a topic of interest for poets, historians, and philosophers. We find in the literature of ancient Greece and Rome five main classifications of dreams: prophetic, anxiety, wish-fullfilment, oracular, and incubation. Other dream-types existed, of course, but these seem to have been been ones most employed by ancient authors.;In the Aeneid Vergil employs anxiety-dreams six times, oracular-dreams three times, and the incubation-dream once. His choice, we may be sure, was in part determined by the necessities of plot, and in part under the influences of authors such as Homer, Apollonius, Euripides, Lucretius and Cicero.;Without sacrificing narrative immediacy and the illusion of reality, dreams allow the Vergil to reveal not only simultaneous events, but also a character's emotions, with their causes and potential consequences. Vergil uses dreams in the Aeneid to great effect. Dreams introduce the three main characters in the epic, Aeneas, Dido, and Turnus. They motivate the actions of the characters and help to advance the plot to its conclusion. Dreams not only set Aeneas on his journey and mark his arrival in Latium, but they continually provide more information about his destination while on his journey. Dreams also bolster Aeneas' resolve in moments of emotional and physical crisis.;In a grander and more enigmatic way, Book 6, as a sustained dream-vision, conveys to the reader, at least, Vergil's vision of both the tragedy and greatness of Rome's mission and history. |
