Scene from Virgil's Aeneid Parce pias scelerare manus Nam Polydorus ego Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 1834-1836
<artist/> <location/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnpictorial> <citnmythic> <name/> <culture/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnmythic> <citnhistorical> <event/> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnhistorical> <citnautobiographical> <name/> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnautobiographical> <citnscenic> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnscenic> </listcitn> </source> <commentaries> <head>Commentary</head> <section type="intro"> <head>Introduction</head> <p>The alternate title for this image comes from Fredeman's <xref doc="a.nc257.r622.a4.rad" from="15"> <title> <hi rend="i">Rossetti Cabinet</hi> in which the scene's caption was mistranscribed. The corrected transcription is “Parce pias scelerare manus, Nam Polydorus ego.”

Textual History: Composition

Textual History: Revision

Production History

Reception

Iconographic

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

This image depicts a scene from Book III of Virgil's <hi rend="i">Aeneid</hi> , in which Aeneas discovers the grave of Priam's youngest son, Polydorus. Having set up camp on the shores of Thrace after escaping the burning of Troy, Aeneas is startled by a plant that bleeds when its roots and branches are disturbed. The tree then speaks to the hero, revealing its identity as the slain Trojan prince, sent away by his father for protection, but murdered by the duplicitous Thracian king. DGR's vignette shows Aeneas grasping the tree's branches and is subtitled with an excerpt from Polydorus' speech in which the spirit asks that his grave no longer be disturbed.

Translation

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

Fredeman, <hi rend="i">A Rossetti Cabinet</hi> , 15 (plate 100d) .

A Rossetti Cabinet drawing Scene from Virgil's Aeneid Parce pias scelerare manus Nam Polydorus ego DGR 1834-1836 (circa) pen and ink 1