S8 Ep655: 3. Epic Plots, Underworlds, and the Human Cost of Destiny Guest Authors: Scott McGill and Susanna Wright (5) This segment explores the *Aeneid*’s plot, following Aeneas’s journey from the ashes of Troy to the founding of a new Roman lineage in Italy. The
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
This segment explores the *Aeneid*’s plot, following Aeneas’s journey from the ashes of Troy to the founding of a new Roman lineage in Italy. The authors examine Virgil’s "conversation" with Homer, blending Odyssean wandering with Iliadic warfare. They delve into the terrifyingly visual depiction of the underworld and the "magnificently gory" battle scenes that reflected ancient Roman aesthetics. Significant focus is placed on the human cost of Aeneas’s mission, particularly the tragic treatment of female characters like Dido, whose powerful voice often overshadows the hero’s own restrained and sometimes frustrating inner life. (6)
1650 AENEAS VS TURNUS
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBSI in the world. |
| 0:05.7 | I'm John Batchel, spending time with the translators and classicists, |
| 0:09.8 | Scott McGill and Susanna Wright at Rice University. |
| 0:12.9 | Their new work is The Aeneid by Virgil. |
| 0:16.2 | From the first century of BCE, there's an introduction by Professor Emily Wilson. |
| 0:22.1 | We turn to the plot. |
| 0:30.4 | We've been talking about the times, the politics, Rome, for a poet from the north. And now we talk about what it is that Virgil achieved. And Scott, I begin with you, because this is Homer, both the Iliad and the Odyssey, |
| 0:41.3 | and Civil War Rome, and pleasing the emperor, Augustus, who used to be called Octavian, |
| 0:49.2 | and all of that together in one poem that's unfinished. What can we say about the plot of Aeneas? |
| 0:57.1 | Yes. Well, as you said, John, it's a rip-roaring story, to be sure. Virgil doesn't tell it in |
| 1:04.3 | totally chronological order, but I'll summarize it in chronological order very quickly. |
| 1:09.4 | The Trojan War, we're at the very end of the Trojan War. |
| 1:13.1 | The Greeks are able to breach Troy via the Trojan horse, which we find in book two of the |
| 1:18.1 | Aeneid. |
| 1:18.7 | They raise the city. |
| 1:20.1 | They utterly destroy it. |
| 1:21.4 | They burn it. |
| 1:22.6 | But there's a band of survivors, a band of refugees led by Aeneas. |
| 1:27.0 | And they are able to find a ship, |
| 1:28.8 | and they begin to make their way westward. The idea is that they have a destined new homeland, |
| 1:36.1 | and that destined new homeland is Italy. They say that their ancestor Dardanists came from |
| 1:40.5 | Italy, and they are making their way back home there. The journey is very fraught. |
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