Shame on Me: Pudor in the Aeneid

David M. Pollio (Christopher Newport University)

One of the most prominent Homeric virtues is ai]dw;v (“shame,” “sense of shame”), which is “both an individual and social concept; it is an internal, emotional impulse toward correct behavior in conformity with what is expected of one by others” (Schein 177; cf., Cairns, Redfield, Williams). In the Iliad, ai]dw;v rallies heroes to fight (Cairns 68-71) and compels Hector to face Achilles (Cairns 79-83); in the Odyssey, the suitors are characterized by their lack of ai]dw;v (Cairns passim). When we turn to the Aeneid, we find a similar concept expressed by pudor and its cognates, pudere and pudendus. Vergilian pudor, however, is not an exact analogue of its Homeric counterpart: in this paper, I will consider all thirteen appearances of pudor (and its cognates) in the Aeneid to demonstrate that Vergil reworks Homeric ai]dw;v in order to reflect contemporary Roman attitudes towards shame.

I will begin by considering Vergil’s use of pudor in Book 4. As scholars have long noted, Dido’s pudor (“sense of shame”) has both political and personal dimensions that are closely linked with her pudicitia (Kaster 62-3) and fama (Currie 38). In Book 5, by contrast, pudor (“shame”) takes on a different significance during Anchises’ funeral games, in which shame of losing is used by Mnestheus to motivate his crew not to finish last in the ship-race (5.196) and by Entellus to motivate himself after a shaky start in his bout with Dares (5.455). In the end, both appeals are effective, as Mnestheus’ ship comes from far behind to finish a close second and Entellus defeats Dares.

In the Aeneid’s second half, pudor is used much as it was in Book 5 – as a stimulus to action – except now in the context of combat. For example, Mnestheus (9.787), Pallas (10.398), and the disguised Juturna (12.229) all motivate their audiences with appeals to shame; Mezentius (10.871) and Turnus (12.667), likewise, are spurred to action by a combination of feelings, including shame. In Book 9, however, when the Trojans are attacked during Aeneas’ absence, their initial impulse (incited by a combination of pudor and ira) is to counter-attack (9.44), instead of seeking refuge behind their ramparts as Aeneas had ordered (9.40-3). In this episode, as later when confronted with Remulus’ scathing invective (9.598), the Trojans must not fall prey to the traditional heroic impulse to attack, but control their emotions and follow Aeneas’ orders or risk destruction.

Works Cited

C. A. Barton, Roman Honor: The Fire in the Bones (Berkeley 2001).

D. L. Cairns, AIDÔS: The Psychology and Ethics of Honour and Shame in Ancient Greek

Literature (Oxford 1993).

H. Currie, “Dido: Pietas and Pudor,” CB 51 (1975) 37-40.

R. A. Kaster, Emotion, Restraint, and Community in Ancient Rome (Oxford 2005).

J. M. Redfield, Nature and Culture in the Iliad (Chicago 1975).

S. Schein, The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer’s Iliad (Berkeley 1984).

B. Williams, Shame and Necessity (Berkeley 1993).