Aeneas and the Sibyl’s encounter with Charon is portrayed as exciting in numerous ways. Initially hostile towards both Aeneas and the Sibyl, the ancient boatman begins to berate Aeneas for his outlawed presence. Through literary techniques such as epic language, emphatic positioning and alliteration, Virgil creates, tension and suspense and predominantly excitement within the initial introduction of the Sibyl and Aeneas to Charon.
Firstly, the use of military based language from Virgil contrasts with the language relating to water and the river Styx. The use of nouns such as ‘fluvioque’(…approached the river) and the emphatic positioning of ‘navita quos iam inde ut Stygia’(the boatmen saw them from right where he was) contrasts against the use of military language such as ‘pedem advertere ripae’(turning their steps to the river bank). The difference in the roles between Aeneas as a hero and Charon as a boatman are emphasised here, and the reader is reminded of the unfamiliar depths of the underworld which Aeneas is travelling, making the encounter exciting. In addition to this, using a tricolon of relative pronouns, Aeneas’s unwelcome presence as a living mortal is emphasised. Through a series of indirect questions asked in succession,
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The promotion of negative conjunctions in the phrases ‘nullae hic insidiae’(there is no [such] ambush) and ‘nec vim tela ferunt’(nor do our weapons bring violence) portrays the haste of the Sibyl to plead her case as an attempt to placate the boatman. In contrast to this, the Sybil is referred to as ‘Amphrysia vates’(the prophetess of Apollo). This delay at the end of the line adds suspense to her presence while accompanying Aeneas. By her audacity in challenging Charon, the confrontation is made more