And Nisus says: “Euryalus, is it
the gods who put this fire in our minds,
or is it that each man’s relentless longing
becomes a god to him? Long has my heart
been keen for battle or some mighty act;
it cannot be content with peace or rest.(Aeneid IX 243-247, tr. Mandelbaum)
Strikingly modern, that.
Define “modern.”
Very short answer: psychological. It reads as though Plato’s tripartite soul has been reconstructed in a conscious/unconscious context.
I’m reading into it, but it’s still quite remarkable.
‘Tis. Something like a reversal of Diotima’s allegory of the daemons. Its de-allgorization.
Does he talk to active effect is my question. Is Action or Divinity the focus of thought there?