The nescii fati of the Aeneid and their Causal Attributions

Abstract

This paper examines the causal attributions employed by characters in Vergil’s Aeneid to explain their subjective misfortunes. It will be shown that these subjective explanations often disregard fate or reveal a flawed understanding of the fata, which typically leads to negative consequences for the characters involved. The article then analyzes the strategies Vergil uses to expose the shortcomings of his characters’ subjective explanations and how he characterizes them by endowing some of them with a distinctive style of attribution.