Shannon DuBois Boston University SCS Panel Presentation January 5, 2018 The Cupidity of Ascanius in Vergil and Vegio In the Aeneid, there is a close connection between Ascanius and Cupid – and this distinctive relationship influences the characterization of Maffeo Vegio’s Ascanius in the fourteenth-century Supplementum. I argue that, from the point of his abduction in the Aeneid, Ascanius serves as a symbol of destructive cupīdo, with each new appearance bringing about greater disaster. Upon establishing this argument, I will then look at the Supplementum, in order to argue that Vegio’s “sequel” does not so much resolve this problem as fall back on imagery that reinforces it. The consequence of representing Ascanius as a cupīdo figure, then, is that his very presence begins to undermine the promises of peace laid out from the Aeneid’s start; and this ultimately makes it impossible for Ascanius to serve as a beacon of hope in the Supplementum, even though the wars have come to an end. I am not the first to notice the Cupid-like function of Ascanius in the Aeneid. C. U. Merriam, in her 2002 article, argues that Ascanius’ childishness leads him to serve as a harbinger of doom, “first used by Vergil as a herald of frenzy and disaster in the epic, but more and more [becoming] an agent of this chaos.” 1 Ioannis Ziogas, meanwhile, argues that the presence of a Cupidified Ascanius signals allusions to love elegy. 2 And Anne Rogerson, in her new book, focuses on how the Protean symbolism and characterization of Ascanius make him a difficult figure to define. 3 While these scholars all contribute to a cohesive understanding of Ascanius’ role in the epic, I hope to add a new layer of complexity to these analyses. I posit that the reason 1 Merriam 2002, 852. 2 Ziogas 2010, 150-74. 3 Rogerson 2017. 1