The Image of the Limen in Aeneid ii

Extract

The part of Aeneid ii which deals with the death of Priam has something in common with the murder of Duncan in Macbeth. Against a background of treachery and darkness, fitfully illumined by the flare of torches and the fiercer glare of fire, we witness the brutal murder of an old and kindly king. To the audience in the classical world, who knew the story of Ilium's fall in its every detail, the scene in which Sinon plays false must have been, like the opening act of Macbeth, top-full of dramatic irony.