Externi duces

The concept of Aeneas having a somehow privileged position because of his status as externus is vital to both the texture and argument of Books 7–12 of the Aeneid. The word is used by the haruspex, by the oracle of Faunus, and the uates, and on two occasions Virgil sets forth an argument on the meaning of externus. Hiltbrunner gives a list of ancient attempts to explain the word externus in Virgil, but it seems to be a word which in itself is neutral, although its element appears several times in the genealogical context of the foundation of Rome and the origins of its patrician families.