Book 11

Abstract Aeneas erects on a ‘tumulus ‘ a ‘tropaeum ‘ clothed ( ‘induit ‘) with I\llezentius ‘ arms and armour ( ‘exuuias ‘) and dedicates it to I\!Iars. In 10. 762ff. Orion-like Mezentius was seen brandishing a huge spear, the trunk of an ash-tree [86pv], and in 10. 833-6 he was seen washing his wound in the waters of the Tiber and leaning against a tree-trunk ( ‘arboris acclinis trunco ‘), whi]e his helmet was hanging from the boughs of the tree. Now the tree-trunk is stripped of its leaves and clothed with l\1ezentius ‘ ‘exuuiae ‘. A ‘tumulus ‘ is ‘terra tumens ‘ and interacts semantically with ‘exuuiae ‘ ( ‘empty ‘ armour). The relation of tree-trunk [86pv] to ‘tumulus ‘ and ‘exuuiae ‘ (the latter include I\llezentius ‘ broken ‘tela ‘, Sopa-ra) varies the relation of Laocoon ‘s spear [86pv] to the hollow of the Wooden Horse [S6pv]. The trophy is in addition an offering [bwpoJJ] to a god.