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Misenus
Misenus was a character in Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid, written between 29 and 19 BC/BCE.
Misenus was Aeneas' trumpeter and herald after Hector's death.
In Book VI, we learn Misenus challenged the gods to a musical contest. This is always, ALWAYS, a bad idea (see Pan, Marsyas). The instrument was the conch shell, and for his impudence Triton, the god of playing conch shells, drowned him.
Atque illī Mīsēnum in lītore siccō,
ut vēnēre, vident indignā morte perēmptum,
Mīsēnum Aeolidēn, quō nōn praestantior alter
aere ciēre virōs Mārtemque accendere cantū.
Hectoris hic magnī fuerat comes, Hectora circum
et lituō pugnās īnsignis obībat et hastā.
postquam illum vītā victor spoliāvit Achillēs,
Dardaniō Aenēae sēsē fortissimus hērōs
addiderat socium, nōn īnferiōra secūtus.
Sed tum, forte cavā dum personat aequora conchā,
dēmēns, et cantū vocat in certāmina dīvōs,
aemulus exceptum Trītōn, sī crēdere dignum est,
inter saxa virum spūmōsā immerserat undā.
translation by Hugh Downs:
But when they returned to the shore,
they found Misenus cold in undeserved death on the dry sand.
Misenus, son of Aeolus, second to none in rousing men
And inciting Mars with a trumpet’s call.
First a companion of great Hector, he was famous
For fighting around the prince with both horn and spear.
After Hector was stripped of life by victorious Achilles,
Misenus, most brave of heroes, fell in with Dardan Aeneas, equal of Hector.
But then, by chance while Misenus was making the seas resound
With a hollow conch, he recklessly challenged the gods to a contest of song.
Envious Triton seized the man, if the story is to be believed,
And among the rocks drowned him in the crashing waves.
Thanks to the description of his funeral rites, we have insight into Roman burial customs and the importance the Romans placed on respect for the dead. The respect for people who challenge gods, not so much.
Cape Miseno in Campania, Italy, said to be the site of the contest, is named after him.
Misenus is name-checked in Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem "The House of Fame," written circa 1374-1385.
Tho saugh I in another place
Stonden in a large space,
Of hem that maken blody soun
In trumpe, beme, and clarioun;
For in fight and blood-shedinge
Is used gladly clarioninge.
Ther herde I trumpen Messenus,
Of whom that speketh Virgilius.
Ther herde I Ioab trumpe also,
Theodomas, and other mo…
In modern English:
Then saw I in another place
Standing in a larger space,
Those that make a warlike sound
With trumpet, cornet, clarion,
Since in fighting and blood-shedding
There is commonly trumpeting.
There heard I, blowing, Misenus
Of whom great Virgil tells us.
There I heard Joab also,
Theodamas and others so…
