The Aeneid - Part 1

Within the world of The Aeneid, Rumor plays a major part. At several points, she makes a move to stir up trouble and mischief, the forbearer of all bad and unfavorable news. Her first appearance is when she whisks news of Aeneas and Dido’s love to everyone and rouses the ire of her murderous brother. Later, Rumor turns against the couple and whispers hints to Dido of Aeneas plans to set sail, which leads to the queen’s eventual suicide. During the war between the Trojans and the Latins, Rumor carries the news of fallen loved ones before their bodies reach their grieving families. Whenever there is trouble, Rumor is not far behind to deliver it quickly, “Nimble as quicksilver among evils” (4.241).

However, most interesting to me was that a full twenty-five lines is dedicated to a description of her and how she prowls the earth, the most intriguing part of which was as follows:

Monstrous, deformed, titanic. Pinioned, with / an eye beneath for every body feather, / and, strange to say, as many tongues and buzzing / Mouths as eyes, as many pricked-up ears, / By night she flies between the earth and heaven / Shrieking through darkness, and she never turns / Her eyelids down to sleep. (4.249-255)

The imagery presented reminds me of the cherubim described in Ezekiel 10:12, “Their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the wheels were full of eyes all around.” Now, this is not to say that I believe that one inspired the other but I do believe it is interesting to note the similarities. Both have wings with which to fly over the entire earth and both have eyes covering every part of them. However, this is where the similarities stop, so far as I can tell, as the cherubim are the servants of the Almighty and Rumor is a spreader of truths and tales. While the cherubim minister in the presence of God, Rumor whispers tantalizing words into the ears of the unsuspecting. So, though it has been shown that these two creatures are, in essence and fact, very differing, it is remarkable that they have some unique characteristics in common.