ABSTRACT
This chapter offers only a partial picture of Evander, but one rather different from the way in which he is usually viewed. It argues that there is a consistent portrayal in the Aeneid, produced by noteworthy details that he think have never all been pulled together, of Evander’s extreme fondness for blood, gore, killing, and vengeful punishment, a fondness he shares with no other speaker in the poem. The chapter explains observations about story of Hercules and Cacus that Evander tells Aeneas, the hymn to Hercules that Evander’s people sing right after the Cacus story, and finally, the baldric that Evander’s son Pallas is wearing on his first and last day of battle. The mention of the sack of Troy may embarrass his Trojan guests, but Evander must view Troy as having been sacked rightly, in instance of justified punishment, like Hercules’ killing of Cacus, because Laomedon denied Hercules his reward for saving Hesione from the sea-monster.
