THE ORIGINALITY OF THE MYTHOLOGY OF EROS PLATO IN THE POETRY OF VERGILIUS
Authors:   Institute National University Odesa Maritime Academy, Ukraine, Maystrenko Lyudmila 
Published: August 2022

Eros is one of the main themes of world literature. The theory of love, dialectically expounded by Plato in The Banquet, had a great influence on all European cultures, especially on morality, fiction, and fine arts. The experience of world literature confirms Plato’s theory, including the poetry of Virgil, his works «Bucolic», «Georgica» and «Aeneid». The purpose of the paper is to identify the characteristic features of the mythology of Eros in the works of Virgil, to clarify the nature of the eternal relevance of Plato’s philosophical discovery of earthly love and heavenly love, his vitality in literary works. Methodology. The choice of methods is determined by the peculiarities of the scientific problems of the topic, the solution of which is based on the selection, systematization, comparison, and textual analysis of the relevant material. The main method of research is comparative-historical with genetic and contact approaches, which are in the direct or indirect dialogue of Virgil with other authors. The psychological method was used to know the inner world of the artist, and his author’s interpretation of the mythology of Eros. Results of the survey. Objectively substantiated results are obtained, structural, thematic, and ideological characteristics of Eros mythology are systematized in their interrelation as a complex phenomenon during a certain period in Virgil’s poetry, and established ideas about the mythopoetic paradigm in ancient literature are developed. Plato’s teachings on Eros, its two stages – lower (Earthly love) and higher (Heavenly love) actualize the works of Virgil: «Bucolics», «Georgics», «Aeneid». Рractical implications and value. The practical significance of the work and its value are determined by the possibility of using it in the course of lectures at higher educational institutions. The same results can be taken into account when writing monographs, textbooks, and manuals, in the development of lectures, courses, and special courses on the history of foreign literature. In the Bucolics, Virgil raises the issue of the harmony of man and nature associated with the beauty of Eros. Virgil’s «Bucolics» testify to the complex inner world of man, to the dissonances of his soul, tired of the big city. Rural themes, full of beauty and love of life with all the colors of the Italian land, with the poet’s favorite evening – the constant motifs of the idyllic world of Virgil, which encourages love. In the Georgics, Virgil considers four themes: love, renunciation, death, and rebirth, developing Plato’s theory of the lower and higher levels of Eros – earthly and heavenly love. Virgil denies earthly love. He focuses on libido sexual – sexual desire as the lower stage of Eros. Virgil condemns not only carnal love but also all passion. The vanity of horses rushing to the finish line is no different from human vanity. An example of renunciation of love and all passion is the bee kingdom in Book IV «Georgik». Dido’s tragic love for Aeneas began with libido. Virgil equates the queen’s love affair with illness, a terrible element, a catastrophe. The spirit of great tragedy hovers throughout the fourth book of the Aeneid. Sympathizing with Dido, Virgil condemns her love for Aeneas as a destructive, destructive force, a mad shawl of love passion. However, the poet does not deny purified, that is, ideal love in the Platonic sense. It begins with love for the native land, for beauty, and reigns in all his works. It is love for nature, which permeates the artistic world of the poet, for native lares and penates, love for parents and paternal and maternal love, a mutual friendship between kindred spirits, and finally – love for all things: trees, celestial bodies, space life. Universal love dominates all the works of Virgil.