Achates’s Friendship with Aeneas

The Aeneid was essentially the Roman answer to major Greek epics such as the Iliad. Rife with allusions to Augustus’s own proclaimed bloodline, this poem was carefully constructed by Vergil to be a masterpiece glorifying the nascent Roman empire. With that said, we have to assume that everything Vergil included in this piece served some meaningful purpose. Then, why did Vergil include Achates, a supposedly steadfast friend of Aeneas who only has one spoken line in the entire piece?

The most noteworthy aspect of Achates’s sparse appearances in the Aeneid is the attribution of fidus (loyal), occurring five times throughout the poem. In Book I, line 188, fidus Achates holds Aeneas’s weapons as they both survey Carthage upon their arrival in North Africa (arcumque manu celerisque sagittas corripuit, fidus quae tela gerebat Achates). Vergil clearly constructs Achates as a character that is loyal and trustworthy to Aeneas. Just as Aeneas is commonly associated with pietas and being pius (both words speaking to his commended piety), Achates’s inherent instinct is to be fidus, and the word embodies his entire mentality. However, with Achates’s lack of actual emotional input, Vergil also seems to relegate Achates to an almost servile stature. Book I, line 120 may establish Achates to be one of the leaders of the Trojan ships (Iam validam Ilionei navem, iam fortis Achati,.....), but it’s worth wondering whether Achates is only being downplayed in the presence of Aeneas or if this is really the dynamic Vergil intended to develop between Achates and Aeneas.

Looking at the spoken lines about Achates, Achates doesn’t seem to influence Aeneas’ decisions as an equal. In Book I, lines 58585, Achates simply reaffirms that Venus’s prophecy about the other Trojan ships ending up safe proved to be true (“Nate dea, quae nunc animo sententia surgit? omnia tuta vides, classem sociosque receptos. Unus abest, medio in fluctu quem vidimus ipsi sbmersum; dictis respondent cetera matris.”). Evidently, Achates isn’t depicted to be the type of friend that would intellectually influence Aeneas’ decisions. Achates seems to be more of a source of moral and physical support for Aeneas. In Book IX, line 332, Aeneas calls upon Achates to give him a spear from the rest of his arms. Later, in Book X, lines 410-411, when a vengeful Numitor, an ally of the Rutulian King Turnus, throws a spear back at Aeneas, the spear barely wounds Achates (sed non et figere cotra est licitum, magnique femur perstrinxit Achatae.) Even when a spear does wound Aeneas, Achates is the first one to rescue him. Vergil seems to set up Achates as the archetype of a friend who provides unconditional support. As the perpetual comes, Achates accompanies Aeneas in his formative talk with Venus about the prophecy in Book I as well as in the trip to Cumaean Sibyl in Book VI. Vergil also credits Achates as being fortis and magnus, signifying the independence and strength of Achates’ character. Since those instances happen in the absence of Aeneas from those lines, it seems that Vergil purposely minimizes Achates to promote the respectability of the real protagonist: Aeneas. That’s understandable. But, if Vergil wanted to portray Aeneas in such a lofty way, why would he need to lean on someone else for support?

It’s been widely speculated that Aeneas embodies the noble characteristics of Augutus. Both historic leaders aspire to bring their respective civilizations to glory out of major tumultuous conflicts. Both wish for their new societies to abide by an old subset of traditional values in a new ideal society. Most importantly, Augustus and Aeneas both lay a high claim to a sense of duty to their people and to Rome, as personified in the word pietas. Is it possible that Achates represents some analogous companion to Augustus? Vergil could have dedicated the character to some close right hand-men of Augustus such as Agrippa or Maecenas. However, Vergil would have probably have not neglected the fundamental development of a character with such a pivotal real-life counterpart. In fact, Maecenas was a major patron of Roman literature and arts, so Vergil would have probably dedicated a much more obvious allusion to Maecenas and made his friendship with Augustus/ Aeneas much more prevalent.

Another explanation for Achates’s sparse presence in the Aeneid may be that Vergil included Achates as a poetic device: every leader needs some type of support group. Aeneas always has his loosely-defined clique of men in his endeavours througout the book. Achates just puts a concrete name to one of these members. Especially in such a time when the Roman Republic transitioned to the Empire, friendship must have been very hard to find and trust. The people were torn between such differing ideologies and shifting political alliances that friend and foe must have been easy to conflate. With multiple rounds of prescription, it’s clear that Augustus viewed that foes had to be culled from society as traitors while friends were to be valued as loyal, just as Achates is described to be. Vergil probably conceived that Aeneas, as a tantamount leader to Augustus with the same value of loyalty, should also enjoy the privilege of such a friend in Achates.

Even if Vergil did just include Achates for the sake of checking off a box for a strong leader’s right-hand man, the friendship between Achates and Aeneas is genuine and quite admirable. From his home to his father, Aeneas lost much throughout the epic. Despite all his valor and divine pedigree, Vergil truly humanizes Aeneas to be susceptible to heavy losses. In Book I during the storm, Aeneas breaks down and wishes that he died during the Trojan War instead of dealing with the burden of losing more of his people. The only aspects sustaining him in his search for a new home are his hope for a better tomorrow in Ascanius (his son) and a loyal friend at his side to guide that hope to fruition: Achates.