Author details/dating: Poet Ob. 19 BCE
Instrument Cited: Lituus
Citation Reference: Aeneis 6, 162-165
Citation Content: Aenēās maestō dēfīxus lūmina vultū ingreditur linquēns antrum, caecōsque volūtat ēventūs animō sēcum. Cui fīdus Achātēs it comes et paribus cūrīs vēstīgia fīgit. Multa inter sēsē variō sermōne serēbant, 160 quem socium exanimum vātēs, quod corpus humandum dīceret. Atque illī Mīsēnum in lītore siccō, ut vēnēre, vident indignā morte perēmptum, Mīsēnum Aeolidēn, quō nōn praestantior alter aere ciēre virōs Mārtemque accendere cantū. 165 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. 170 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: William Boyes Leaving the cavern, Aeneas walked with his eyes cast downward, his face sorrowful, pondering these strange dark events in his mind. Trusty Achates went with him as a comrade and locked with his captain both his step and his thought. They spoke about many different topics among themselves, what dead comrade did the princess mean? Whose body was left to be buried? When they came to the beach, they saw Misenus on the dry sand, dead, cutoff by a death all undeserved. Misenus, son of Aeolus, than whom no one was more outstanding at rousing men and in igniting the war god with his bronze trumpet. [I cannot see the reference to the instrument being of bronze but I’m not a Latin scholar] He had been the companion of great Hector. Around Hector Misenus met battles. He was distinguished with both war-horn and spear. After victorious Achilles stripped Hector of life, the very brave hero had come into the company of Dardanian Aeneas, then following a leader no worse than he had before. But then, while he happened to be playing his conch, making the seas resound loudly with his music- the fool- he called the gods into competition with his song and, if the story is to be believed, envious Triton snatched him up and drowned the man in the frothy waves among the rocks.
The reference is to the lituus being a military trumpet but in the Greek context would be referring to a salpinx and also to Misenus losing his life when he challenges Triton to a dual on the conch-shell trumpet.
Recent Reference: Ryberg 1955: p. 21. https://blogs.dickinson.edu/classicalstudies/2017/05/17/reading-vergil-misenus-the-trumpeter-aeneid-6-156-164/ Accessed 14-09-2022