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Homer in a Nutshell: Vergilian Miniaturization and the Sublime

This paper explores the strange fascination with smallness that runs through Vergil's Aeneid, focusing on the bee simile in book 1, the poem's inaugural miniaturizing moment. Deviating from the standard paradigms of Vergilian criticism, I suggest we can learn a great deal about smallness in this poem by studying it through the lens of the sublime. My analysis bypasses the proliferation of Romantic sublimes to draw primarily on a model of sublimity derived from Neil Hertz's influential reading of Longinus. Read through the Hertzian sublime, miniaturization in the Aeneid is revealed as a subtle articulation of the poem's running concern with power. The bee simile, I argue, enacts a threefold drama in which hero, author, and reader confront what I call their sublime condition, coming to terms with their implication in immensities beyond their comprehension and control.