from paradise lost, john milton's epic catalog of the demons who became the gods of pagan peoples.  

1. Moloch
2. Chemos
3. Baalim
4. Ashtaroth
5. Astoreth/Astarte
6. Thammuz
7. Dagon
8. Rimmon
9. Osiris
10. Isis
11. Orus
12. Belial

for milton, as for homer and virgil, numbers are significant. these are the tribes of the demons, a new nation of evil. virgil has 12 foes for aeneas to defeat before the great battle for latium, so it makes sense that Christ would have 12 foes to defeat in his great fight. if my memory is right, the 13th foe that is listed for aeneas is not a part of the epic catalog, but is the most worthy opponent: turnus. similarly, perhaps Christ's most worthy opponent is listed 13th and outside the catalog: beelzebub. this leaves satan out of the picture, though, so obviously i need to think about it more.  

Indeed, Homer represents a perfection in structure and scope of the raw poetic art of the unknown author of Beowulf; Virgil, on the other hand, represents the self-conscious and literary decadence of that art. It is not until Dante that Western civilization achieves the kind of poetic perfection at which Virgil failed so magnificently. And between the pole of that failure and the pole of Dante's perfection, the primitive art of Beowulf reigns supreme.

john nist

beowulf and the classical epics, in college english journal, v.24,no.4, jan 1963, pg. 262.

among the things i called this man, "ignorant hateful business-schooled idiot" was undoubtedly the kindest. seriously. dante perfection? virgil failure!? does he read real books or just children's abridgments? time to grow up sir.

Ecce autem elapsus Pyrrhi de caede Polites,

unus natorum Priami, per tela, per hostis

porticibus longis fugit, et uacua atria lustrat

saucius: illum ardens infesto volnere Pyrrhus

insequitur, iam iamque manu tenet et premit hasta.

Ut tandem ante oculos evasit et ora parentum,

concidit, ac multo vitam cum sanguine fudit.

Hic Priamus, quamquam in media iam morte tenetur,

non tamen abstinuit, nec voci iraeque pepercit:

'At tibi pro scelere,' exclamat, 'pro talibus ausis,

di, si qua est caelo pietas, quae talia curet,

persolvant grates dignas et praemia reddant

debita, qui nati coram me cernere letum

fecisti et patrios foedasti funere voltus.

At non ille, satum quo te mentiris, Achilles

talis in hoste fuit Priamo; sed iura fidemque

supplicis erubuit, corpusque exsangue sepulchro

reddidit Hectoreum, meque in mea regna remisit.'

Sic fatus senior, telumque imbelle sine ictu

coniecit, rauco quod protinus aere repulsum

e summo clipei nequiquam umbone pependit.

Cui Pyrrhus: 'Referes ergo haec et nuntius ibis

Pelidae genitori; illi mea tristia facta

degeneremque Neoptolemum narrare memento.

Nunc morere.' Hoc dicens altaria ad ipsa trementem

traxit et in multo lapsantem sanguine nati,

implicuitque comam laeua, dextraque coruscum

extulit, ac lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem.

Haec finis Priami fatorum; hic exitus illum

sorte tulit, Troiam incensam et prolapsa videntem

Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum

regnatorem Asiae. Iacet ingens litore truncus,

avolsumque umeris caput, et sine nomine corpus.

virgil's aeneid, 2.526-558, the mors priami.

call me blasphemous, but the fact that a human being wrote this is proof that we are made in the image of God.

the suspension of saucius until the fourth line, past even the third, makes eliot himself (the master of suspension) look amateurish.

"nunc morere" may be the first time anyone in literature conveys this idea this succinctly. bruce willis has no clue what he's doing compared to virgil.

550-553 are arguably the crowning glory, with an image mary flannery could only dream of creating: the father slipping in his son's blood as he's dragged to the altar by his hair. capulo, in addition to hilt, also means coffin. the resulting double meaning ought to have made every poet since tear his hear in frustration.

if all of philosophy is a footnote to plato, all western poetry is a footnote to virgil. not that i really grant either, but if you grant the first i'd call you names if you didn't admit to the second.