Adam Bunni PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

account, the audience is left to imagine many of the terrors with which Orpheus is
faced on his way to meet Pluto, ‘regemque tremendum’ (4.469) of the Underworld,
but it has already been alerted to the presence of the Furies, and of Cerberus. The fact
that this youth manages to enter Hades and return with his own life, having almost
resurrected his wife, must be regarded as a significant accomplishment.
Whatever one may think of Aristaeus’ lack of remorse for his part in the death
of Eurydice, or his childish appeals to his mother, Cyrene, onto whom he tries to
divert the blame for the loss of his bees, the fact remains that he is an effective
character in the Georgics. On his first appearance, Aristaeus is faced with the problem
of his lost bees, which he solves by the means available to him. In doing so, Aristaeus
provides a perfect example of the double-edged nature of the power of the iuvenis. He
receives warranted censure from Proteus for his part in Eurydice’s death, his passion
having roused his youthful spirits into her pursuit. This is part of another story,
confined to the past, to which the audience is granted only subjective access by
Proteus’ account. The actual present of the Aristaeus epyllion bears witness to a
different youth, one who lacks the insight to formulate a solution to his problem on
his own, or is perhaps wary of his own destructive potential. Aristaeus, in need of
guidance, looks to the wisdom of his mother; it is in this wise that the value and
power of his youthful energy becomes apparent, when it is allied to the control that
Cyrene provides. By employing his force according to the principles which his mother
lays down, and exclusively so, Aristaeus prevails. 150 He exerts his strength as directed
in the capture of Proteus, refusing to yield as the aged deity squirms into one form or
another; the information Aristaeus extracts from the seer allows his mother to
prescribe a further course of action. Ultimately, through the slaughter of his livestock,
the fruits of his earlier labour, he gains a new stock of bees. While Aristaeus is guided
at every turn by his divine mother, he is the true agent of his eventual success.
vii) Destruction and success
It is the application of Cyrene’s training to the raw material of Aristaeus which
sets him apart from the other youths, whose fates are altogether more tragic. This
150 Aristaeus ought not, however, to be considered to have been a complete “failure” before this
episode. The allusion, albeit in his own words, to the wealth and breadth of his agricultural enterprises
at 4.326-32, testifies to his capacity for success.
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