I'm a bicyclist and on my days off I do some long rides and some
"long" thinking. It came to me one day pushing up a hill that Aeneas is
presented differently from other leaders. If you take the supreme
paradigm, "The Iliad," Agamemnon is not a trusted leader; Agamemnon is
criticized in numerous ways; Agamemnon's troops are a divided bunch when
it comes to his decisions. Aeneas, though, is trusted -- or so it
seems.There does not appear to be a Thersites in the Aeneid.
If Aeneas is "driven by fate," his followers are driven by
Aeneas. They seem to follow where he goes without ever questioning.
Aeneas, as far as I can tell, is never criticized. Virgil departs here
from the Homeric pattern. I find this curious. I find this very thought
provoking.
I would like to know what the rest of you think in regards to how
Aeneas is presented as a leader. I would like to know what the rest of
you think as to why Virgil presented Aeneas in this way. Is Aeneas'
leadership presented by Virgil as a new kind of leadership? Why do
Aeneas' followers follow him with so much trust?
James C. Wiersum
___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply.
Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message
"unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You
can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
