I personally believe that Vergil was actually making more of a negative statement about Rome and about Augustus (who was in power at around the time Vergil wrote the Aeneid). I won't go to much into detail here, but it seems that Aeneas actually fails his father (or if not his literal father, the more of less father influences of culture) at the end of the epic and therefore his titile pius. The Trojans learn something from Achilles as he returns the body of Hector to Priam, they learn a sort of mercy over the defeated, yet Aeneas chooses to ignore this when he murders Turnus at the end of Book XII. Vergil forshadows this final failure at the end of Book VI as Aeneas is lead through the gate of false dreams, possibly symbolizing the futility of what his father had taught him during the book. One of the things Anchises tells Aeneas is "Genoristy to the conquered" (Book 6, l. ? - trans. C. Day Lewis), Aeneas' hesisitation is his recollection of this, but in the end he chooses vengence. We almost expect his mother to appear and stop him as she has so often has done, but she makes no appearence. In the end, Aeneas stands alone, the majority of his friends has been killed and he and has parents have been seperated. It is widly accepted that Aeneas is a representation of Augustus and speculated that he is representation of Romulus. Accepting both of these facts, one begins to wonder what Vergil's true intention was in writing the Aeneid.
Just something to consider, I apologize for being to wordy ;-) - Paul McGuirk -----Original Message----- From: James Renihan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, May 13, 1999 4:05 AM Subject: VIRGIL: Hello... >Hey all.. >i'm new here... i'm an 18 yr old high school student currently taking >Latin. >I've been interested in Ancient Rome and Greece for most of my life... >I'm currently studying book 6 of the Aeneid in Latin... i know the >guidelines for the list >prohibits popping in and just asking for information, but i don't plan on >doing that. >The project is due a long while from now, and i *do* plan on doing 90% of >this research myself, but would enjoy discussing some aspects of it. >One question I do have... when Vergil wrote the Aeneid, did he mean it as >a work of fiction, or at this time did the general populace of Rome >believe in this story, like the Odyssey or Iliad? >thanks! >ren > >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >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 > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
