Virgil 's Aeneid, The Theme Of Piety

In The Aeneid, Aeneus goes against human instinct to worship the gods. When the gods’ promise seems impossible to be accomplished, Aeneus still believes it will be completed. Throughout the story, Aeneus is constantly suffering and neglecting his own desires to please the gods. Aeneus’ piety leads him to be successful in establishing the future of Rome. Aeneus demonstrates piety by always following the gods will.

The Aeneid, the famous epic poem written by Virgil, depicts the struggle of establishing an empire. The beginning of The Aeneid introduces Aeneas, son of the goddess Venus, whose fate is to find a new home in Italy after the fall of Troy. Throughout the perilous journey, Aeneas faces great obstacles as he strives to fulfill his prophecy and gradually transform into the ideal Virgilian hero. To emphasize his growth, I will discuss three themes in this essay: the extent of free will as it relates to fate, the influence of divine beings on mortals, and the principles of morality. All of these ideas serve as an understanding as to why Aeneas is unable to act on his own accord. This leads me to defend the view that humans require the positive guidance of a mentor figure to resist their self-indulgence.

In The Aeneid it goes through the story of Aeneas and Dido. Aeneas deals with his journey to find Rome due to his destiny and in the course of this meets Dido, the Queen of Carthage (Line 15-16 Virgil). Dido is so infatuated when she first sees Aeneas that she instantly wants to break her vow to her dead husband of never being with another man; “I recognize the signs of the old flame, of old desire. But O chaste life, before I break your laws, I pray that earth may open, gape for me….” (Line 31-34 Virgil). After Dido prayed to the gods and got their permission. The gods heard her wish and Juno along with Venus planed the event of the two becoming one; “Plan hunting in the forest…while beaters in excitement ring the glens my gift will be a black

The ideal virtue in Roman culture was piety, also known as pietas. Pietas had three components: duty to your country, duty to your family, and duty to the gods. When a person followed these guidelines in Ancient Rome, they were considered to have piety. Throughout Aeneas’ journey, the three components to pietas are demonstrated by actions taken by Aeneas’ character. In the epic poem, The Aeneid, the idea of pietas is central to the epic, opposing the Greek ideal of furor, or passionate desire/senseless fury. In this essay, I will analyze the moments in the epic that demonstrate how Aeneas uses these three components of pietas, and how this epic celebrates the shift from Greek ideals to Roman ideals.

Aeneas has a destiny to follow, traveling from Troy to Italy to found and build the city of Rome. It is very important in Roman society to follow your destiny and what the God’s want for you. On his destined journey, he stumbles a few times in continuing to follow his destiny, such as his romance with Dido. However, in the end, he always obeys the gods to fulfill his destined duties. Virgil uses the character of Aeneas to show how if you follow your destiny and what the gods desire, your fate will turn out for the best, as Aeneas was successful in founding Rome.

It is chiefly the duty to the gods, as well as to country and family, all of which Aeneas is shown to display throughout the story. As the purpose of writing the Aeneid was to give the roman empire an illustrious founding, it would make sense for the hero to be of a pious and dutiful nature, which all Romans should aspire to. Yet there are moments when Aeneas strays from this depiction, for example, when he sees Helen and longs to get revenge for the fall of his country despite knowing there is no honour or fame in punishing a woman [2.568-589]. There is divine intervention here when his mother appears to show him that there are more important things he needs to do than kill a woman. Nonetheless, a short while later, when he learns of his wife Creusa’s death, Aeneas says he ‘stormed and raged and blamed every god and man that ever was’ [746-7], which goes directly against the notion of pietas. And yet he displays it again when he has to give up Dido in book 4 to carry on his journey.

Additionally, as an oriental queen, we must remember how Dido along with the other women from the old world, held little to no place in the vision of the new Rome. I believe the way in which Aeneas treats those who are not directly included in his prophecy; particularly in this scene, raises interesting ideas about Aeneas character. It is easy for the reader to forget that he is not born a hero like the epic heroes who came before him like Odysseus, rather he becomes one as the story progresses. He is therefore forgiven any human errors of judgement, including deserting Dido in favour of fulfilling his

Dido, the Queen of Carthage, meets Aeneas, on his way to Italy, where he will found Rome. Dido and Aeneas fall in love but this couldn't happen because Aeneas was destined to fund Rome, so the gods ordered him to continue its initial road, he must leave Dido and sail to Italy. Aeneas and his sailors prepare to leave without telling Dido for not making it painful, but Dido kills herself once he has gone (this is another version of Dido's

After this short injunction, we are swept back to the current story with Aeneas, and his arrival at Carthage. Venus appears to Aeneas in the woods and explains to him about Dido, queen of Carthage, and the violent, bloody story behind her fated throne. The citizens of Carthage are actually descendents of Phoenicians who have traveled and settled in this land (modern day Libya). Dido is made the queen of all the citizens of Carthage after her husband, Sychaeus, was murdered.

Once Dido’s and Aeneas’ “love” has been set on its course, he receives word from the god Mercury to return to his duties for Troy, “Blind to your own realm, oblivious to your fate!” (Virgil, p.136) Aeneas desires the love of Dido, but recognizes his obligation to found Rome. This is where a complication arises regarding fate. Aeneas strayed from his destiny, moving alongside his desires rather than uniting his aspirations with his obligations, thus creating conflict within his life and difficulties weighing the importance of his obligations and desires. The pressures of fate and the gods were not in Aeneas’ control; however, it was his own decision to fall in love with Dido and ignore his mission, even if momentarily. As humans we are obligated to one another regardless of desire.

In Virgil’s poem, The Aeneid, the ideal Roman hero is depicted in the form of Aeneas. Not only does Aeneas represent the Roman hero, but he also represents what every Roman citizen is called to be. Each Roman citizen must posses two major virtues, he must remain pious, and he must remain loyal to the Roman race. In the poem, Aeneas encompasses both of these virtues, and must deal with both the rewards and costs of them.

Aeneas happens to show signs of Stoicism in which he hides his feelings and emotions various times or to deal with situations just hoping that they would work out in the end. And indications of individualism are shown within the character Dido in which she lets her feelings in her individual well-being overtake her decisions. Losing focus on her Empire as a whole but more so on how her love for Aeneas. Though there are several instances where Virgil does stray from the ideals of Hellenism Aeneas happens to have a large sense of community and destiny. Virgil also happens to support the Empire of Rome being as the entirety of this piece of literature is simply a political position that he is displayed. From the very beginning Aeneas is admiring the sense of community and structure when finds the Greeks. Not only that but Aeneas shows many times that he believes that individual desires should be sacrificed for fulfilling ones destiny and obedience to the gods. He gives up his love for Dido even though he sees how much it is hurting both of them and the dispelling of her kingdom. He chooses the destiny that was given to him by the gods rather than indulging in his own personal happiness. Not only that but he's name directly means Aeneas the good, good more than likely referring to his obedience for the gods and obeying their wishes.

Thanks to Neptune, though, they are only thrown off course, and Venus assures that they will not be harmed in Carthage. At times in the Aeneid, it seems as if the story is less about the deeds of the mortal characters than about the bickering of the gods, who continuously disrupt or manipulate events on Earth. The one common theme, though, is that fate always comes true. Aeneas is destined to settle in Italy, and nothing can prevent this. Jupiter sees to it that his overall plan will come to pass by helping out Venus.

Intro – Begin by talking about how people often see Aeneid by Virgil as focusing on the events surrounding the Trojan war, but an equally important part of the story is the prevalent theme of duty. For instance, if one looks at Aeneas one can see his devotion towards caring for his people, and his persistence to follow his duty. Because of the emphasize that Virgil places on Aeneas devotion to his people and his duty to obey the gods, one can begin to theorize that Virgil believed duty was the most important quality a man could possess. Thesis: Often times, the Aeneid carries the reputation as a book centering around the founding of Rome, however, without the constant reminder of duty, one cannot fully view Virgil’s story as he intended.

When the Greeks raze the city of Troy, Aeneas escorts his father, Achises and his son, Ascanius, as well as other citizens of Troy to find another foothold for settling. During the journey to Italy, Aeneas shows his ability of leadership and decisiveness. They sail around for seven years after they set off from Troy. On multiple occasions Aeneas is told where he needs to go, however he seems to ignore all the pointers he gets from everyone.