The story of
Virgil's Aeneid was drawn from many sources, the most influential being the
work of the Greek poet Homer. Virgil
based the first six books of the Aeneid on the Odessey and the last six books
on the Iliad both written by Homer. The
Aeneid describes the adventures of Aeneas, the legendary Trojan hero who
survived the fall of troy, sailed westward to Italy and founded Rome. During the time that Virgil wrote the Aeneid
he incorporated all known Rome history up to his own time.
The book is world renowned and also is said by
many to be one of the best works ever.
The last chapter of the Aeneid has caused some problems for
readers. The first problem that is
evident is the manner in which Aeneas deals with Turnus. In book XII Turnus states that the fight
should be between the two men as apposed to both armies fighting any
further. Turnus had every right to
dislike Aeneas who came unannounced, tried to take his fiancé, Aeneas' son
killed their sacred deer, and he took his land.
They have a great dual and Aeneas disarmed Turnus by striking him in the
leg. With his sword to his chest Turnus
makes a last request for his body to be returned to his family, as Aeneas is
considering the request he notices that Turnus is wearing the sword belt of Pallas
and the stoic ways of Aeneas leave him as rage, fury, and anger run through his
body. He kills Turnus in anger and
dedicates his death to Pallas. This loss
of control and act of violence is the opposite of stoicism and the way Aeneas
had been portrayed the rest of the epic.
Turnus has to die for the founding of Rome to
occur but he should not have been killed in such a way. The killing was payback for the dishonorable
way that Pallas was killed. The sword
belt had images that reflect Augustinian Rome as did the shield in book
eight. The theft of the belt from Pallas
can be compared to the stolen helmet and the youth slain when his guard was
down and greed had taken over. All if
this represents the theme of greed and each incident resulted in death of the
thief.
Another problem that the last book of the
Aeneid provided for the readers was how the last scene was written in relation
to the rest of the epic. At the end of
the novel Aeneas kills Turnus for many reasons, most them were dishonorable. Aeneas had gone through many barriers in the
epic. At the beginning of the epic
Aeneas knew his duty to the people very well, this was shown in many instances
such as returning for his wife during his flight from troy. But throughout the epic this theme becomes
less and less vivid and the fact that he starts to understands the Gods becomes
more and more evident. Due to the fact
that Aeneas is half devine shows that he can be in either side of the line that
divides the two. Usually a being in this
state is either more devine or more human.
At the beginning of the epic Aeneas is portrayed as a very human person
who understands human needs. As the epic
progresses this fades, his divinity states to show. At the end of the novel he is very much the
opposite is of when it started and his will to understand human behavior is
gone. Due to the fact that the piety
that he had throughout the epic was no longer within him. Aeneas has no need for piatos because in a
very short time he will become a god and he must prepare for this instead of
gaining piety. The last scene changes
our view of Aeneas that has been built up throughout the epic. He becomes enraged and clearly not the Aeneas
that started out during the fall of Troy.
This is not necessary a bad thing because the he has ahead of him needs
a strong man and the occurrences throughout the book actually made him the man
that the founding of Rome required him to be.
The third problem that appears in the final act
of Aeneas is that his actions are really not like him at all and is not
consistent with the character which is shown in the rest of the epic. I feel that for the founding of Rome to occur
Turnus had to die but Turnus did not have to die the way he did. If Turnus did live he would have been a constant
nuisance and a trouble maker. He would
have also posed a constant threat to the life of Aeneas. The fact that he stole the sword belt of
Pallas and killed him with such dishonor does somewhat justify the act of
Aeneas but it goes back to the question of who is the better man out of the
two. Aeneas let his emotions overcome
him and this in turns shows weakness. On
the other hand Turnus showed strength in accepting his defeat and making a last
request.
Aeneas' character throughout the epic was ever
learning. He went through much to get to
the point where he is at during the battle.
He fought the walls that Juno put up throughout his journey and became a
stronger man at the end. Aeneas deals
with Turnus in a bad way but this should not totally dishonor him. He did make it to his destination and
sacrificed much to get there. Although
Aeneas did make it to found Rome. Juno
also is a victor in the epic. The root
of Juno's anger was that the prophecies proclaimed that Aeneas would take over
Carthage and he is Trojan. But now that
Aeneas is no longer Trojan but Roman and Rome will love Juno more than Carthage
ever did.
If Aeneas had stuck to stoicism in the story
could he have accomplished his mission without resorting to such violence? Obviously the Stoic way would have been much
better and much quicker. If he had not
let his emotions get the better of him he would not have spent seven years with
Dido and her death would not have happened.
Also if he would have gone straight to Italy he would have arrived long
before Turnus was engaged to the princess and there would have been no
war. Although there is a strong argument
that the events throughout the book built the character Aeneas needed to be the
founder of Rome and become a God.
Another point is that the prophecies stated that Aeneas would have to
fight many battles to found Rome the fact remains that if he had gotten there
sooner there would still have been some sort of war awaiting his arrival. On the other hand in the last book Jupiter
did make a statement that suggested that it was possible for him to interfere
with fate if he wished and change the prophecies. There is no telling what he could have done
had he made different choices throughout his journey and many people ponder the
same questions about life itself and the choices made in their lives. The fact is there is no way of knowing.
In my opinion the last scene insinuates that
Rome was founded in violence. This in
not necessary bad, roman people were very proud of their heritage and the way
that the city was founded. The Romans
fell in love with Virgil's Aeneid and so did Augustus. The book was praised by Romans as it showed
Rome as strong and powerful.
The character of Aeneas was modeled after
Augustus and the book agreed that Augustus was a strong leader. The book actually helped his image and the
love for him grew threw Rome after the publication of the book. For that society in that time the epic was
written perfectly to suit the need of the reader.
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