The New Hero of Aeneas Essay - 2008 Words

The New Hero of Aeneas Can myopia afflict an individual with so severe a malady to the extreme of proclaiming, If you take from Vergilius his diction and metre, what do you leave him? Unless we take this statement as a neophyte joke, we may not be able to continue. The objective of this essay is to clean the bifocals of those whom I presumed after reading the Aeneid as a botched-up replica of the Iliad and the Odyssey conclude that it is indeed so and go about perpetuating such calumny. Hence, to answer the obvious, if we strip Vergilius of his diction and metre, we leave him a new type of hero. Well, actually he leaves us a new type of hero, a hero that is foreign to the golden age of Homer. He presents a new ideal of†¦show more content†¦Although he opens up with This is the tale of arms and of a man and suggests that his hero is another Achilles, or Odysseus, he has, before the end of the first paragraph, shown that he reaches beyond Aeneas to the long history that followed from him: and t hat was the origin of the Latin nation, the Lords of Alba, and the proud battlements of Rome (I, 6-7). Soon after wards, when he has noted the obstacles that the Trojans meet in their wanderings, he again ends a period in the similar note: Such was the cost in heavy toil of beginning the life of Rome (I, 33). Once again, when Venus complains that her son Aeneas is unjustly treated, Jupiter replies not only by promising that all will be well for Aeneas but by giving a prophetic sketch of Roman history to Julius Caesar. This reward, which the ancestor is to receive, is much more than his own success or glory, more even than his settlement in Italy. It is the assurance of the Roman destiny, of universal and unending dominion: To Romans I set no boundary in space or time. I have granted them dominion, and it has no end (I, 278-79). As we can see, at the outset Vergilius shows what kind of destiny is the subject of his poem. The wanderings, sufferings and ultimate success of Aenea s and his followers are but a preliminary and preparation for a greater theme. Secondly, there is different theme in Vergilius art. The fundamentalShow MoreRelatedThe Aeneid By Virgil. Johan Sunesson1701 Words   |  7 Pagesis a epic poem, following the adventures of the great Aeneas, as well as the central role he played in the founding of the Roman State. The character of Aeneas had been a known legend long before the Aeneid was composed, having been a character in the Iliad. Virgil took the myth of Aeneas and tied him together with the founding of the Roman State. Aeneas is both a hero of Rome and to Troy. 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