By not even mentioning in passing the role that Vergil establishes for Aeneas as the founder of Rome, this essay fails to establish any connection between the pompous title and the interesting, if sketchy comments on the three areas he skims across.Most central to his thesis is that Aeneas follows the "will of the gods." Of course he does; Vergil is writing a homage to the glory of Augustan Rome, so he establishes the authority of Aeneas's "proper" founding of Rome by showing him to be a diligent performer of the will of the gods. Seen in this--not very novel--way, Aeneas's "desertion" of Dido becomes an example of the difficult, willful, decisions that Aeneas must make to fulfill his destiny: sacrificing his personal desires for the greater good.
- 15/03/2002
- 10:47:43
- Score: 6 out of 6 people found this comment useful.