Aeneas, the Bearer of Roman Values and Destiny - Research Paper Example

Aeneas, the Bearer of Roman Values and Destiny Introduction Virgil wrote the Aeneid in the wake of the Roman civil wars, and was a spectator to the rise of Augustus. The Aeneid is a highly political document, verging on political propaganda, which seeks to justify the Augustan regime. Virgil's hero, Aeneas, is projected as a direct ancestor of Augustus. He is depicted as the true founder of Rome, and is the bearer of Roman values and destiny. During his voyage out of Troy, and his adventures in the Mediterranean, Aeneas encounters many distractions and obstacles which he must overcome if he is to realize this destiny. It is the way in which he conducts himself during these episodes that defines the quintessential Roman values which Virgil seeks to project. During his sojourn in Carthage with Dido, Aeneas is momentarily distracted from his primary mission, which is the establishment of Rome. Dido makes certain claims upon him, and hurls accusations at him, but he continues with his journey, doing his Roman duty rather than enjoying momentary pleasure. The end of the epic is marked by Aeneas' slaying of Turnus, his final opponent in his quest to establish Rome. Aeneas is again faced with a moral dilemma, whether to spare Turnus or slay him. Aeneas acts according to Roman conceptions of appropriate punishment and removes the final obstacle to the creation of Rome by killing Turnus. The unity which Aeneas brings to Italy, upon the slaying of Turnus, can be understood as the natural order which the reign of Augustus sought to restore. In both these episodes Aeneas acts to fulfill Roman destiny in a way which exemplifies Roman values. 1. Aeneas' Sojourn in Carthage Aeneas' cohabitation with Dido results in Dido throwing a moral challenge to Aeneas which could prevent him from fulfilling his Roman destiny. Dido, Queen of Carthage, in Book IV of the Aeneid is a sentimental heroine in keeping with the tradition of the Hellenistic love narrative (Monti 37). Her defining feature is her passion which influences her decision to yield, in spite of a moral obligation, to her feelings of love for Aeneas (Monti 37). It is this passion which informs her lament after her desertion by her lover (Monti 37). The themes of this lament are arranged conventionally- the faithless male lover in contrast to the loyal women, her alienation, and then ultimately her curse (Monti 37). Dido's lament is drawn from the Greek tradition in which the relationship of lovers is like that of parties to a contract (Monti 39). In such a contract, when one party defaults on its obligations, the other party raises objections (Monti 39). Thus, Dido's lament and her criticisms of Aeneas are made in accordance with the Roman code which regulates political and personal behavior (Monti 37). Dido invokes Fides, the expected trustworthiness and loyalty in accordance with the Roman code which requires reciprocity of service in personal and political relationships (Monti 39). Dido censures Aeneas according to specifically Roman criteria and insists that he should remain her consort (Monti 39). In the changing political scenario in Carthage, Dido implies that her relationship with Aeneas will lead to her death, possibly forcing her to commit suicide (Monti 40). It is in this context of abandonment that the moral issue of Aeneas' responsibility to Dido is framed by Virgil (Monti 40). 2. Public Duty Versus Personal Pleasure In reply to the charge of abandonment by Dido, Aeneas cites his greater responsibilities toward his descendents and the Gods. In his reply to Dido's pleading, Aeneas conforms to the ideals of the epic hero by excluding any discussion of his emotional attachment to Dido, yet he does not totally ignore the emotional realm in his response (Monti 42). His greater emotional and spiritual commitment is to Achises, Iulus, and his Gods, to whom he owes the political obligation of founding a new kingdom in Italy (Monti 42). There is a clear conflict between personal love and political and spiritual duty, and Aeneas represses his feelings for Dido and emphasizes the importance of his greater historical project (Monti 42). He has a sense of pietas to the Gods, and a debt of affection owed to his father, his progeny, and his people, for whom Italy is a right (Monti 43). Although he may not have a personal inclination for the founding of Italy, it is a divinely imposed mission which he undertakes out of affection for Anchises and Iulus in order to restore pride which had been lost at Troy (Monti 43). The combination of loyalty to family, spiritual duty, and affection for his people overrides any personal affection or political obligation to Dido (Monti 43). Aeneas denies that any marriage with Dido took place and reduces his obligation to that of merely remembering her (Monti 44). Rather than being a simple conflict between love and duty, Aeneas' situation could be understood to be a conflict between competing political obligations both of which are infused with emotional considerations (Monti 45). 3. A Reminder to Aeneas from the Gods Aeneas sojourn at Carthage is long enough to worry the Gods, who remind him of his duties to the Roman people. Although Virgil and his hero Aeneas do not see the relationship with Dido as marriage, and hence it does not involve any further political commitments, Fama spreads gossip throughout the region that Aeneas was Dido's husband and dominus over Carthage (Monti 46). Iarbas reports this to Jupiter who then appeals to Aeneas' sense of obligation to his son and his descendents in order to extricate him from his position in Carthage (Monti 47). Mercury discovers Aeneas living with Dido more than as a mere lover, but as a de-facto ruler of Carthage, dressed in Tyrian purple and occupying the seat of power (Monti 47). Confusion is created by the fact that Aeneas has repeatedly told Dido of numerous oracles which, since the fall of Troy, have been encouraging him to travel toward Italy (Monti 47). Despite knowledge of these oracles he cohabits with her and discharges political duties at Carthage (Monti 47). Dido, realizing her predicament, then precedes to abuse Aeneas for his breach of fides and threatens to drown him at sea like a Fury (Monti 48). Dido's condemnation of Aeneas takes a rhetorical form which was used by Homer in the Iliad, that of the notion of a person devoid of compassion who was born of sub-human parents (Monti 49). In rhetorical form, Dido's abuse is similar to that of Patruclus' tirade against Achilles in the Iliad (Monti 49). This questioning of Aeneas' parentage necessarily questions his virtue and his fitness to embody Rome's values and bear its destiny (Monti 50). 4. The Triumph of Roman Family Values Aeneas' resolution of his predicament took place within the framework of Roman family values. The Roman concept of marriage was based upon the notion that the institution joined a man and a woman in a sharing partnership with the aim of producing legitimate children (Gutting 263). Iulus is Aeneas' son from his marriage to Creusa, a marriage recognized as valid by all parties (Eidinow 262). Iulus is both legitimate and accepted by his father, whereas Dido never produces an heir for Aeneas (Eidinow 262). Mercury's suggestion to Aeneas that he move on from Carthage, is expressed in terms of his the duty of a father to his son (Eidinow 262). The suggestion is that according to the Gods, Aeneas' refusal to fulfill his destiny in Italy would be the equivalent of disinheriting his legitimate son Iulus (Eidinow 262). Mercury also tells Aeneas that Italy is owed to Iulus, in a sense making Iulus the creditor of his father (Eidinow 263). In his reply to Dido, Aeneas likens a refusal to sail to Italy as a type of fraud against his rightful heir (Eidinow 264). Following the Dido episode, in Book VI of the Aeneid, Aeneas' father Anchises takes him to the underworld and gives him a prophetic glimpse of the glory which will be experienced by the souls of his descendents (Franke 76). 5. Turnus' Plea for Mercy The end of the epic presents Aeneas with his last obstacle, a moral dilemma which he must resolve before he can complete his duty as founder of Rome. Book XII of the Aeneid opens with a depiction of Aeneas' doomed opponent Turnus as a Lion, drawing on the Iliadic tradition in which Homer depicts Hector, Diomedes and Achilles in the same way (Putnam 211). The wound which Turnus suffers, as yet metaphorical, is compared with that of Dido, and then later Aeneas is transformed into the hunter-hound who traps Turnus who in turn is depicted as a frightened stag (Putnam 211). Aeneas tries to stop the fighting which had been inflamed by the death of Aulestes, appealing, bereft of weapons, to keep the treaty intact (Putnam 215). This is the last time in the epic that Aeneas is styled as pius, lamenting the rise of discordia and urging all parties to restrain their anger (Putnam 215). From the start of the epic Aeneas is portrayed as the embodiment of pietas, yet by the end he acts out of anger against Turnus (Putnam 215). Turnus himself has strayed from the path of piety by killing Pallus (Putnam 216). Aeneas has already been addressed by Anchises in the Underworld as Romane, implying that his patterns of behavior should exemplify the coming Roman race (Putnam 216). He is instructed to spare the defeated and to tame the proud (Putnam 216). In a sense Turnus is both defeated by Aeneas and proud, which produces a final moral dilemma for the hero of the epic (Putnam 216). Aeneas is likened to a storm cloud approaching the field of battle, and Turnus is engaged in fierce slaughter, both are portrayed as ruinous forces of nature in a state of anger (Putnam 218). The fight is framed as a civic one, pitting the Trojans, who would be the founders of Rome, against their feeble opponents (Putnam 218). In the process of the battle and the subsequent peace Aeneas was Italianized, transformed from Trojan to Roman, through the mixing of his people with the Latins (Putnam 220). The assimilation of the Trojans by the Latins produces a peace in which the Roman concept of pietas can then flourish (Putnam 221). The victory of Aeneas over Turnus is therefore not just a private vendetta but part of the creation of a place in which Roman values can be form the basis of society (Putnam 221). Turnus acknowledges defeat and asks Aeneas to spare his life, invoking the instructions of Anchises to spare the defeated (Putnam 223). Aeneas considers Turnus' plea, and seems to be moved by it, but then sights the sword belt of Pallas on Turnus' shoulder which reminds him of the grief of Pallus' death (Putnam 224). Turnus' act of wearing Pallus' sword belt is an act of pride in battle which outweighs the rights of the defeated (Putnam 225). 6. The Anger of Aeneas The anger which fills Aeneas during his slaying of Turnus is reminiscent of the anger of Achilles in the Iliad. The killing of Turnus represents the clearing away of all opposition to the establishment of the community of Rome (Putnam 226). In the same way that Hector's killing of Patroclus was avenged by Achilles, Aeneas takes revenge on Turnus for the murder of Pallus (Putnam 227). The climax of Book XII highlights Virgil's depiction of men as they are rather than as they may be, their efforts to co-exist in groups and nations, and the role of the Gods in the march of history (Johnson 134). From the perspective of Roman law and custom the situation was actually quite unambiguous (Galinsky 323). Turnus was not a victim, but had, through his own actions, forfeited his life many times over (Galinsky 324). As opposed to Homer's Hector who remonstrated with Paris for the breaking of an agreement with Menelaos, Turnus is a breaker of treaties, a veritable war criminal (Galinsky 324). Clementia would have played no part in this case, and the Roman reader would not have had any doubts about Aeneas' actions in slaying Turnus (Galinsky 324). In Book XI, Turnus pledges his life to restore what he considers order, so having been defeated he has no right to beg for his life (Galinsky 324). Aeneas slays Turnus in a single combat encounter which was within the tradition prevalent at Rome during Virgil's time (Martino 422). Therefore, the slaying of Turnus is in keeping with both Greek and Roman values (Galinsky 327). 7. The Rational Application of Aeneas' Anger Unlike Achilles anger in the Iliad, Aeneas' anger had a more rational dimension. Aeneas is not asked to make a judgment about Turnus' guilt, as this had already been established, but is to administer punishment (Galinsky 327). In this situation anger is the most appropriate emotion to determine his actions, and anything else would have been repugnant to Roman readers (Galinksy 327). Turnus' death is largely due to his repeated wrongdoings, and so Aeneas is entitled to take out his anger on him (Galinsky 330). Aeneas gives expression to Aristotle's view of anger in which it is not always wrong or irrational to be extremely angry (Galinsky 334). On the contrary, the even-tempered and virtuous man, whilst not inclined toward anger, would be derelict if he did not express his anger when confronted with injustice (Galinsky 333). 8. Aeneas the Civilized Warrior Aeneas transforms and refines Achilles' anger and applies it to a civilizing purpose. The anger of Aeneas is meant to remind the reader of the fury which Achilles displays when he slays Hector (Galinsky 341). While Achilles scoffs at dying Hector's pleas and wants to eat his victim's flesh or feed it to the animals, Aeneas does Turnus the courtesy of listening to his plea before slaying him (Galinsky 341). In contrast to Achilles, Aeneas is both compassionate and impassioned (Galinsky 342). Achilles' anger keeps him at the fringes of society, but Aeneas is at the center of society, using anger to uphold the Roman model of civilization (Galinsky 343). The Aeneid incorporates the dominant themes of the Iliad, wrath and dilemma, and injects them with a new meaning (Galinsky 344). Achilles does not reconcile the the need for peer approval, and the dictates of his individual conscience, yet Aeneas is able to act both according to his personal moral judgment and the needs of his people (Galinsky 344). Aeneas has been seen as 'Augustanized' into an exemplar of civilized self-control and piety, in stark contrast to his predecessor Achilles who never rose above his station as a barbaric Homeric warrior (Stahl 159). Augustus was, during his early career was an avenger of the death of his father (Stahl 159). The conduct of Aeneas in waging war, exemplifying the values of pietas and humanitas, justice and peace, foreshadows the ecumenical peace of Augustus (Otis 316). Aeneas is a divine savior, like Augustus he brings peace to a divided polity (Otis 317). Rome could not have fought its way to greatness without awareness of the cost of battle, and without a rational, moral purpose (Otis 381). Aeneas stands for a new idea in Greek and Roman history, that violentia and superbia are subject to restraint, that imperium can be constructed and that universal peace could become a reality rather than just an ideal (Otis 382). 9. The Symbol of Roman Identity The way that Aeneas acts in his dealings with Dido and Turnus demonstrates Virgil's conception of Roman identity. One of Virgil's political aims was to create a national identity for Rome as ancient and impressive as that of Greece (Bell 11). He did this by using his hero, Aeneas, as the conduit through which the culture of Troy was transmitted to Rome (Bell 11). By agreeing to mix the two cultures, Trojan and Latin, Aeneas aims to create a new civilization, reshaping two great cultures in order to bring about a more noble nation (Bell 16). As Aeneas seeks to create a new city based upon the mixture of two old cultures, Augustus sought to create a new state which was physically, politically, and socially based upon the foundations of a Roman tradition which had been dormant since the early period of the Republic (Bell 16). Due to the fact that during Virgil's time the unity of Italy was new and the memory of the civil wars was still vivid, the Aeneid represents Italy as an organic, permanent entity (Pogorzelski 263). Virgil's epic is as much a work of political propaganda, justifying and contextualizing the rise of Augustus as it is a work of literature (Casali 200). 11. The Model Ancestor of Augustus Virgil shapes the character of Aeneas into a symbol of the Roman values which Augustus was restored. Although the blood of the Trojans and the Latins is mixed, the new people develop a religion of their own with unique morals and rituals (Orlin 74). This new religion of the Romans provides a historical precedent for the Augustan religious program which aimed to cleanse Roman religion and create a unified sense of identity for the Roman people (Orlin 74). As Jupiter symbolically founded the religion of Rome in the Aeneid, Augustus established a new religious movement which expanded the concept of Roman identity (Orlin 92). Through the restoration and construction of temples, Augustus presented an image of Roman religion convergent with that of Virgil (Orlin 92). In Augustus' conception, Roman religious customs were not the result of centuries of development, but of the pronouncements of a singular, powerful entity that sought to create a broad religious identity (Orlin 92). Conclusion Aeneas overcomes two major obstacles during his journey from Troy to Italy, and succeeds in fulfilling his destiny as founder of Rome. Both Dido and Turnus are of Argive ancestry and are thus outsiders to the central narrative of the destiny of the Roman people (Hannah 154). Aeneas prioritizes Roman family values in both episodes. He continues his journey to Italy despite his personal affection for Dido, in order to provide for his son's rightful inheritance. He avenges Pallus' death when he slays Turnus and allows his progeny to settle in Italy. Aeneas' ultimate aim is the assimilation of the Trojan people into the Italian peninsula, and the creation of a new Imperial people, the Romans. The restoration of Roman unity and the regeneration of Roman values was the chief project of Augustus, a project which Virgil sanctified with a grand mythological epic. Unlike figures from Homer's epics, Aeneas acts according to a clear conception of Roman morality. Aeneas both symbolizes a link with Greece, and a break with Greek civilization. Aeneas represents the new standard of Roman civilization. He is a model ancestor, who Augustus tries to emulate in his restoration of Roman values and Roman unity. It is this portrayal of Aeneas as a moral exemplar and ideal for Augustan Rome which makes the Aeneid such a powerful work of political literature. Works Cited Bell, Kimberly. “ “Translatio” and the Constructs of a Roman Nation in Virgil's “Aeneid”.” Rocky Mountain Review 62 (2008): 11-24. Casali, Sergio. “The Making of the Shield: Inspiration and Repression in the Aeneid.” Greece and Rome 53 (2006): 185-204. Eidinow, John. “Dido, Aeneas and Iulus: Heirship and Obligation in “Aeneid” 4.” The Classical Quarterly 53 (2003): 260-267. Frank, William. “Virgil, History, and Prophecy.” Philosophy and Literature 29 (2005): 73-88. Galinksy, Karl. “The Anger of Aeneas.” American Journal of Philology 109 (1988): 321-348. 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Stahl, Hans-Peter. “Aeneas: An “Unheroic” Hero?” Arethusa 14 (1981): 157-177. Read More