"Aeneid"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Virgil's "Aeneid" and the interplay of the sovereignties of pietas and furors. The paper shows how the epic consists of three levels of conflict: that between Jupiter, who symbolizes fate and Juno who represents counter-fate, between Aeneas and his own internal or psychological action, and lastly between Aeneas and the impii, pietas and furor, between pious acceptance and impious rebellion against fate. The paper discusses the motivation behind Virgil's epic.

From the Paper:

"Virgil's primary motivation behind his epic may be to portray his beloved Rome in glory, but in doing so he exemplifies the struggle between the impulses of both the divine and mortal in their conflict for supremacy. The epic's superficial story is the journey of the Trojans and Aeneas, who were able to overcome the fall of Troy, the opposition from the divine powers above and creating a new beginning for their race. The internal poem however, gives way to a much more profound meaning, portraying the death and rebirth, in which destructive furor is overcome by the moral activity of a divinized and resurrected hero, Aeneas. The correlation between the cosmic power of fate and counter-fate, and the accompanying struggle of human reaction is not only a superficial inconsistency between high divinities or mortal men, but on a deeper level symbolize in Virgil's epic the struggle between chaos and order, light and darkness, good and evil, or more importantly, accepting what God has laid out for you or refuting it."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Maro, Vergilius Maro. The Aeneid of Virgil. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. New York: Bantam Dell, 1971
• Otis, Brooks. "The Odyssean Aeneid and the Iliadic Aeneid." Virgil: A study in civilized Poetry. Ed. S. Commager. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1964. 89-102
• Poschl, Victor. "Basic Themes." Trans. Gerda Seligson. The Art of Virgil. Ed. S. Commager. Michigan, University of Michigan Press, 1962. 164-182
• Hamilton, Edith. Mythology-Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes New York: Warner Brooks, Inc., 1942

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