Reading the conversation between Aeneas and his mother, I initially thought that Aeneas was still being a whiny little punk -- "Why do I have to suffer so much? Why doesn't mommy love me?" -- but upon reflection, I can't but wonder if Vergil is simply expressing a human emotion, one not ordinarily associated with an epic hero.

We expect our heroes to face danger and disaster with equanimity and a pithy quote (we can blame modern action movies for that one). But the reality is much differ… Continue

Is this another underhanded insult to Augustus? since so far, Augustus has been compared with Juppiter, so when Juppiter's bird attacks the swans, isnt that blaming him for the Trojan troubles? Maybe Virgil is trying to blame Augustus for the Roman Civil war.

virgil may not be writing an epic about Augustus, but this is the next best thing. these lines clearly suck up to augustus. the talk of the civil war and the chained "fury" is just boosting Augustus even further.

In Book I lines 291-296, Vergil introduces a couple of things we must think about. Knowing the time Virgil wrote this, the introduction of the idea of Civil war being settled down by Jupiter must appeal to the people who read this. How Virgil writes this, it makes them think that Augustus will do the same, he will end all civil wars. This is Virgil adding his suck up lines to Augustus because he was supposed to write it for him. He makes Augustus come off as god-like by comparing him and Jupiter… Continue

In I. 291 - 296 of the Aeneid, Jupiter talks about the future of Rome. He mentions that "Vesta and white (haired) Good Faith, Remus with his brother Romulus will give the laws" (cana...dabunt, I. 292-293) and gives a long winded simile about the "madness of civil war" (Furor, I. 294) being a monster that's chained and locked away. The significance of these lines has a lot to do with what the Roman audience had just been through in their own lives. At the time when Virgil was writing the Aeneid,… Continue