Virgil's Aeneid
...being the work of the Greek poet Homer. Virgil based the first six
books of the Aeneid on the Odessey and the last six books on the Iliad both
written by Homer. The Aeneid describes the adventures of Aeneas, the legendary
Trojan hero who survived the fall of troy, sailed westward to Italy and founded
Rome. During the time that Virgil wrote the Aeneid he incorporated all known
Rome history up to his own time.
The book is world renowned and also is said by many to be one of the
best works ever. The last chapter of the Aeneid has caused some problems for
readers. The first problem that is evident is the manner in which Aeneas deals
with Turnus. In book XII Turnus states that the fight should be between the two
men as apposed to both armies fighting any further. Turnus had every right to
dislike Aeneas who came unannounced, tried to take his fiancé, Aeneas' son
killed their sacred deer, and he took his land. They have a great dual and
Aeneas disarmed Turnus by striking him in the leg. With his sword to his chest
Turnus makes a last request for his body to be returned to his family, as Aeneas
is considering the request he notices that Turnus is wearing the sword belt of
Pallas and the stoic ways of Aeneas leave him as rage, fury, and anger run
through his body. He kills Turnus in anger and dedicates his death to Pallas.
This loss of control and act of violence is the opposite of stoicism and the way
Aeneas had been portrayed the rest of the epic.
Turnus has to die for the founding of Rome to occur but he should not
have been killed in such a way. The killing was payback for the dishonorable
way that Pallas was killed. The sword belt had images that reflect Augustinian
Rome as did the shield in book eight. The theft of the belt from Pallas can be
compared to the stolen helmet and the youth slain when his guard was down and
greed had taken over. All if...
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