4. In the Footsteps of Homer
Virgil modeled the Aeneid after Homer’s epics. He mixed history and myth to weave a tale of Rome’s origins, beginning with the Trojan prince Aeneas as he flees a burning Troy. The epic follows his wanderings, including an interlude in Carthage, whose queen Dido falls in love with Aeneas. She eventually curses him and swears everlasting enmity – presaging the Punic Wars – when he leaves her to pursue his destiny in Italy. There, his descendants Romulus and Remus found the city of Rome. In addition to rollicking adventures, the Aeneid proclaims Rome’s divine mission to conquer and civilize the world. However, it is no mere panegyric, but juxtaposes Rome’s divinely ordained mission with the individual cost and suffering endured in order to fulfill it. The Roman ideal of devotion to duty usually prevails, but often at significant cost to innocents.
