LIT 231
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Aeneid, Books I-II

When Virgil wrote the Aeneid, he clearly built upon the stories told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.  But unlike Homer (who focused on Greeks heroes like Achilles and Odysseus), Virgil chose to focus on a Trojan hero (Aeneas), who survives the defeat of Troy that Homer described (click here for a brief summary of the main events of the Trojan War).  In other words, Virgil chose to write about a Trojan loser who escapes from the war to found a colony in Italy that will eventually become Rome.  For a member of the great Roman Empire, choosing a loser as a hero seems odd.

Keep in mind that Virgil is writing at the court of Augustus, adopted son of Julius Caesar and essentially the first Roman Emperor.  Augustus (originally known as Octavian and declared "Augustus" in 27 B.C.) won the battle of Actium in 31 B.C., which ended a series of civil wars in the Roman Republic that destroyed its republican government (presided over by the Roman Senate) and resulted in a dictatorship that would last for centuries.  But in Virgil's day, the Romans couldn't know that the civil wars were really over or that Augustus and his successors would in fact lead Rome to ever greater conquest and glory.  They could only know that things seemed to have stabilized temporarily under Augustus, and the new Emperor wanted to keep things that way (by whatever means necessary -- fair or foul).  When Virgil writes about the future of Rome, he's writing about what he hopes will happen; he's writing in praise of what Augustus has accomplished so far in terms of bringing stability to Rome as Emperor; and he's writing in favor of continuing to put Rome's fate in the hands of Augustus.

As a result, when we read the Aeneid, we can rely on Virgil to show us what Augustus and his court valued.  Virgil's poem will give us a glimpse of how the Augustan imperial court justified itself -- what rationale it offered for its continued existence.  That rationale will tell us what the Augustan court valued and thought good.  We'll learn what Augustus and his court considered valuable in the world -- what they considered so important that it was worth perpetuating the Emperor's dictatorial rule in order to attain it.

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. The beginning of a text is usually very important.  It sets up what the text is about and solidifies our expectations about where the text is going to go.  So, what do the first 12 lines of the Aeneid tell us about the main ideas, issues, and themes that Virgil is going to develop in his poem?  What does it set up as the important topics that the Aeneid is going to discuss?
2. What does Troy represent for Virgil?  What are the values of the Trojans in Book II?  How do they behave?  What motivates their behavior?  What methods do they use to accomplish their goals?  How are we supposed to feel about them?
3. How does Virgil's description of the fall of Troy in Book II make you feel about the Greek heroes who destroyed the city?  According to Virgil, were the Greeks really heroes?  Why or why not?  What motivated the Greek heroes?  What did they value?  What methods did they use to accomplish their goals?
4. What are Aeneas's values?  What motivates his actions?  When Aeneas escapes from Troy, what does he give up?  What does he leave behind?  Why does he give it up?  What is important enough to make him give it up?  What does he not give up?  What is important enough for him to keep?

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