Virgil's epic poem "The Aeneid" is often described as the poet's response to Homer's epics "The Iliad," and "The Odyssey" in that it details the Trojan War and its aftermath from the Roman perspective. It is a Roman claim to great and far-reaching origins, and because of this apparently patriotic purpose, many classical scholars have attributed the poem's inspiration as Virgil's attempt to praise the emperor Augustus. However, to ascribe this simple purpose to such a complex text is somewhat problematic, as this paper will make clear.
In ascribing reasons for its author's motivation, a literary analysis of "The Aeneid" presents itself with some problems not present in a similar analysis of Homer's inspiring works. Although the actual status of Homer as either a poet or a collective name of several poets is uncertain, Homer's works formed the basis of virtually all of Greek classical literature. "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" became the cornerstones of Greek culture, something all Greeks could refer to as a common source of moral values, of rhetoric, and of mythological history. However, as the work of a single individual at a fixed and relatively later point in time and culture, "The Aeneid" does not have a similar quality of assembled stories, but of a work of more clear design than its Greek predecessors do.
This sense of linear clarity gives a certain amount of credibility to the thesis that "The Aeneid" was written in praise of the emperor. After all, unlike the heroes of either "The Odyssey" or "The Iliad," the hero of the Roman epic seems destined for success. He will not be separated from his family for twenty years or die like Achilles surely will after "The Iliad" comes to a close. Aeneas is destined to found Rome,...
This sense of manifest destiny seems in keeping with a poem that was designed to praise a leader. Aeneas was said to be the ancestor of Augustus, and the fact that he was destined to found Rome gives the Emperor's reign through this work of literature a religious and a historical validity many supporters of the republic believed it lacked in actual fact.
However, there is a subversive quality in the attractiveness of some of these alternate homes that are provided for Aeneas over the course of the narrative. It is interesting that, in comparison to Homer's works, individuals from foreign lands other than Greece or Troy have a humanity and a depth of character not present in, for instance, the queen of the Amazons, who figures briefly in Homer's epic "The Iliad." In contrast, the Queen of Carthage, Dido, is one of the most complex female characters in ancient literature. Although she goes mad after Aeneas is forced to abandon her, her existence and her willingness to listen frame the story from its inception. She both subverts Aeneas yet calls upon him to speak. The poet takes on her voice as well as the voice of his hero.
In fact, some of the most interesting and clearly characterized individuals in the "Aeneid," are those characters that fail, including Dido and Turnus, and are foreign-born. For a poem that is an ode to a success story, namely the founding of Rome, it contains many tales of failure. Dido and Turnus, for the brief times they dominate the stage, command the reader's attention in a way that Aeneas does not. Their tales of failure are not used merely…
