PIUS AENEAS OR AENEAS THE WIMP?
Abstract
I wonder if you agree with me that Aeneas, at least in the first half of the Aeneid, appears to be something of a Wimp? We're programmed, of course, to think of heroes as butch, fighting types. Many books about the Aeneid have a section on Aeneas' character, describing him in fairly Macho terms and forgetting, conveniently, that Aeneas' reaction to the problems he faces in the early part of the Aeneid is often to weep. We don't like heroes who weep -General Colin Powell or General Oliver North don't seem to be blubberers. The Sibyl's brisk reminder to Aeneas has a point, "Night is coming, Aeneas: yet we waste hours in weeping" (A. 6.539): Aeneas weeps a good deal.
Published
2014-03-30
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