The Aeneid: Response Essay
With the release of the movie “Gladiator,” ancient Rome returned to the view of modern times, exhibiting the grandeur and glory of Rome as the nation reestablished a republic. Leading Rome’s quest to overthrow the dictatorship was the so-called “savior of Rome,” Maximus, the film’s hero. Maximus fits the mould of a hero well, encompassing the best qualities of his society, but falls short of the greatest of Roman heroes, Aeneas. Aeneas fully embodies the concept of an epic hero, being superhuman, and possessing incomparable quantities of physical beauty, strength, and courage. To satisfy a final requirement of being a hero, in the Roman sense, Aeneas has a quest unlike any other, to found the greatest nation on earth. Through these qualities, Aeneas actualizes the full range of requisites for being a hero.
As a Roman hero, Aeneas is superhuman, both literally and figuratively. In the literal sense, he is result of a union between his mother, the goddess of love, Venus, and his father Anchises, a leader in the Trojan kingdom. From this divine and regal lineage, Aeneas inherits immaculate physique and intelligence, as Virgil eloquently stated in Book I, “For she who bore him/ Breathed upon him beauty of hair and bloom/ of youth and kindled brilliance in his eyes….” (Book I, lines 220-222). In the figurative sense, Aeneas is superhuman because he is above other humans, greater in power and prestige. He leads an army of significant force as he undergoes his quest, as noted by Dido’s sister Anna. Anna sees the possibility of marriage with Aeneas in political terms; by marrying him, Dido would inherit the use of his army, thus enhancing the power of her own Carthage. Later, Aeneas shows off his power through military prowess by defeating Turnus’s army in Italy. Aeneas again shows himself being above any level to which mortals could hope to ascribe in the duel with Turnus, fighting with a passion and rage greater than one could attribute to a normal person. With Turnus fallen and clearly defeated, Aeneas wavers in his rage, nearly assenting to mercy, but at the sight of Pallas’s belt, Aeneas brings swift destruction to Turnis: “You in your plunder, torn from one of mine,/ Shall I be robbed of you? This wound will come/ From Pallas: Pallas makes this offering/ And from your criminal blood exacts his due” (Book XII, lines 213-216). Being superhuman, greatly elevated in power and heritage over the common man, Aeneas fits the Roman prototype of a hero.
A hero must have a purpose. For Aeneas, it is the fulfillment of destiny, to found the greatest race on earth, the Romans. In this matter, Aeneas has no choice. As important to the idea of heroism as completing the quest is the struggle through which a hero must go in order to reach the inevitable fulfillment; the means are just as important as the ends. The lengthy struggle to found Rome allows opportunity for Aeneas’ heroic qualities to surface. Through his persistence through battle, as in love for Dido and in war with Turnus, Aeneas exhibits strength and courage, never wavering in his duty to complete his quest.
The determination and pragmatism to never give up complete the Roman concept of a hero in Aeneas. Combining superhuman proportions of physical beauty, strength, courage, and power with an indomitable and unyielding spirit qualify Aeneas as the archetypical hero. Descending in literary tradition from him, the Hero changes in form from one incarnation to the next, but in spirit any true hero remains consistent with the tradition Virgil established with Aeneas.