Arif K.
Mrs. West
AG Eng 10
26 April 2002
The War Story
    The Aeneid, by the Roman author Virgil, is an interesting story.  It is an epic that dates back to around 1150 B.C. when the Trojan War took place.  Virgil, in the Aeneid, gives the reader a run down of what happened in the war and how Aeneas, a war hero, lived during and after the war.
    In Books 1-3, Virgil simply brings about the history of the war.  He gives an overview of what happened in the city of Troy and what caused the Trojan War.  The war is brought to the reader through Aeneas’s point of view.  He gives a deep insight to what happened. The reader goes through these first three books as if he was right there in Aeneas’s head while the events occurred.  Aeneas and a few of his followers are now sailing around looking for a place to settle.
    In Book 4, the reader gets a taste of love from Virgil.  Dido has fallen for Aeneas and wanders the streets thinking about him.  Most stories, regardless of their nature, involve a good love story; The Aeneid is no different.  This love story helps get away from the sorrowful introduction about the Trojan War.  Book 5 also helps the reader get away from the other events of the story.  Aeneas goes back to Sicily where his father has died.  Even with the death, Aeneas chooses to not mourn the situation.  All the people celebrate in honor and hold games.  Virgil has a hidden lesson in these games in Book 5.   It's not good to be too cautious, like Gyas' pilot, or too reckless, like Sergestus. The winner of the races chose a middle course.  But winning also depends on the gods' help because the man who prays wins.  These examples show three basic virtues that the Romans of Virgil's day certainly respected: skill, moderation, and piety.  These morals and lessons are a little tricky and the reader really has to look into the fun and games to realize what is being taught.  But credit Virgil; he gets his point across.
    Book 6 is Virgil’s time to take Aeneas through a character change.  He helps him realize that he must stop living in sorrow of the past and move on.  He takes Aeneas to the underworld and lets him see what life would be like without him really dying.  Virgil did a brilliant thing here by taking him to the “underworld”.  He allows the reader to experience many different aspects of the mythical world and the different god’s and powers.  Book 7 leads straight into the settling and new outlook for Aeneas and his followers.  They settle on an island where they are welcomed by the king who thinks Aeneas is to marry his daughter.  Virgil brings back the love troubles in this book.  There is lots of love misfortune to soon come.
    Books 8-10 bring about the fighting in the book.  Virgil has Aeneas and his followers battle their new peers.  The Trojans left the previous island and moved along to avoid conflict with marrying the King’s daughter.  Instead they run into a new battle.  Virgil uses this fight to help keep the reader attached and bring the story to a gripping point.  Virgil also brings out one of his noticeable features in his works.  He had the God’s meddling in everyone’s business early on.   Virgil wants you to focus on the individuals involved, on the rights and wrongs of what they do on their own.  The gods may start the action, but men always have to resolve matters in the end.
    Books 11 and 12 finish out Virgil’s story.  He concludes by bringing together all the moral issues that arise earlier in the story.  He does so very easily and recognizably for the reader.  These two books are meant for the reader to think about and question what is right and wrong.  Virgil keenly slips points into the readers mind.
    However, as always, there are some bad points to Virgil’s Aeneid.  Many people have often criticized him of taking too much from other authors such as Homer who wrote the Odyssey and the Iliad.  He took from those books worlds but gave it his own style.  His work is brilliant throughout the story though and is easily appreciable.  He does a great job of getting the reader into Aeneas’s head to help make the story more alive.  I would recommend Aeneid to all readers who are looking for a deep, in depth book about a hero’s development.

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