is the tale of arms and of a man” and suggests that his hero is another Achilles, or Odysseus, he has, before the end of the first paragraph, shown that he reaches beyond Aeneas to the long history that followed from him: “and that was the origin of the Latin nation, the Lords of Alba, and the proud battlements of Rome” (I, 6-7). Soon after wards, when he has noted the obstacles that the Trojans meet in their wanderings, he again ends a period in the similar note: “Such was the cost in heavy toil of beginning the life of Rome” (I, 33). Once again, when Venus complains that her son Aeneas is unjustly treated, Jupiter replies not only by promising that all will be well for Aeneas but by giving a prophetic sketch of Roman history to Julius Caesar. This reward, which the ancestor is to receive, is much more than his own success or glory, more even than his settlement in Italy. It is the assurance of the Roman destiny, of universal and unending dominion: “To Romans I set no boundary in space or time. I have granted them dominion, and it has no end” (I, 278-79). As we can see, at the outset Vergilius shows what kind of destiny is the subject of his poem. The wanderings, sufferings and ultimate success of Aeneas and his followers are but a preliminary and preparation for a greater theme.Secondly, there is different theme in Vergilius’ art. The fundamental argument of the Aeneid is the destiny of Rome presented in the person of Aeneas who not only struggles and suffers for the Rome that is to be but who is already a typical Roman. If his individual fortune is subordinate to the future of Rome, his character shows what Romans are. He is Vergilius’ hero in a new kind of heroic poem, and in him, we see how different Vergilius’ heroic vision is from Homer’s. Unlike Homer, Vergilius owes little in his hero character to tradition. Whereas Homer had to conform to established...
