wn fury. The change in Aeneas presents a dilemma at the end of this epic. Virgil intended the Aeneid to be a justification of Rome’s greatness. He wanted to detail Rome’s history and give it an illustrious founding. Initially, Aeneas is presented as a pious individual, and because of this he is someone who is worthy of founding the Roman Empire. However, Aeneas’s final act indicates a man consumed by his own impious furor, and rather than providing a noble conclusion to the epic, it suggests that Rome was founded by an enraged man. For this reason, Virgil’s intended message and his apparent message are at odds with one another. Thus, the ending of the Aeneid is left unresolved...
