Comparing Fate in Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad

Fate in Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad

In Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad, a picture of the supernatural and

its workings was created. In both works, there is a concept of a fixed order of

events which is called fate. Fate involves two parts. First, there are laws

that govern certain parts of mens' lives, such as human mortality and an

afterlife. Second, fate deals with the inevitable outcome of certain events,

outcomes that cannot be changed by men or gods.

Both Homer and Virgil allude to the existence of unchangeable laws, one

of which is the mortality of human beings. This can be seen by the fact that

character after character dies during war. In Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas journeys

to Hades to visit his father. During his stay, he talks to a large number of

the warriors that have died in the Trojan War. The death of these warriors

shows the mortality of human beings (Forman 2015). Another unchangeable law is

the period of limbo that is said to await the souls of the unburied after death.

Homer indicates this law by writing of Patroklos' spirit's return to remind

Achilles that, until he has been properly buried, he must wander the earth.

These events show Virgil's and Homer's belief in laws that cannot be changed

(Strong 62).

The second element of Fate deals with the unalterable predestined

occurrence of certain events. One example of such an event is the fall of Troy.

According to Homer, the destruction of Troy was foretold in Hekuba's dream that

her son, Paris, would be the cause. This prophecy was confirmed by a seer.

Although Hekuba tried to avert the disaster by attempting to have Paris killed,

fate overcame and Troy was destroyed as a result of Paris' judgment concerning

the golden apple of discord (Strong 15-16). Virgil also writes about a similar

situation when Venus pleads with Jupiter to help Aeneas with his journey.

Meanwhile, on Olympus, Venus, the mother of Aeneas, berates Jupiter for

allowing her son to be persecuted in such a manner. Jupiter calms her and

reminds her of the many prophecies concerning her son and his progeny: how he

will found the city of Lavinium in Latium and win a great war; how his son