Augustus Caesar's Values In The Aeneid

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Throughout the Aeneid, Virgil uses a variety of literary tools to further the values and reforms Augustus Caesar initiated, particularly social and religious ones. Through descriptive passages about the epic’s protagonist, Aeneas, the author enables his audience to compare the Trojan leader to their own contemporary emperor, examining the virtues of both men and their relationship with the gods. The Aeneid is in itself a cultural and artistic monument, Virgil’s chef d’oeuvre that speaks to the social, cultural, and political changes that occurred in his time. The emergence of Octavian as the Roman Empire’s undisputed leader was a gradual process, and the transformation from a young member of Rome’s second triumvirate to that of divine emperor …show more content…

Primarily, the decision to return the gods to the forefront of Roman culture and society was important to Virgil, and that shared value with Augustus is central to the epic poem itself. Aeneas, Venus’s son and protagonist to the epic, is often an innocent man caught between the irrational struggles of the gods. However, petty squabbles will not deter him, and Jupiter promises his daughter that her “children’s destiny has not been changed,” demonstrating that despite adversity Aeneas would “beat down fierce armies… establish city walls and way of life,” which would be the stage from which the Roman people came to dominate the known world. Furthermore, Jupiter assures her that for the Romans he will “make the gift of empire without end,” an oath that plays into a Roman audience’s cultural belief that they are unrivalled conquerors. The intervention of the gods on behalf of mortals is common in antiquity’s literature, but was all the more significant when the Aeneid was published because of the cultural changes Augustus had set in motion. When Vulcan bestows a magnificent shield to Aeneas, Virgil is introducing a symbolic element that plays a larger role than simply protecting the protagonist. The shield, adorned with the future history of Rome, promises the Augustus “[bringing] once again an Age of Gold,” …show more content…

He “shunned any role as a crude purveyor of imperial propaganda” but the narrative itself and the intentional use of symbolic elements tied the Augustan reign back to Rome’s legendary foundation. Regardless of his intentions, his great literary work, which would become an integral book in Roman education, was immensely pro-Augustus, and the Aeneid worked in the emperor’s favor as a medium for his cultural, social, and political agenda. The incorporation of historic enemies, such as Carthage, traditional values, such as pater familias, religiosity, from Apollo to Jupiter, and duty, from founding cities to maintaining an empire, worked harmoniously to create a picture of stability and prosperity under Augustus. He was quite literally a promised leader, as depicted on a shield crafted by a god illustrating Rome’s future, and such passages, even if used to relate past and present events, served as propaganda. Virgil’s epic epitomized the restored cultural identity Augustus pursued through social and legislative means, and worked successfully to instill a sense of nationalism in his imperial

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