Virgil Aeneid Themes

Spies are Outdated

People are manipulative liars and have been since ancient times, this is one of the most apparent themes of Virgil’s The Aeneid. In book II of the Aeneid by Virgil Aeneas tells Queen Dido about the fall of Troy. Aeneas explains that after the Trojans beat the Greeks into retreating a man named Sinon showed up with a giant wooden horse, secretly filled with a Greek army, as an “offering of peace”. Due to Sinon’s convincingly pathetic story-telling and the Trojans mental fuzziness from war and lack of sleep, they let Sinon and his horse in. Troy was then pillaged when it was vulnerable, everything the Greeks did was immoral according to Aeneas, but Aeneas escaped with the impulse to travel and start Rome. Virgil shows trusting that others will be honorable makes those who trust easily exploitable.
The Trojans trust that Sinon will do the right thing. In the Aeneid, it shows the fall of Troy in the light that the Trojans were actually tricked by their trust of honour among people, the Trojans are convinced by the story of Sinon “But I beg you, by the gods, by divine power that knows the truth, by whatsoever honour anywhere remains pure among men, have pity on

such troubles, pity the soul that endures undeserved suffering”. The Trojans are very remorseful after this and let Sinon in. “From now on whoever you are, forget the Greeks, lost to you: you’ll be one of us.” the Trojans have just gone from trying to kill a group of people to accepting someone who was trying to kill them for little reason other than an emotionally charged story.
When the Trojans are tricked by Sinon they realize their trust has been exploited. From the Greek point of view they have just done something great and are astounded by how oblivious the Trojans are “Trojan walls famous in war! Four times it sticks at the threshold of the gate four times the weapons clash in its belly: yet we press on regardless blind with frenzy” This quote from the view of Sinon shows how unaware the Trojans are to their imminent attack because of trust. When the Greeks finally attack the Trojans are completely vulnerable “Ah! Son of the goddess, fly, tear yourself from the flames. the enemy has taken the walls: Troy falls from her high place.” now Troy is being destroyed because a few doormen decided to trust a guy who was trying to kill their friends a day earlier.
After the trickery, Aeneas explains the ignorance of ignoring the warnings and listening to Sinon. Aeneis isn't the only one who's warned, “Mygdons son: By chance he’d arrived in Troy at that time … unlucky man, who didn’t listen to his prophecy of his frenzied bride” but all the people who didn't listen to their forebodings are regretful now. “Ah, put no faith in anything the will of the gods opposes” After all of this has happened some people like Aeneis just claim that it was destiny and lack the realization that they could learn to be more vigilant from their mistakes.
Virgil’s view that trust makes you exploitable echoes through modern times. “Melita Norwood was an assistant to the director of one of britain’s atomic research centers, who passed the secrets of the atom bomb to Russia for 37 years, before finally being identified in 1999” what makes spies, spies is that they're jobs are to exploit the trust of organizations, that’s why they're the physical embodiment of trust exploitation. Some spies are less formal and more self driven than others, such as “Fritz Joubert Duquesne was a native South African … After a stint as the personal hunter of Theodore Roosevelt while on a Safari in Africa, he became a German spy in 1914. Disguised as a science researcher, he planted time bombs on numerous British ships, and faked his own death.” Everybody, except for insane people, have motives for what they’re doing; one of the biggest ways to achieve these goals, especially if they're revenge related, is to manipulate people's trust, whether the person’s a spy, someone out for revenge, or someone convincing a city to let in a rival army designed as a piece of artwork. In any of these cases it's preventable, but people probably shouldn't exploit each other's trust unless it's absolutely necessary to stop a war or save a species or something equally important.
Trusting others to be honorable makes people who trust easy to exploit, Virgil shows.

To recap the Trojans were tricked into thinking someone was innocent, then they were betrayed by him and their city fell. After this, most people realised how arrogant they were to disregard the warnings, although some people denied the fall of Troy was avoidable. There are also current examples of this type scenario happening like spies spying. This all supports the theory that undeserved trust makes you exploitable. What this tells us is not to assume people won't abuse your trust or will. Just be ready for anything, and if you have to make a guess don't mix up fact and opinion, choose what you have reason to believe. In the end, as Virgil shows us trust makes us exploitable, but only if we misuse

it.