The idea of ​​pity in ancient Rome is not the same idea of ​​pity we have today. For the Romans, piety, or “pietas” in Latin, describes a set of social constructs that govern what makes a person respectable. Piety includes devotion to the gods, love for one's country, respect for one's family, and understanding of destiny. These characteristics are essential for a great Roman leader, so there is no doubt why Virgil calls Aeneas "Pio Aeneas" in his epic poem The Aeneid. The mythical ancestor of Romulus and Remus should possess these qualities; otherwise he would not be able to dominate the hearts of his men in the search for their new home. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay If there must be godly people in this world, there must also be wicked people. Impiety is easily defined as the opposite of broad-based virtuosity. Fury, or “fury” in Latin, “connotes a frenetic derangement of mind and spirit, something akin to madness,” in which the individual's behavior is often brazen, violent, or impulsive (Boyle 88). Those who are wicked lead themselves to make senseless and unusual choices with serious consequences. In the Aeneid, ruling characters such as Dido, Turnus, and Camilla find themselves giving in to their unholy fury, which ultimately hinders their progress or leads to their deaths. Virgil uses these stories of piety and impiety to paint a picture of Rome's legendary history, inspiring his audience to admire Augustus, the heroic Roman leader of Virgil's time, and to legitimize Augustus' rule. Turnus appears in the seventh book of the Aeneid, and is introduced to us as Livina's suitor, the one who will eventually produce heirs to the throne of Latium. When Aeneas arrives in Latium, King Latinus promises him land for a new city and his daughter's hand in marriage, following Anchises' prophecy that Latinus' daughter would marry a foreigner. Allecto, a Fury summoned by Juno, inspires Turnus to become angry at his king's decision, planting the seed of impiety in Turnus. Over the course of the next four books, Turnus battles Aeneas in a war for the hand of Lavinia. In Book IX, Turnus has gathered his troops to attack the Trojans and eventually find a way into their camp. Virgil notes that Turnus could have opened the gates of the Trojans to let his troops in, but that his erratic and furious behavior prevented him from thinking clearly and strategically. Turnus then takes Pallas's belt at the end of Book X, showing his reckless pride. This belt ultimately leads to his death, for when Aeneas sees it he forgets his thoughts of sparing Turnus and flies in a furious rage, killing Turnus with a spear. Turnus perhaps sealed his fate when he defied his king's wishes and continued to seek Lavinia's hand. This lack of mercy led to a war that he could not win because Aeneas was destined to found a new city in Lazio. It is worth remembering, however, that Turnus is not an entirely merciless character. In fact, in the last book of the epic, while Aeneas takes the opportunity to attack the defenseless city, Turnus learns the news of his queen's suicide and sees the suffering of his people. This reminder of the pain he is causing his own people by continuing this war provides a moment of clarity, a moment where he might escape his unholy fury. But as soon as Turnus regains his senses, he gives in to his fury by challenging Aeneas in single combat. He knows that Aeneas must win, but he realizes his wrongdoings, succumbs to his fate and dies. He finally realizes his mistake too late: his undesirable wickedness was his owngreatest weakness. Any future leader must not behave as carelessly as Turnus. Dido is another central character who experiences a lack of mercy. While she was queen of Tyre, her brother Pygmalion killed her husband and forced her to leave with some of her citizens to found the city of Carthage. She vows not to remarry, in honor of her husband, and instead vows to prioritize government. Dido is depicted as a dedicated and pious leader. Her flaw is that she has earned the epithet “infelix”, or “unlucky, unfortunate and unhappy” (Covi 57). This image of a perfect ruler changes when Venus allows Dido to fall in love with Aeneas. Dido forgets her promise not to marry and gets closer to Aeneas, but above all she begins to neglect her duties as queen. He admits his shortcomings and then agrees not to act mercifully. As Madeline Covi explains in her essay “Dido in Virgil's Aeneid”, at this point in the text, “the language used in relation to Dido once again suggests a guilty conscience: she is not moved specie famave (4.170) – but must implicitly be in his mind,” (58). In other words, the voice of Dido's “furtivum amorem” weighs on her mind, and its subsequent confirmation after her metaphorical marriage to Aeneas (Covi 59). His people feel betrayed by his broken promises and his diminished attention to government, ultimately the result of his failure to remain godly. Dido, like Turnus, became aware of mistakes that resulted in a lack of mercy. But also like Turnus, Dido realized her mistakes and did not correct her flaws. Following the trend of the wicked, Dido begins to act impulsively when Aeneas tells her that he must leave her and follow his own destiny. Dido cries out to the gods: "May he never enjoy his kingdom and the light he longs for, may he never die before the day, unburied on some desolate shore", cursing Aeneas and calling for "war between all our peoples, all the their children, war without end” (Virgil 4.771-782). This impulsive curse would not have been uttered by Dido if she had not succumbed to her fury, indeed, in the eyes of Virgil's Roman audience, the imprudent Dido may have tragically condemned her people to years and years of aggression, i.e. the Punic wars that they would fight with Rome many centuries later. Ultimately, Dido kills herself during her own funeral using Aeneas' sword, showing the power of a mind acting under the influence of fury. Later, we see her in the Fields of Mourning in the underworld of Dis, where she is condemned to eternal suffering due to her lack of judgment. But again, just like Turnus, Dido was not completely devoid of mercy. At one point, she was a good enough leader to convince groups of people to follow her to a foreign land to found their own city, remembering the mission that the pious Aeneas had set out to accomplish. Ultimately, it was her inability to remain pious, to remain faithful to her late husband, or to keep the interests of her people at hand, that led to her desperate situation. Camilla, a warrior maiden and general in Turnus' army, also lets impiety enter her life, leading to her swift death in Book XI. On the battlefield, Camilla is a force to be reckoned with. Then she notices a man wearing particularly elegant armor and forgets about herself. Remember, one aspect of piety is that one puts gods, country, and family before oneself, and Camilla abandons her companions to track down this man and win a trophy to display her skill and glory. Then "Camilla, eager to fasten some Trojan weapons on a temple wall or show off some gold loot while hunting... chased himwildly, recklessly through the ranks, inflamed by the feminine lust for plunder and plunder", lost track of what it was that revolves around her, and inadvertently allows Arrun to hurl his spear, blessed by Apollo, which pierces and kills her, (Virgil 11.914-918) This is by far one of Virgil's characters' quickest examples of carelessness in staying virtuous and getting the better of someone while setting up a strategic ambush; when he forgets about his fellow Volscians and Latins with whom he fights, he makes himself vulnerable to attacks. Not everyone in the epic, however, succumbs to the unholy fury they let fury take over their minds. Aeneas's epithet "pious" is rather a clue: he is considered the image par excellence of piety in a ruler. As previously mentioned, Virgil may have written this epic as a form of political propaganda in which he draws parallels between the pious Aeneas and the emperor Augustus. According to Sabine Grebe, “Virgil celebrates and, above all, legitimizes the power of Augustus” (Grebe 35). Both the epic hero and the actual ruler fought in wars to legitimize their claims to the land they ruled, Aeneas against the Latins and Augustus against Caesar and Mark Antony. Both men were considered leaders “who can create order out of disorder, with divine support” (Grebe 39). Virgil takes this connection one step further, also including references to Augustus' "divi genus" or his divine connection to Julius Caesar. as his legitimate heir in the prophecy of Anchises in Book VI (Grebe 58). If Augustus was truly of divine lineage, connected to Venus through Julius Caesar and Aeneas himself, as is presumed to be in the text of the epic, this fact would fully legitimize his claim to rule the Roman Empire. If Augustus is a mirror of the fictional Aeneas, he must also share Aeneas' famous piety, right? This is the idea behind Virgil's poetry. Aeneas encounters many obstacles during this epic, including the evacuation of Troy, the journey to Italy, and the deaths of his father and Pallas. Even though these events anger Aeneas, he still manages to control himself and does not give in to his anger, nor forget his pity, his duties, or his purpose. He even offers a twelve-day truce to the Latins so that they can properly bury their dead after hearing the news of Pallas's death, a respectful gesture that impresses even his enemy's emissaries. This fact is important, especially with regard to Roman Epirus. If the ruler of a powerful people is to conquer a nation and add it to his empire, as the Romans did in this period, its leader must possess the qualities that would allow defeated enemies to respect a new ruler. Aeneas's only major encounter with true fury comes when Turnus is wounded during their one-on-one fight. Aeneas sees Turnus wearing Pallas's belt as a trophy, and "Aeneas, as soon as his eyes have drunk that spoil - a memory of his wild sorrow - blazing with rage, terrible in his rage", kills Turnus on behalf of his late friend, “burning with anger” (Virgil 12,1102-1109). This wave of fury struck Aeneas as he felt a moment of pity, and the scene raises the question of how the epic might have ended differently (and whether Turnus might have remained alive). However the narrative went, Aeneas seems justified in his actions and is able to keep his reputation intact. After all, his reasons for fighting were to establish a new land for his people and to fulfill his pious promises. AND'.