Skip to main content

A Man with Self-Control? - Clabo

Throughout all of the ancient epics, the Aeneid has always been my favorite. I have always found Aeneas to be a virtuous warrior, and I was even reminded of this fact within the first three books. The main point that stands out to me is when Aeneas sees Helen hiding during the fall of Troy. He is overcome with anger and wants to kill her because she is one of the main reasons that the war started in the first place. However, he is patient and listens to his mother, Venus, and just decides to leave. I feel that if Achilles was placed in that same position, a goddess would not have even had the time to approach him before he had already killed her. Another thing that find impressive in Aeneas's character is the fact that is always slow to act whether it be in listening to the gods advice or even letting a Greek straggler on to his ship. Aeneas, to me, is the perfect example of a man who pursues virtue instead of glory.  

This is just my opinion. What are your thoughts?

P.S. I commented on Kaitlyn Terry's and Jackson Riddle's posts.

Comments

  1. Hailey MorganNovember 11, 2020 at 4:31 PM

    I would have to agree that Aeneas is a much better representation of how an honorable warrior should both act and behave. However, the author was a bit biased when it came to character creation. After all, Virgil's goal was to tell the "historical" story of the Romans and he had to make it sound good. As we've said before in class, the Romans saw everybody else as a barbarian, so by creating this new, more controlled hero, Virgil was only adding to the Romans' innate pride of being a more refined and dignified people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Braylan StringfellowNovember 11, 2020 at 8:52 PM

    I agree with what you said about how Aeneas pursues virtue more than glory. You are definitely right about how Achilles would have just killed Hellen without giving one thought about it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jamie PetersNovember 11, 2020 at 10:28 PM

    One of my favorite moments of Aeneas being a great man is when he goes to look for his wife. It is heartbreaking, but the amount of devotion that Aeneas shows towards the people he loves, including his son, his father, and his followers, truly points to the worthiness that this man has to lead.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rachael GregsonNovember 11, 2020 at 11:48 PM

    I really loved how you contrasted Aeneas with Achilles. You could tell right off the bat that Achilles has a bad temper and would have likely struck her down versus Aeneas, despite his internal anger, who acts very graceful externally.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Logan TurnerNovember 12, 2020 at 8:26 AM

    Yeah, I really agree with you. Aeneas' qualities that make him different from Achilles are what makes him a likeable character. He is pretty much the opposite of Achilles and as a result, is the better character, considering Achilles was so deeply flawed.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Micah PowersNovember 12, 2020 at 9:25 AM

    I love the self control shown in Aeneus in this moment. It for me demonstrates mans possibility for good. I love how we get to see polar opposites in the characters and brashness of Aeneus and Achilles. I love seeing a man with self control as that is such a major flaw within mankind of today and almost encouraged to be without self control by music and popular media. the Bible continually reminds of the importance of self control.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more