Aeneid Books II-III: True Love Sophia Colbert
I have to say, out of all the books we've read so far, Aeneas has shown true love more than anyone else. You might say that Enkidu and Gilgamesh had true love, but that was more of an obsession than anything else (not to mention borderline homosexual). Plato's Republic had no room for true love because everything was regulated and tied to duty. And don't even get me started on Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.
True love is more of an expression than anything else. It shows itself in a person's actions. Aeneas had true love for his city and for his family. The moment he discovered the Greeks were burning the city, he wanted to suit up and take on their entire army. Even as the city burned to the ground around him, he wanted to kill as many soldiers as he could to make them pay for their attack. He couldn't stop the Greeks, but he could make them regret ever stepping inside the city. Later, after Venus told him not to kill Helen, he finds his family and wants to protect them. His first response is fight, not flight. However, his family persuades him to run, so he carries his father out on his back, takes his son by the hand, has his wife follow behind, and makes for the mountains. When he realizes his wife isn't there, he goes back into the burning city to find her. As we all know, women weren't highly respected back then, so this act is very surprising. I interpret it as love, especially from his reaction of finding her ghost.
These are the marks of true love. True love makes you want to take on the world if they mess with your love. True love makes your first response fight, not flight. True love makes you go back into the burning city to search for your love, even when common sense tells you all hope is lost. Of course Virgil had to make Aeneas look good as the founder of Rome, but so far he is my favorite hero of ancient literature.
P.S. I commented on Eliza and Hannah's posts,
True love is more of an expression than anything else. It shows itself in a person's actions. Aeneas had true love for his city and for his family. The moment he discovered the Greeks were burning the city, he wanted to suit up and take on their entire army. Even as the city burned to the ground around him, he wanted to kill as many soldiers as he could to make them pay for their attack. He couldn't stop the Greeks, but he could make them regret ever stepping inside the city. Later, after Venus told him not to kill Helen, he finds his family and wants to protect them. His first response is fight, not flight. However, his family persuades him to run, so he carries his father out on his back, takes his son by the hand, has his wife follow behind, and makes for the mountains. When he realizes his wife isn't there, he goes back into the burning city to find her. As we all know, women weren't highly respected back then, so this act is very surprising. I interpret it as love, especially from his reaction of finding her ghost.
These are the marks of true love. True love makes you want to take on the world if they mess with your love. True love makes your first response fight, not flight. True love makes you go back into the burning city to search for your love, even when common sense tells you all hope is lost. Of course Virgil had to make Aeneas look good as the founder of Rome, but so far he is my favorite hero of ancient literature.
P.S. I commented on Eliza and Hannah's posts,
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