Augustus In The Aeneid

Roman readers reading ‘The Aeneid’ during Augustus’ reign (27 BC to AD 14) would most likely have a varied view on Aeneas’ character during Book 1. This is because of a mixture of his character personality wise and his heritage as well; in addition to that their own ruler could have impacted their opinion on Aeneas.

To begin with Aeneas is portrayed as a superb leader from early on in the book, in fact as soon as you really hear about him. He is first seen after Junos’ attack on his flight of ships, looking around the damage before rallying his troops and hunting seven deer for each of the remaining ships. This shows he is skilled in traditional sense of being able to effectively hunt, something which takes a lot of skill; being able to stoke
To build on his leader personality, he doesn’t whine about their situation to his troops, remaining positive to attempt to hearten them, whilst still being mournful for those they had lost. “However many hardships we suffer, we are making for Latium, where the Fates show us our place of rest” This wise wording makes the men build hope back up after such a hard loss to their fleet and fellow soldiers. It also shows Aeneas’ bravery in the face of danger and loss, especially when you add the fact that he is going against a very powerful enemy in Juno. In addition it shows the reserve and stoic personality a leader would have in these times. Getting overly passionate and mournful for the lost troops would only distress his remaining crew which clearly would give a negative impact. Such a reaction would imply a bad leader of Aeneas. This is where being slightly stoic in such a situation would be beneficial and affect how the readers view Aeneas. This would make the people of Rome idolize his courage and abilities to lead his men to victory, even if against such a strong enemy. As well as his leader qualities, Aeneas’ religious tendencies make him very admirable to the citizens of Rome in Augustus’