I'm still 59 words over the limit, and I have no idea where I'm going to cut those words from. I'm pretty happy with what I've done so far though; some bits are better and some (such as my ridiculous first paragraph) are probably a bit worse and less thorough as a result, but something was always going to have to give out if I was ever going to get this thing to an appropriate length.
Also, here's my third paragraph and conclusion as they stand so far:
If historians can agree that the Aeneid was not solely presented to the Roman people as a propaganda
text, they are forced to question the way in which it truly was interpreted, and the answer to this
question emerges in the text’s discussion of Roman morals, conduct and
attitudes to war and battle: it was seen as a sacred text of near biblical merit.
It is worthwhile, at this point, to briefly recount the poem’s narrative.
Aeneas, a Trojan, is forced to leave his homeland and is sent on a divine
mission to found a new Trojan race in Italy. Along the way he meets, falls in
love with and later abandons the Carthaginian queen Dido (who commits suicide
as a result), sees the future of his city prophesized, and must overcome a
rampaging Latin army in order to found his new homeland. Some argue that the
figure of Dido is a reference to the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and her seduction
of Mark Antony, and that Aeneas’s ability to desert her reflects his commitment
to his nation; William Anderson, in his book The Art of the Aeneid, points out that, “on any reasonable moral
balance, the choice between his beloved Dido and the destiny of his family and
people is obvious”[1]. It is more likely,
however, that the intent of this segment of the poem is to portray Aeneas as a
mortal character, subject to mortal emotions and mortal conditions. As Dido,
“doubles over her sword, the blood foaming over the blade”[2], Virgil,
“focuses on the defeated victims of Roman destiny”[3]; he
portrays Aeneas him as a figure who feels fear, emotional pain and anger, and thereby
as a figure to which Romans can relate. His humanity makes it all the more
remarkable that, at the same time, he is presented as the ultimate noble Roman.
Aeneas makes all the correct libations to the gods and always maintains correct
conduct in battle, and he was often referred to among literary scholars as ‘pietas [4]Aeneas’ as a result of his pious
perfection. A conversation Virgil narrates between Juno and Jupiter, where they
discuss the future of Aeneas’s people and the Latins’ fate, however,
demonstrates that the Aeneid is more
than a discussion of its central character; it recounts the foundation of the
entire Roman race. Juno pleads with Jupiter, “illud te... cum iam conubiis
pacem felicibus (esto)
component, cum iam leges et foedera iungent,
ne vetus
indigenas nomen mutare Latinos
neu Troas fieri iubeas Teucrosque vocari
aut vocem
mutare viros aut vertere vestem”[5].
Virgil recounts the creation of the Roman race as being a blend of pious
Trojans and more pagan Latins, two nations that unite to form a godly, strong
and patriotic people. His work gives Romans true heritage, linking them to two
powerful races of people and one morally perfect, yet still distinctly mortal, individual.
Syed reflects on all this in writing, “at an early age, [Roman] students
committed [the Aeneid] to memory...
the heroic stories they contained were seen as planting the seeds of morality
in people’s minds at an early impressionable age, [and] this moral foundation
was laid not by philosophical reasoning, but by the force of emotion”[6]. She
continues, “the classic... [has the capacity to] serve as a unifying cultural
icon for culturally diverse audiences”[7]; at
the time the Aeneid was written, Rome
was the largest empire in the ancient world, encompassing an unprecedentedly
large number of diverse cultures. The teaching and widespread reading of the Aeneid taught all of these people Roman
values and morality, and gave them a collective, unifying Roman identity,
something that was never present in, for example, Ancient Greek culture. Augustus’s
commission of the Aeneid may have
merely created a propaganda document in the short term, but one that evolved in
the long term into an iconic, sacred document that defined the Roman self, Rome’s
identity and its heritage.
There is little doubt that the Aeneid was commissioned and written with the intention of it being
a propaganda document for Caesar Augustus. Its text is littered with elements
of propaganda, and the way the entire poem extolls the virtues of the Roman
Empire demonstrates its status as a piece of writing with an underhand purpose.
Propaganda, however, is always written for the short term. The Aeneid may well have been effective
propaganda for Caesar Augustus, but its long-term use as an educational text, a
piece of literary art and a document which defined the identity of the Roman
people transcended its initial purpose. It is fair to say, then, that the Aeneid acted as propaganda for Caesar Augustus
to some extent. It transcended this purpose, however, to become part of the
fabric of Roman culture, and its status as a document that defines the identity
of the Roman people is still enduring today.
The best thing about these is that they're probably the two shortest bits. Mr Stewart, please note footnote no. 4...
[4] NOT A FOOTNOTE but something I need to ask about. I
want to insert an appendix explaining the concept of pietas. Is this possible?
[5] Virgil, op. cit. English translation: “I beg of you... when now they
join in peace with the Trojans, when they join in laws and in marriage, do not
make the Latins change their names nor take up Trojan customs nor change their
clothes.”
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