13 February 2006
Free Will
Throughout the Aeneid fate plays a major role. Virgil is trying to make a point that the gods are in total control and that mortals have no influence over fate. In books I and II it seems that Aeneas does have control of his fate, however fate always wins because of his respect for the gods. Instead of using his free will he listens to Venus and goes into the city of Carthage and speaks to the queen. It didn't seem that he was forced to go into the city, he just went out of respect for Venus. He could have very easily brushed her off and not gone into the city. In this story is a fate truly an unconquerable force or does it just seem so? Do mortals have a say in what they do during their life?
# posted by Chris @ 3:56 PM 
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I disagree that Virgil is trying to state that the gods are in total control of people's fates. There are several examples where your statement are not true. For example, in book IV of the Aeneid, lines 963-5, Dido dies "not at her fated span Nor as [Juno] merited, but before her time..."
I believe on the contrary that the gods can predict what a person will be like and what they can do to manipulate them into a certain circumstance. I think that pretty much anyone can reject what the gods try to make them do, but it usually ends up disastrous, and besides, following the gods will usually brings glory.
I believe on the contrary that the gods can predict what a person will be like and what they can do to manipulate them into a certain circumstance. I think that pretty much anyone can reject what the gods try to make them do, but it usually ends up disastrous, and besides, following the gods will usually brings glory.
After further consideration, I looked back in the book and there is more merit to what you said than I gave you, Chris. In book IV again, although at first Aeneas seems like a huge jerk just leaving Dido, he tells her on line 499, "I leave for Italy not of my own free will," which leaves me to think maybe Aeneas really did love Dido, but that the word of the gods alone were all he needed to completely change mindset and depart from someone he cared deeply for.
Yeah, although the Gods do try and manipulate certain events, they don't actually seem to shape the will of the people involved. Though the will of the Gods may be done, it's not as though their will becomes the will of man. Aeneas, for example, is pious enough to accept divine will over his own, and go against what his heart desires in order to fulfill the greater purpose, being in this case the founding of Rome. So I don't think that the characters lack free will, but are willing to sacrifice immediate desires to allow the foretold future to come into being.
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