Ethos Pathos Logos In The Aeneid

Convincing an Enemy

Persuading my parents to purchase me a puppy always leads me to use three argument approaches. Just as I scheme to get a puppy, in The Aeneid by Virgil, Sinon strategizes to bring the Trojan horse inside the city gates of Troy. Sinon deceives the Trojan’s using three argument tactics: pathos, ethos, and logos.

To begin with, Sinon utilizes pathos to emotionally grab the Trojan’s attention. For example, after being dragged by Dardan shepherd's to the beach, Sinon pleads with the men of Troy. He cries, “…What land,”/ he cries, ‘ what seas can now receive me? What / awaits my misery? I have no place” (II, 96-98). Due to how important the family structure is in the Roman culture, the Trojan’s sympathize with Sinon, and doing

For instance, on the shore, Sinon establishes his credibility to the Trojan’s by telling them of his Greek heritage. Sinon says, “O King, I shall hide nothing of the truth, / whatever comes of it for me. I’ll not / deny that I am born of Argive; this / I first confess. For fortune made of Sinon / a miserable man but not a man / of faithlessness and falsehood…” (II, 107-112). By Sinon telling the Trojans of his birth, he establishes his credibility and allows the Trojan’s to trust him. Furthermore, after the death of his best friend, Sinon explains why he hates Ulysses’, creating a common enemy with the Trojans. Sinon tells the Trojans, “But after he had left these upper shores, / a victim of the sharp Ulysses’ envy” (II, 125-126). By creating a common enemy with the Trojan’s, Sinon gains the trust of his so-called enemies. After telling the Trojans of how he escaped the sacrifice of his own death, Sinon asks the Trojan’s to pity him. Quivering, Sinon says, “I beg you, therefore, by the High ones, by / the powers that know the truth, and by whatever / still uncontaminated trust is left / to mortals, pity my hard trials, piety / a soul that carries undeserved sorrows” (II, 199-204). Sinon connects with the Trojan’s by proving that he too believes in the gods; therefore, creating another similarity between him and the Trojan’s. By using ethos, Sinon established his credibility and a common enemy with the

While on the beach near the Trojan horse, Sinon begins to tell his story of how he arrived on the beach. After pausing Sinon says, “Then take your overdue vengeance at once: / for this is what the Ithacan would wish; / the sons of Atreus-they would pay for this” (II, 147-149). When Sinon stops telling the story and tells them to take their vengeance, he creates a logical plan for the Trojan’s to carry out. After Sinon tells the Trojan’s that the Greek’s picked him to be sacrificed he breaks his oath to his country. Quickly, Sinon states, “it now is right for me to break the holy / oath of my loyalty and right for me / to hate the Greeks, to bring all things to light, / whatever they conceal” (II, 220-223). Sinon’s logical explanation for going against his country makes sense when his army picked him to be sacrificed to the gods. To close out his argument, Sinon explains the causes of harming or caring for the Trojan horse. Sinon carefully states, “… For if your hand should harm Minerva’s gift / then vast destruction… / would fall on Priam’s kingdom … / but if it climbed by your hands into Troy / … Asia would repel the Greeks, … / this is the doom that waits for our descendants” (II, 268-275). Sinon’s last statement triggers the Trojan’s to bring the horse inside the gates of Troy to bring doom upon Greece. Using the tactic logos, Sinon logically convinces the Trojan’s to carry out