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Fate In The Aeneid

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It is in human nature for people to accuse other things for their downfall. Humans will condemn gods, fate, and other humans. The Jews were rebuked for many things. German soldiers blame Hitler for their ignorance about the concentration camps. Trump accuses our broke government, jobs being shipped overseas, and other countries taking advantage of us as to why our economy is getting to become terrible. Virgil uses the Trojans’ loss in the Aeneid to show that blame can and will be put into many things. Virgil shows that the Trojans’ are quick to blame the gods. This is common in the Aeneid and other epics or religious related books. In Book II, Virgil writes, “And if the gods’ will had not been sinister, If our own minds had not been crazed, …show more content…

The blaming of Fate often happens in epics. In Book IV, Aeneas blames Fate for his ill departure. Virgil wrote, “If fate permitted me to spend my days By my own lights, and made best of things According to my wishes… But now it is the rich Italian land” (Virgil, Aeneid: Book IV 445-452). He is accusing Fate for his leaving instead of telling the Queen that he is leaving for his own reasons. He tells a sob story of the fall of Troy and how he must create a new empire to bring back his honor. This is moving the blame from himself onto Fate to not make Aeneas look bad. Before this had happened, Fate was blamed in Book II in less than fifty lines from the beginning. The book says, “Knowing their strength broken in warfare, turned Back by the fates” (Virgil Aeneid: Book II 18-19). This is saying that the fate had figuratively laughed in the Trojans’ face. This is showing that Fate will be blamed if things go wrong, further proving my point that anything can be …show more content…

Sinon is one of the bigger examples of a human being rebuked in Aeneid: Book II. This started in line 260, “This fraud if Sinon, his accomplished lying, Won us over: a tale and fake tears Had captured us, whom neither Diomedes Nor Larisaean Achilles overpowered, Nor ten long years, Nor all their thousands ships” (Virgil Aeneid: Book II 260-264). This is putting the blame from the Trojans’ ignorance to Sinon’s stealth and trickery. Had Sinon not said that the horse wouldn’t have for, the Trojans would never had tried to bring the horse into the city. Therefore, the Trojans are in the wrong. In Book IV, Queen Dido blames Anna for her falling in love with Aeneas. She calls her out as Aeneas is preparing to leave, but doesn’t wish to see him herself. Virgil stated, “Since that deserter chose you for his friend And trusted you, even with private thoughts, Since you alone know when he may be reached” (Virgil, Aeneid: Book IV 559-561). Dido is moving the blame onto Anna by implying that Aeneas was Anna’s friend and it was her idea for them to get together. Of course, Aeneas did pull the well-technically-we-aren’t-married-card, but Dido seemed to ignore this as she accused Anna. This shows that Anna and Sinon are examples of people blaming other people for their

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