Aeneas’ Malevolent Execution of Turnus | Undergrad Essay (A)
From Virgil's Aeneid
Note to Reader,
This is an undergrad essay written for a class assignment. It is published with the intention of helping students become better writers, both in what I’ve done right and what I’ve done wrong. It was graded a 94, A.
At a later date I intend to write more broadly on the political lessons in this essay.
Enjoy,
-Jacob DiPasquale
Aeneas’ Malevolent Execution of Turnus
The end of Virgil's Aeneid ends with the low point of Aeneas as a character. Aeneas is bound by fate in his duty to establish a new home for the Trojan people, his position as a leader in this capacity is the central role he plays throughout the poem. In book 3 Aeneas is spoken to by the hearth gods brought from his home in Troy, “We are the gods who came / Along with you, and joined your cause … / You must prepare great walls for a great race … / There is a country … / New generations called it Italy” (3.217-31). The rest of the book follows the journey of the Trojans to their new home in Italy. Aeneas himself will state his duty as such in his speech to queen Dido, “Apollo tells me I must make for: Italy, / Named by his oracles. There is my love; / There is my country” (IV .477-79). This great race of people which Aeneas is fated to found are the Romans. There are expectations held of Aeneas as an individual, and Virgil throughout the book paints him as a good man. One of the more important attributes of Aeneas’ character is his piety towards the gods, as evident by his continual will to accomplish the task set before him. Despite Aeneas’ piety and morality, Virgil ends the story with Aeneas ignoring the memory of his father and failing to act justly.
The relationship between father and son is distinct throughout the Aeneid with Anchises and his son Aeneas. During his escape from Troy, Aeneas goes out of his way to carry his father out of the city, “then come, dear father. Arms around my neck: / I’ll take you on my shoulders” (2.921-2), and due to him protecting his father Aeneas tragically loses his wife to the Acheaens. Aeneas’ father is dear to him, and is the source of much counsel that Aeneas will receive throughout. After his encounter with Polydorus (the man held to the earth by spears, around which a blood soaked tree grows, III.28-66), Aeneas shares, “I brought before the leaders of the people, / My father first, these portents of the gods / And asked their judgement” (III.83-5). The purpose of a father is to help instruct the younger. Evidence for this claim can be found in the relationship of Aeneas and his son Ascanius, there is only one instance throughout the entire poem in which Aeneas speaks to him, “learn fortitude and toil from me, my son … Harking back / For models in your family, let your father / Aenes, and uncle, Hector, stir your heart” (XII.595-602). Fathers are supposed to instill their sons with virtue and act as a role model for them.
There are virtues to be upheld when fighting a war, and if fathers are the ones who instill their sons with goodness, perhaps this is the reason why characters often appeal to the memory of fathers. This appeal mostly happens in an attempt to plead for one's life. After the death of Pallas, Aeneas rampages and kills adversary after adversary. About to strike down another enemy, Magus, the man pleads with Aeneas, embracing his knees, “I pray you by your father’s ghost and by / Your hope of Iulus’ rising power, preserve / A life here, for a father and a son” (X.735-8). What is Magus appealing to with Aeneas by mentioning these familial bonds? There is a virtue of mercy within war, and the remembrance of the higher things of family bonds works to persuade the man holding the sword that the man at the other end is human. Aeneas does not spare Magus’ life.
Mercy is the perfection of justice. And Aeneas, as the founder of the Romans, is called to act justly by his father Anchises. Aeneas will visit his father in the world below, Anchises having died earlier in the poem, in order to seek his advice. What results is one of the most important lines from Anchises regarding the ethos (disposition, character, values) of the people Aeneas is instituting.
“... Roman, remember by your strength to rule
Earth’s peoples–for your arts are to be these:
To pacify, to impose the rule of law,
To spare the conquered, battle down the proud.”
To spare the conquered and to battle down the proud are the mandates given to Aeneas, but he will ignore the words of his father in his final judgment, just as he chose to not spare Magus. Aeneas will be too enraged at the death of his ally and friend Pallas to act mercifully, and this is unjust of him.
Pallas is another example of a father and son relationship, with his father Evander. “Dear boy, my late delight, my only one– / and may no graver message ever come [the death of Pallas] / To wound my ears” (VIII.787-9), and those are the last words Evander gives to Pallas before entrusting his son's life to Aeneas’ protection. Aeneas had come to Arcadia seeking allies in battle against the Rutulians led by Turnus. Evander offered Pallas with these words, “I shall, besides, commit to you my Pallas, / All my comfort and my hope, to learn / With you as a master how to weather battle” (VIII.696-8). With Pallas under Aeneas' wing, it would come as no surprise Aeneas’ pain of losing him. On their return to the battle, Pallas engages Turnus in a deadly match leading to his death (X.672). Turnus tears away Pallas’ sword belt as a trophy of glory. This causes the rage of Aeneas, and the battle will continue with many more deaths at his hands.
Aeneas defeats his enemy and emerges victorious from the battle, but he has suffered a madness from it. Turnus, defeated in his final fight with Aeneas, lifting his eyes and holding out his right hand pleas with Aeneas, “Clearly I earned this, and I ask no quarter … / If you can feel a father’s grief–and you, too / had such a father in Anchises–then / Let me bespeak your mercy” (XII.1261-70). These words resonate with Aeneas and is “moment by moment” brought around by Turnus' plea. However, Aeneas will spot the sword belt of Pallas on Turnus’ shoulder which arouses in him a “terrible anger,” “He sank his blade in fury in Turnus’ chest … / And with a groan for that indignity / His [Turnus’] spirit fled into the gloom below” (XII.1295-98). Terrible, fury, indignity, Virgil uses these words to describe the unjust action which Aeneas has exacted in this execution. Ignoring the memory of his father and that he ought to spare the conquered, having already beat down the proud, Aeneas lowers himself to a malevolent sword-bearer by not sparing Turnus’ life.