Dido and Camilla - Leaders Blinded by their Passions in the Aeneid
In Book I of Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas observes a depiction of the female
warrior, Penthesilea, on the walls of Dido's temple. As Aeneas is looking
at this portrait, Dido enters the temple. Later in Book XI, as Camilla
walks through the carnage of battle, she is likened to an image of
Penthesilea returning home victorious. Virgil presents many such
similarities in his portrayals of Dido and Camilla because it is through
them, the only two female leaders in his work, that he illustrates the
destinies of rulers who fall victim to their passions. To Virgil, a great
leader is one who practices restraint, represses all passions, and embodies
the virtue of temperance, which according to Cicero is a virtue that
"comprises propriety, moderation, decorum, restraint, and self-control."1
To Virgil, a truly great leader must embody temperance on both the throne
and the battlefield. Thus, through his portrayals of Dido and Camilla,
Virgil illustrates the fates of leaders who do not adhere to the Stoic
morality of the 1st century BC Initially, Dido is a great stateswoman while
Camilla is a great warrior. However, they both are overcome by passions
which they cannot repress. Dido, blinded by her love for Aeneas, sacrifices
herself, while Camilla, blinded by her lust for the spoils of war, does not
notice the spear fatally flying in her direction.
Initially Virgil invests in Dido and Camilla the potential to be great
leaders. He describes Dido as a great stateswoman. She rules her city as a
female-King, overseeing its building and preparing it for war. Venus
relates to Aeneas how...
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Her staunch handmaidens, both in peace and war.
Then, leading the battalion of Amazons
So ride the hardened Amazons of Thrace
With half-moon shields, he saw Penthesilea
With drumming hooves on frozen Thermodon,
Fiery amid her host, buckling a golden
Warring in winter, in their painted gear,
Girdle beneath her bare and arrogant breast,
Sometimes around Hippolyta, the chieftain,
A girl who dared to fight men, a warrior queen.
Or when the daughter of Mars, Penthesilea,
Now, while these wonders were being surveyed
Drives her chariot back victorious
By Aeneas of Dardania, while he stood
And women warriors bearing crescent shields
Enthralled, devouring all in one long gaze,
Exult, riding in tumult with wild cries. (XI, 892- 902)
The queen paced toward the temple I her beauty,
Dido, with a throng of men behind. (I, 665- 677)
At 11:54 p.m., Hashimoto ordered 6 readied torpedoes at a depth of 4 meters and a speed of 48 knots. Next, Hashimoto had the torpedoes fired at the ship. At 12:02 p.m., the first explosion came and then the second. Red flames shot up lighting up the darkness. Smoke soon followed.
In the late 1800’s the American people and their government became more willing to risk war in defense of American interests overseas, support for building a large modern navy began to grow. Supporters argued that if the United States did not build up its navy and acquire bases overseas, it would be shut out of foreign markets by Europeans. Captain Alfred T. Mahan observed that building a modern navy meant that the U.S. had to acquire territory for naval bases overseas. This would enable them to operate a navy far from home. A country needed bases and coaling stations in distant regions, which was exactly what they did by having Havana, Cuba be one of its ports. Another factor that was part of the Navy’s modernization was the USS Maine, which was probably the most famous ship of its era. The USS Maine was one of the Navy’s first armored battle ships. It was one of the first U.S. naval vessels with electrical lighting. It had a top speed of 17 knots and a crew of 392 officers and enlisted men. On the evening of February 15, 1898 the USS Maine exploded. Of the 345 officers and sailors aboard the Maine, 266 died. There were many ideas of how this explosion occurred, namely: the ship’s ammunition supplies blew up, a fire accidentally ignited the ammunition, and that a mine detonated near the ship set off the ammunition. At the time Cuba was a Spanish colony, but it was in the midst of a revolution. The Cuban people were fighting for independence from Spain. During this Cuban revolt against Spain and the American battleship Maine dropped anchor in the Havana harbor to protect American interests in Cuba. Many Americans regarded the Spanish as tyrants and supported the Cubans in their struggle. This immediately made Americans jump to the Conclusion that Spain blew up the Maine. American’s felt that since they were allies with Cuba that Spain was trying to harm America, as to not interfere with Cuba’s revolt against them. Within a matter of weeks, Spain and the U.
A twenty-first century reading of the Iliad and the Odyssey will highlight a seeming lack of justice: hundreds of men die because of an adulteress, the most honorable characters are killed, the cowards survive, and everyone eventually goes to hell. Due to the difference in the time period, culture, prominent religions and values, the modern idea of justice is much different than that of Greece around 750 B.C. The idea of justice in Virgil’s the Aeneid is easier for us to recognize. As in our own culture, “justice” in the epic is based on a system of punishment for wrongs and rewards for honorable acts. Time and time again, Virgil provides his readers with examples of justice in the lives of his characters. Interestingly, the meaning of justice in the Aeneid transforms when applied to Fate and the actions of the gods. Unlike our modern (American) idea of blind, immutable Justice, the meanings and effects of justice shift, depending on whether its subject is mortal or immortal.
The Bacchant are considered offensive to the Theban elites, due to their destruction of livestock and men. However, they also pose a threat to the structure of Theban politics. Pentheus feels threated both politically and personally due to the, “insolent hybris of the Bacchae, a huge humiliation to Greeks” (779). The humiliation is not only towards Greeks a whole, and due to Pentheus's power he is looked poorly on due to these women. The fact that women overruled men, the serving class uprooting from the served, ensues a chaos which creates a loss of faith to Pentheus's constitutents. Since political destruction is not an outcome Pentheus wants, he must supress the female rebellion. Female independence becomes dangerous and in order to lessen these anxietie...
After four and a half months of working, I am just getting the hang of it. Being a cashier might sound easy, but over at Home Depot, it’s not. There are so many responsibilities for a cashier to do; it is just as hard as being a bank teller. You have to be quick at looking up items, being familiar with items in the store, checking every item for the right tag, and the list goes on. The cashiers are tested weekly with a secret shopper to make sure the cashiers are on their toes. The money has to be added up at the end of the day, each slip, coin, dollar bill, check and card. If it doesn’t add up, you don’t leave until you find out where it went. The cashier draw cannot hold more then 500$ at one time. Each time you collect up to five hundred you have to send it to the book keeping. All these responsibilities add up and are overwhelming for a cashier. A head cashier is responsible for every register and transaction in that store, along with the flow of lines and customer satisfaction. It is a job I would never want.
When the Manie sank there where 2 separate explosions ammunition continuted to explode for hours after the blast. Some people say that the Maine was torpedoed or blown up with under water explosives by the Spanish Navy, others say that the 896 ton capacity coal bunker exploded but most people at the time said that the ship was torpedoed and blamed Spain for the sinking of the ship. After the disaster an official court of inquiry was held to determine the cause of the blast. The Navy said that the ship was sunk by a water mine, but stated that it could not fix responsibility on any single person or persons.
Oedipus the King: Reason and Passion In the play, Oedipus the King, there are dual parts of reason and passion. Oedipus primarily acts with both reason and passion at different stages in the play. There are several points in the play where Oedipus acts with reason. The first such point occurs when he is asked by his followers to help save Thebes. He acts with reason when he immediately decides to heed to their demands and find help for them.
At this time the crew was doomed. The sinking of the Fitzgerald was very rapid and it is said that it is likely they did not know the seriousness of their condition. Indeed, after the wreck a mangled lifeboat was found. The conditions of these lifeboats left people to suggest or assume that no one attempted to leave the ship. No distress signals were ever even issued.
I believe that the ending of the Aeneid shows that Aeneas is very heroic. According to Webster’s New Dictionary, “a man of distinguished bravery” and “admired for his exploits.” Aeneas is very brave when he fights Turnus, especially because it is known that the gods are on his side. He successfully killed Turnus, which is an achievement that calls for admiration.
Aeneas’ journey in the underworld was an experience in itself, Aeneas most of all learned that every sacrifice for good will be rewarded. . In The Aeneid Aeneas is told by his father to meet him in the underworld. Aeneas’ father Anchises tells Aeneas to go to a Roman island Eubian and there he will find a priest named Sibyl. Once Aeneas meets Sibyl, Sibyl makes Aeneas go into the forest and find the bough. The bough is a golden branch that is only able to be broken by the chosen one. Aeneas breaks the branch and is granted access into the underworld but as Virgil states even Aeneas needed help from the gods to find this rare branch: “O be my guides, if there’s a way. Wing on, into the woodland where the bough,
Lucretia and Dido are both viewed as ideal Roman women. The story of Lucretia is found in Livy’s Early History of Rome, while Dido is written about in The Aeneid by Virgil. By looking at Roman values, the story of Lucretia, the story of Dido, their similarities and differences, a background of Livy and Virgil, as well as the similarities and differences of Virgil and Livy’s views toward them, Dido and Lucretia can be seen as exemplary Roman women.
Aristotle argues that friendship is a vital part of life. It serves not only as a means to bond individuals together, but also a necessity in achieving overall happiness. Aristotle comments on the various types of friendships that exist, and the role they each play in society. He explains three overarching types; utility, pleasure, and complete friendship. Yet, with family, friendship is different than it is with companionship. As Aristotle states in his piece, Nicomachean Ethics on friendship in families, “they all seem to depend on paternal friendship” (Aristotle, 1161b18). In The Aeneid, Aeneas and Anchises’ relationship, perfectly embodies this. The father son bond does not distinctly resemble one of the three types, rather it is a friendship in of itself; a paternal friendship.
Eastern Rome contributed the mass majority of works of literature. Virgil, a well known Roman poet, gave the world his epic: The Aeneid. The Aeneid is about a traveler who sails for Italy but is destined to end up in Rome. As Aeneas, the traveler, and his crew near Rome, a storm throws them off and they end up in Carthage. Aeneas tells the story of his journey to the queen of Carthage. Ovid wrote Metamorphoses. This story is about Ovid asking the Gods to help him come up with an idea for his work. Ovid writes about the creation of the world and goes on into present day. Ovid also describes the birth of the world. Publius Cornelius Tacitus wrote the Germania, which is a historical work on the Germanic tribes outside the Roman Empire. Julius
Many people seem to be under the impression that the Aeneid is a celebration of Roman glory, led by the hero of fate Aeneas. I find these preconceived ideas hard to reconcile with my actual reading of the text. For starters, I have a hard time viewing Aeneas as a hero at all. Almost any other main characters in the epic, from Dido to Camilla to Turnus, have more heroic qualities than Aeneas. This is especially noteworthy because many of these characters are his enemies. In addition, Aeneas is presented as a man with no free will. He is not so much bound to duty as he is shielded by it. It offers a convenient way for hum to dodge crucial moral questions. Although this doesn’t necessarily make him a bad person, it certainly makes him a weak one. Of course some will argue that it takes greater moral conviction to ignore personal temptation and act for the good of the people. These analysts are dodging the issue just like Aeneas does. The fact is that Aeneas doesn’t just sacrifice his own personal happiness for the common good; he also sacrifices the past of the Trojan people, most notably when he dishonors the memory of his fallen city by becoming the men he hated most, the Greek invaders. The picture of Aeneas as seen in the end of the Aeneid bears some sticking resemblances to his own depiction of the savage and treacherous Greeks in the early books.
Thunderous booms and bangs sounded the evening of February 15, 1898. The battleship Maine exploded on the harbors in Havana, Cuba. Panicky passengers scurried frightened to safety, while some remained trapped, helplessly, with no possible escape. Startled survivors searched for crew members and friends. The battleship which detonated into several pieces sank to the ocean floor dragging rapt wounded and dead. Two-hundred and sixty-six of the three-hundred and fifty-five officers, crew members, sailors, and Marines on board died or drowned in the explosion or shortly after suffering from injuries or shock.