Loyalty And Punishments In The Aeneas

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From the ashes of Troy, the light of Rome was born through an act by a man who would be deemed both courageous and cowardly by those who once protected it. The early Roman army was one of the most feared and capable armies in ancient times in part due to their strict code of loyalty and punishment of those who betray said code. One of the most reviled crimes was the act of cowardice and the Roman Empire enforced loyalty among its ranks. To betray Rome was to essentially betray the gods. The hero of Aeneas is a rare character in Ancient Roman history that both forsake the gods he serves but also abides to their will. In defying the code of the Roman soldier, Aeneas would help found a city that would outlive the fallen city of Troy. During …show more content…

The two most notorious punishments for the capital crime of desertion were Decimation and Fustuarium (Hamper 2008). Coming from the Latin word “decimatio” meaning tenth, it consisted of a legion of soldiers, usually consisting of over 480 men, being lined up and every tenth person getting executed by the other members of the legion (Hamper 2008). The unlucky chosen one would get murdered by either stoning or beaten with clubs. It was considered a “democratic” form of punishment as it not only punished the accused but the entire legion. In addition to the infamous Decimation and Fustuarium, the Romans enacted more creative ways of punishment, some of which would seem absurd by today’s standards. A soldier accused of treason would be sewn into a sac filled with live snakes and thrown into a river (MilitaryHistory 2012). Those whom survived the punishments were shamed for their cowardice and forced out of the army to live the rest of their lives as a public disgrace. It would be the very act of desertion that would inevitably save the Roman …show more content…

Ignoring the prophetic dream he received the night of the attack, Aeneas races into battle and is immediately surrounded by the overwhelming scale of death and destruction the Greeks have brought forth. In an act that would have lead to his execution had it been any other day, Aeneas decides to abandon the battle and lead an exodus from the ruined city. Aeneas had most likely taken the oath of allegiance since he was a soldier. He is forced to make a decision that is a double edged sword. Should be choose to die with the city, he would be fulfilling his oath and be considered honorable by Roman standards. However, should he follow the advice of a dream, which may or may not be accurate, he would be saving the spirit of Troy but risks being labeled a coward for abandoning his city in the heat of battle. Choosing the option of fleeing the city showcases Aeneas breaking the code the soldier must have taken years before. By choosing to instead abandon the city and try to allow for as many of its citizens to flee, Aeneas has saved the city in a way that his oath as a soldier would have deemed a cowardious crime and would have seen him executed for. Through his heroic act of fleeing, he would allow his city of Troy to see a victory through his involvement in the creation of Rome decades later (Virgil 29

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