Aeneas, the anti-hero of the AeneidMany people seem to be under the impression that the Aeneid is a celebration of Roman glory, led by the hero of destiny Aeneas. I have difficulty reconciling these preconceptions with my actual reading of the text. To begin with, I have a hard time seeing Aeneas as a hero. Almost every other main character in the epic, from Dido to Camilla to Turnus, has more heroic qualities than Aeneas. This is particularly notable because many of these characters are his enemies. Furthermore, Aeneas is presented as a man lacking free will. He is not so much bound by duty as he is protected by it. It offers buzzing a convenient way to avoid crucial moral questions. While this doesn't necessarily make him a bad person, it certainly makes him a weak person. Of course, some would argue that it takes greater moral conviction to ignore personal temptation and act for the good of the people. These analysts avoid the problem, just as Aeneas does. The fact is that Aeneas not only sacrifices his personal happiness for the common good; he also sacrifices the past of the Trojan people, notably when he dishonors the memory of his fallen city by becoming the men he hated most, the Greek invaders. The image of Aeneas as seen at the end of the Aeneid bears striking resemblances to his own depiction of the wild and treacherous Greeks in the early books. The classic definition of a hero includes one who is blessed with great courage and strength, and who is celebrated for their daring exploits. In some ways, Aeneas is very similar to other heroes encountered in other classical texts, but with critical differences. Gilgamesh, perhaps the first hero chronologically, is a good place to...... middle of paper...... the dangers of human nature. Perhaps it was even a message intentionally hidden in the text to shed sobering light on perceptions of war as honorable and glorious. It might even have been Virgil's way of expressing his resentment for writing a work that he knew would be considered propaganda. I think it is very telling that Virgil attempted to burn the epic on his deathbed, signaling not only that he was unhappy with it, but perhaps that he regretted having written it with Aeneas as hero. “Forget the Aeneid.” American Literary History 4:3 (1992): 517-38. Silvestris, Bernardus. Commentary on the first six books of Virgil's Aeneid. Translated by Schreiber and Maresca. University of Nebraska Press. London, 1979. Virgil. The Aeneid. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald. New York: vintage books, 1990.