The Aeneid

"The Aeneid" is considered by some to be one of the most important epic poems of all time. The story is as much one of the great epic hero, Aeneas, as it is of the foundation of the great Roman Empire. Aeneas, a Trojan Prince who escapes following the fall of troy, travels with others to Italy to lay the foundations for what would become the great Roman Empire. Virgil's Aeneid is a story of great adventure, of war, of love, and of the exploits of a great epic hero. In the work Virgil makes commentary on the state of Rome during the Rule of Augustus. It was a time that had been previously ravaged by civil wars and with the reign of Augustus order and peace had begun to be restored. That order had a price though. Many of the freedoms of the old Roman Republic had been lost under the new Imperialistic Rome. This loss of freedom and the debate over the virtues of a Republican Rome versus an Imperialistic Rome was central to Virgil's time and is interwoven throughout the poetic narrative of "The Aeneid." Virgil's work forms the historical foundation for the argument of the empire over the republic as the best form of government.