Doomed to Die the Aeneid

Fate is one of the most important themes in the Aeneid. The main purpose of Fate in the Aeneid is to demonstrate that the foundation of Rome, in succession with the fall of Troy was fated. The Aeneid was written by Virgil in the time of Augustus ceaser to show that the Romans are indeed of Trojan descent and that Aeneas who is the main character of the story was fated to be the founder of the Lavinium which will eventually become Rome. The Aeneid was surely aimed to glorify Rome's foundation and Augustus, therefore giving glory to the Romans. The divine approval and support of Rome which necessarily follows from a fated and therefore divinely orchestrated foundation would have achieved this. Fate as it is used by Virgil, was not simply used as a means to control the characters actions, but was used as an advanced method to demonstrate divine involvement in Rome's foundation, thereby raising her to an empire that was to have no end. Throughout the epic we see Fate playing a vital role in the lives of the human characters and how it decides the outcome of all events from the death of an individual to the founding of a city. The gods also play a role in the lives of every individual for example in Book V, Neptune promises a safe voyage for Aeneas and the Trojans but one life must be lost before he can fulfil his promise.
Fate centres mainly around Aeneas and his divine destiny to be the founder of the Roman Empire.   There are many attempts to prevent the Trojans from building their settlement in Italy, most notably Juno, the wife and sister of Jupiter who despises the Trojans and throughout the epic we see her desperately trying to prevent the Trojans from building their settlement in Italy. Through this Virgil shows that Fate may be delayed when he writes about Juno’s various attempts to stop Aeneas from founding Rome like the storm in book I. When Juno sees Aeneas coming close to reaching his goal, she bribes Aeolus, god of the winds, to use his influence to stir... [continues]

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