“I am Aeneas, duty-bound, and known
Above high air of heaven by my fame,
Carrying with me in my ships our gods
Of hearth and home, saved from the enemy.”
Virgil, The Aeneid, I
Pious Aeneas. The phrase appears again and again in The Aeneid. Virgil is intent on sketching in his epic hero the beautiful features of a pious man.
Robert Fitzgerald often translates the sonorous Latin ‘pius Aeneas’ as ‘Aeneas, duty-bound.’ The word duty conveys an essential aspect of piety: that something is owed or due to someone. Someone divine. The pious man is the one whose sees his whole life in terms of what is due to God.
Please see my post today at Aleteia for a further reflection on the piety of Aeneas.
Virgil (70-19 B.C.) is the great Roman poet, author of The Aeneid and The Georgics. In the Divine Comedy Virgil appears as Dante’s guide through hell and purgatory.
Husband, father, and professor of Philosophy. LifeCraft springs from one conviction: there is an ancient wisdom about how to live the good life in our homes, with our families; and it is worth our time to hearken to it. Let’s rediscover it together. Learn more.
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