Characterisation of Aeneas Modern Scholars

"Aeneas has to be the social man, the man who through his care for others succeeds in leading his group or society, not aiming to achieve personal satisfaction by surpassing others in excellence, nut to use his qualties in order to achieve their success."

"What is often percieved as the colourless quality of Aeneas' character is largely the result of roles forced on him by the plot of the Aeneid: rather than being strongly driven by an internal desire or ambition, he is forced into a mission by circumstances beyond his control."

"It is Aeneas who comes or should come most interestingly and often into contact with other people. But it is his interaction with others that is minimal. In general it is Aeneas' relationships that Virgil appears to negect. Virgil appears to neglect. Virgil seems curiously disinclined to show Aeneas responding or relating to others....But is this Virgil's neglact? Are we to sense a further voice saying something unobvious?"

"Aeneas' general concern to facilitate fate is the cornerstone of his pietas"