Aeneas

• Aeneas reaps the happy reward of pietas as he is reunited with Anchises and Anchises comments on his concerns for Aeneas’ stay in Carthage reminds us of the single greatest challenge to Aeneas’ pietas
• Aeneas is fired with love of the glory to come for his future nation and he has no more doubts as he knows that it’s fated

  • he has realised that from the moment he saw Romulus in the pageant and din’t need to answer Anchises when he asked if he still had doubts
• We can now see Aeneas’ pietas bearing fruition as the promised world unfolds to him and as he becomes more and more confident in later books of his destiny
• The pageant of Rome’s heroes and its message basically guaranteed Aeneas’ victory in wars to come

  • were Aeneas still downcast about the past he wouldn’t be able to leave the underworld with th air of positive certainty we see in him from this point on