PIETAS

• the epithet 'pius' is used about Aeneas throughout the epic
• as the founder of the Roman race, he should honour the gods and family and of the right thing for his people
• easy to find examples of him making sacrifices and vows and showing respect to the gods
• book 1 - introduces himself as 'Aeneas, known for my devotion'
• Hector's message is that Aeneas should leave Troy and take the city's sacraments and household gods with him
• he cannot as his father, Anchises, refuses to leave
• to abandon his father would not be the action of his pious son
• the solution comes in a sign from Jupiter
• the image of Aeneas, personifying Piety, with his son holding his hand, and his father on his shoulders bearing the sacred gods of Troy, was one well-known in the Roman world
• book 4 - Aeneas is told to leave Carthage
• he follows the command of the gods, but at the expense of Dido, whom he heartlessly abandons - most people interpret bk 4 in this way
• book 2 - Aeneas and his family leave Troy
• book 6 - burial of Misenus
• book 6 - Anchises' account of his son's piety
• book 7 - Aeneas makes offerings on reaching his destination
• book 8 - Aeneas honours the gods after the dream from Tiber
• book 10 - Aeneas' reaction to the death of Lausus
• book 11 - Aeneas makes offerings to Mars
• book 11 - preparations for the funeral of Pallas
• book 11 - agreement to the truce
• book 12 - swearing an oath
• book 12 - Aeneas is reluctant to break the view he had made
• book 12 - Aeneas' farewell to Ascanius
• book 12 - if piety means keeping an oath, then killing Turnus is a pious act, because Aeneas is fulfilling his promise to Evander