Duty In Vii Of Aeneid

Rooted from the term “duete”, which means to owe or debt, the word duty can be defined as the need to accomplish some achievements for an entity that the person is in debt of. Although Romans and Christians do not share the same religious belief, the Romans’ concept of duty is very similar; their concept of duty is largely related to the obedience to their god and their country.
The Roman values the importance of the sense of obligation towards their gods and goddesses. In book VI of Aeneid by Virgil, Aeneas, the main character of the story, clearly showed this concept of duty. The reader can clearly see how “duty bound” Aeneas is through his decision to enter the Underworld and leaving Dido, his love behind. Despite of the terrifying Underworld and the sorrow of leaving his lover, Aeneas did not hesitate to follow Apollo’s prophecy, which demonstrated the Romans’ strong sense of duty towards …show more content…
In the short excerpt of book VII of Aeneid by Virgil, Aeneas’s reaction when Venus gave him the shield Vulcan forged showed this concept quite clearly. On Aeneas’ shield, Vulcan engraved Rome’s future achievements, such as Caesar’s victory over Egypt. Since all of these events will happen in the future, Aeneas knew that in order for Rome to become that powerful empire, he needed to survive his upcoming deadly battle against Turnus to establish Rome. After receiving the shield, he “felt joy...taking up upon his shoulder all the destined acts and fame of his descendants” (line 165) Aeneas had established to himself that he need to do whatever it takes to create Rome, including overcome dead on a battlefield, because it is his duty as man serving his kingdom, which shows the Romans’ ideology of full obligation to the country: regardless of any obstacles, even dead itself, one must do whatever it takes to overcome it to contribute to the glorification of the