More than a little respect
Why do you think it is unheroic of Aeneas to wish for death at Troy? Read the Iliad, that should straighten things up for you. THE way to get recognition in classic literature is to die during battle. Aeneas would have died in the Iliad had his mother, Venus, not removed him. He wants to have died in Troy in Book I because it looks like he is going to die at sea instead, without his companions, in a very dishonorable way. He is afraid he will become a nobody, his story lost to antiquity, instead of the founder of Rome he is supposed to become.<br>You think he does not feel love because he forgets Creusa. There is something called mos maioram, basically the value of one's ancestors, that is a classic Roman ideal. It involves being pious, grounded, and recognizing that you are part of a family chain. In the scene where he flees Troy, remember that his father is around his neck and he is holding onto his son's hand. They are a literal family chain. There is no reason for Creusa to be there; the chain is complete, the mos maioram is in place. Besides, when Virgil was commissioned to write this, he had to work Creusa's death into the story because it was known that Aeneas married Lavinia and already had one son from another wife. He had to let her die somehow, it may as well have been like this.<br>You are expecting Aeneas to be a hero like Odysseus or Achilles, Greek heroes. Remember that Virgil was a Roman, and was commissioned to write the national epic of Rome. The hero had to be the epitome of Roman virtues. Everything that you do not like about Aeneas makes him the ideal Roman. Many people have these problems when reading The Aeneid, but remember, as with anything you read, the author is at least as smart as you are. If there is something that catches your attention, like Aeneas wishing for death, that should send up a flag in your head that something important is happening, and there is something important to be learned.
