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Juno's Punishment In The Aeneid

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“The Aeneid” is an epic poem authored by Publius Vergilius Maro, and is implied to be directed at Vergil’s muse. Vergil primarily wrote the piece in response to Juno’s actions against the Trojans, and appears to disagree with them (he repeatedly wonders aloud how a deity is capable of tormenting an entire race, and if she would retain her honor among the mortals after doing so). Thus, Vergil is motivated by the need to understand and explain why Juno and those around her acted the way they did, to see if they were justified. In “The Aeneid,” Vergil depicts that Juno, Aeneas, and Venus suffered due to fear, pain, and compassion, respectively.
Vergil opens his narrative by immediately delving into the motivations behind Juno’s torment of the Trojans. Juno is depicted to be suffering due to fear that she will lose something dear to her in the future, and thus takes action against the Trojans in an effort to prevent the loss. Vergil narrates that, "There was an ancient city, Carthage.... They say Juno loved this one land above all others.... Yet she’d heard of offspring, derived from Trojan blood, / that would one day …show more content…

Juno suffers because she fears the fate of her most beloved city, and her actions to prevent it leads to the torment and suffering of the mortal Aeneas and his crew. Aeneas’s suffering at the hands of Juno, in turn, leads to the suffering of his mother Venus as she cares for her son and is distressed to know what he is going through. Early in the piece, Vergil wonders what would lead a god to do what Juno has done, and he then explains clearly the reasons and justifications for Juno’s behavior. However, he also wonders if any mortals would still be willing to worship her and present her for offerings after what she has done. He does not explicitly answer this question, but based on the depictions of suffering she bestowed upon both mortals and the divine, the odds don’t appear to be in Juno’s

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