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Manipulation In The Aeneid

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Since their conception, emotions have been one of the most defining characteristics humans have assigned to themselves. While dolphins, other primates, and, more recently, computers have been found to have levels of intelligence rivalling humanity’s, how they’ve felt about it has remained more or less unique. Though they are often considered one of man’s greatest strengths, emotions are also a method of entry for manipulation attempts from other people. An excellent source for examples of this is The Aeneid. Written over two millennia by the Roman poet Virgil, The Aeneid is filled with a wide range of human emotions and situations in which they influence people’s decisions. In addition, throughout Books II and IV of The Aeneid, Virgil shows …show more content…

The beginning of Book II depicts the Trojan Horse being taken into Troy after much persuasion from Sinon, who appeals to the Trojan’s emotions to assist him in this task. Throughout much of this section, Sinon frequently mentions what a terrible situation the Greeks have supposedly left him in, such as when he tells the Trojan army “‘And now I’ve no hope of seeing my old country again, / Or my sweet children or the father I long for: / Perhaps they’ll seek to punish them for my flight, / And avenge my crime through the death of these unfortunates.’” (Virgil, The Aeneid: Book II 138-141) Looking back on this line, it is easy to see that he is trying to elicit sympathy from the Trojans to convince them that he is no longer cooperating with the Greeks. After this succeeds, he immediately moves on to appealing to the Trojans’ sense of pride through statements such as “‘And Calchas ordered them / To raise the huge mass of woven timbers, raised to the sky, / So the gates would not take it, nor could it be dragged / Inside the walls, or watch over the people in their ancient rites.’” (Virgil, The Aeneid: Book II 185-188) In this quote, Sinon is quite clearly making a direct appeal to the Trojan’s sense of pride by presenting them with a supposedly unachievable goal, a basic reverse-psychology

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A video by the name of “The Invisible Constitution” is a demonstration based on a book that Laurence Tribe wrote also called “The Invisible Constitution”. Tribe feels that the constitution is a living document because just like human beings, there is change. The constitution does not physically change, but every word in the constitution can be questioned and interpreted differently by each individual. Tribe discusses his own opinion on the constitution and he thinks that most of the document is “invisible”, while others may think that the constitution means exactly what it says.

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I chose to look at Gorgias writing the encomium of Helen. Gorgias is defending Helen by pointing out specific reasons as to why she should not be blamed for starting the Trojan War. “How can one regard blame of Helen as just, since she is utterly acquitted of all charges, whether

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In Greek culture, honor was immensely important and the Cyclops has none. In contrast, Odysseus brags about the great feats of Agamemnon yelling, “So great a city he sacked, such multitudes he killed”(9.298-299) That Odysseus sees pride in killing, shows that the Greeks valued killing, but only if honorable. There is a stark contrast between the killings of the Cyclops and those of King Agamemnon. In the eyes of the Greeks, Agamemnon’s killings were for his country, his people, and the greater good of society. These murders had a selfless purpose.

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When the poet Virgil wrote the national epic The Aeneid between 29 and 19 BC, all written works and conduits for creative expression were monitored by Roman ruler Augustus Caesar – a real-life contention between passion and control. Throughout the excerpt on pages 139 and 140 of Fagle’s translation (which covers themes such as fate, the gods, and divine intervention, and piety), Virgil explores the underlying theme of conflict between desire and duty, emotion, and reason. Exploring irony, the comparison of Dido and Aeneas’ traits, and pietas being a decision, Virgil shows Aeneas to be a flawed, enigmatic epic Roman hero who personifies the human conflict – passion versus control – of the Aeneid and the Roman empire itself. To begin with, it’s

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Finally, Sinon, who deceived the Trojans into bringing the Trojan horse into their city, is afflicted with an itchy disease that causes him to scratch until it

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Ta-Nehisi Coates, an author and journalist, once wrote “All I know is, the violence rose from the fear like smoke from a fire.” What Coates meant in this quote is that the more afraid somebody becomes the more they turn to violent behavior as they think that solving problems rationally would cause them greater pain than simple violence. As the protagonist in Homer’s epic The Odyssey Odysseus lives many years away from home, naturally growing more and more afraid of the world so his first response to danger becomes pure violence, sometimes necessary and at times unnecessary. Through Odysseus’s actions in The Odyssey the Greek ideal image of how a man should be is shown as he himself suffered little harm, ending up with his wife, son, and all

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In the Bible and Virgil’s The Aeneid, the pursuit of honor and glory is complex, and it does not come without serious consequences and hardships. However, while Jesus and Aeneas both strive to achieve a certain goal due to divine intervention and both overcome certain adversities, their underlying motives and their ultimate outcomes are starkly different. Although it would appear that neither Jesus nor Aeneas would be motivated by personal fame or glory—as they were sent on godly missions, this is not the case in The Aeneid. Jesus acts completely selflessly as he teaches others about the Kingdom of God and how to live their lives, whereas Aeneas is working to win greatness for his ancestors as he was sent by the gods to settle and create an

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Nicole Tschida ENG 210 Paper 1 2-26-18 The Iliad and The Consequences of War The plot of the Iliad takes place in the middle of the war between the Greeks and the Trojans that lasted for ten years. This conflict according to Homer and ancient Greek mythology occurred because the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, the wife of Menelaus, brother to king Agamemnon. In this paper, I will be examining the consequences of war, as outlined by Homer.

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In The Aeneid many conflicts arise and it is constantly. Just the battle scenes alone have numerous counts of external conflict. Moral conflict can be seen between the Gods such as when Juno and Venus decide Dido and Aeneas’s fate. Finally intellectual conflict can be seen when Iarbas hears rumors about Dido and the action he takes. There is one conflict that I would like to focus on and that is Aeneas’ internal conflict.

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If I stay here and fight before the city of Troy, there will be no home- coming for me but my fame shall never die; if I go home to my native land, there will be no great fame for me, but I shall live long and not die an early death.” (Homer 110) This shows that he is selfishness and fearful at the same time of losing and dying in the war. In the very beginning of the Iliad, King Agamemnon and Achilles have an argument for a couple of different reasons. After, the Achians won a battle against a city that was allied with the Trojans each of them received a prize consisted of a young woman from the war.

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Throughout ancient literature, the authors and poets of the time depict their characters in multiple different ways. While some depict their characters as flawed individuals, others paint their characters as perfect, god-like beings who can do no wrong. In no story are the lines between perfect and flawed more skewed than in Virgil’s Aeneid. Virgil shows Aeneas as the perfect hero - the hero destined by the gods to bring the Trojans to Italy, and who fulfills his duty to his people, the gods, and his family before himself. However, due to Aeneas’s human feelings shown many times during the epic, Virgil portrays Aeneas as a flawed character in his grand Roman epic, The Aeneid.

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In many societies, ancient and modern, religion has played an important role in shaping people to pursue their destiny. In books two and four of the Aeneid by Virgil, the Trojans and Aeneas do exactly the same. Through the epic of book II , Aeneas goes on to explaining the war between the Trojans and the Greeks. Book IV focuses on Queen Dido and her deep love for Aeneas and the importance of god 's word to Aeneas, which is problematic for for Dido. Virgil proves how in the Roman culture the Romans put god in front of themselves and what they believe.

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In the epic poem, the Iliad written by Homer, several characters taking part in the warfare between the Achaeans and the Trojans are portrayed as embodying the heroic code of courage, physical strength, leadership, arete of value of honour, and the acceptance of fate. The heroic code is illustrated by the actions of the Trojan prince, Hector and the Achaeans strongest warrior, Achilles. Both of these characters display the Greek’s image of a hero, and can also let the reader discern what the society admires, looks up to and aspires to in its heroes. There are also characters who fail to be heroic, such as the Trojan “vivid and beautiful” prince, Paris. These characters in the Iliad illustrate the qualities that Ancient Greek society values.

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We see this taking place when Achilles is trying to convince Agamemnon to give the girl back to her father. He says in line 150, “We Achaeans will pay you back…if Zeus will grant us the gift, somehow, someday, to raze Troy’s massive ramparts to the ground.” Achilles is offering to repay for his honor later on, when they conquer Troy. Agamemnon refuses again, however, this shows

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In grief Achilles wants to fight Hector for what he did. Hector has two choices, either to fight Achilles or hide behind the walls of Troy. Hector exclainms doubtedly “What shall I do? If I retreat behind these walls, … And now that I have ruined them all by my rashness, I am ashamed to face the men and women of Troy, or some base fellows may say-Hector thought too much of his own strength, and ruined us all!”

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