Pleasure In Aeneid

Throughout the Aeneid, an epic poem written by Virgil, depicts a complex view of the idea of pleasures and how they affect one’s soul. Virgil believes that pleasure is a significant distraction for human beings as it leads them astray from their duties and responsibilities. Even though pleasures bring good to humans, they come with many consequences that are conveyed throughout the poem. Aeneid’s opinions on pleasure seem to benefit Plato’s views on pleasure because they both believe that it can lead them away from pursuing the ultimate goal in life which is happiness. Throughout the poem, Aeneid illustrates his opinions on forms of pleasure that can interfere with one’s goal of happiness in the human life, such as the pleasure of love and

For Aeneas, the pleasure of love and desire seems to test him often throughout the poem. When Aeneas stumbles upon the city of Carthage, he is introduced to Dido who is initially drawn to by her charm and the pleasure of love that she offers him. However, he knows that his fate is calling him to Rome but gets distracted by her beauty. On the other hand, Dido, the queen of Carthage, finds herself in love with "Troy’s Commander” (Aen.4.208). She claims that Aeneas is the one for her and believes that he will protect not just her but the city of Carthage. Virgil claims that their love brought much joy and happiness to both of them, which ultimately brought pleasure upon them. Nevertheless, Aeneas is reminded to be aware of his duties of bringing his troops to Rome and that he simply got distracted by the pleasure of love. When Dido finds out of Aeneas departure, unable to accept the pain, she is enraged and soon ends her life shortly after by “suffering the pain of love” (Aen.4.9). This shows that the pleasure of love can bring happiness to one’s soul but can also bring destruction as well. Because of Dido’s desire towards Aeneas, she neglected her duties as the queen of Carthage

However, he does communicate that pleasure was not necessarily an end in itself, but rather a secondary of virtues and pursuing the ultimate goal of human life. He seemed to view pleasure negatively and thought it was only a distraction for human beings. He believes that in order for humans to have a complete life they need to achieve happiness and fulfillment of virtues. However, he emphasizes that pleasure seems to distract humans from that fulfillment which goes along with the opinions of Aeneid. He thinks that false happiness comes from pleasures because they are false desires that often lead to pain or suffering. In the context of the Aeneid, the pleasures that were expressed in the poem, such as the pleasure of love and the pleasure of conquest seem to not have much of a conflict with Plato’s opinions because he also believed that they led them astray to their destinies and goals in the human life. Plato prominently believes that humans should focus on fulfilling and abiding in values such as courage, justice and wisdom. In the Republic, he emphasizes how crucial these values are to a human life. Moreover, Plato illustrates the importance of having these virtues and goals in order to pursue a higher ideal. Even though Plato acknowledges the significance of pleasure in one’s life, he believes that it will negatively affect the focus of humans in their