4. What should Nisus have done after Eurylus is captured? He throws his life away needlessly… What does this show about battle fury?
The smart thing for Nisus to have done would have been to not jump into the battle after Eurylus. Going in, he probably knew that there was no hope of saving his friend, yet he throws himself in the line of fire anyway. At first thought this seems like a foolish and rash thing to do, but put in Nisus’ situation, I’m sure many of us would have reacted in the same way. Maybe he knew that he and Eurylus would not make it out alive, but he thought that death would be much better than living without his companion. This is an entirely understandable and universal theme. It is also illustrated in the tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Sometimes life is not worth living if you can not live with the ones you love.
6. Virgil’s comment on the role of the gods and destiny.
Obviously, the gods play a huge role in determining the fate of many of the main characters in this epic. They are the puppeteers who control the lives and actions of the heroes and heroines based on the destiny they have chosen for them. Aeneas’ fate is always in the back of his mind, controlling his thoughts and decisions. If the gods had had no power over these characters then the story would have ended completely differently. Maybe Aeneas would have stayed in Carthage with Dido… who knows. However, the gods take charge and ultimately determine the outcome of their lives. Virgil allows us to form our own opinions about the various gods, and whether their role in the poem is a good or a bad thing is up to us.
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Final Virgil Journal
6/11/07
4. What should Nisus have done after Eurylus is captured? He throws his life away needlessly… What does this show about battle fury?
The smart thing for Nisus to have done would have been to not jump into the battle after Eurylus. Going in, he probably knew that there was no hope of saving his friend, yet he throws himself in the line of fire anyway. At first thought this seems like a foolish and rash thing to do, but put in Nisus’ situation, I’m sure many of us would have reacted in the same way. Maybe he knew that he and Eurylus would not make it out alive, but he thought that death would be much better than living without his companion. This is an entirely understandable and universal theme. It is also illustrated in the tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Sometimes life is not worth living if you can not live with the ones you love.
6. Virgil’s comment on the role of the gods and destiny.
Obviously, the gods play a huge role in determining the fate of many of the main characters in this epic. They are the puppeteers who control the lives and actions of the heroes and heroines based on the destiny they have chosen for them. Aeneas’ fate is always in the back of his mind, controlling his thoughts and decisions. If the gods had had no power over these characters then the story would have ended completely differently. Maybe Aeneas would have stayed in Carthage with Dido… who knows. However, the gods take charge and ultimately determine the outcome of their lives. Virgil allows us to form our own opinions about the various gods, and whether their role in the poem is a good or a bad thing is up to us.
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