Civilization #17: Homer, Vergil, and the War for the Soul of Rome

okay um good morning so um this is going be a very long class today and I'm going to throw a lot information at you okay the reason why is I want to summarize and review what we've learned about Rome so far comparing contrast it to the Greeks and look forward on how Greek on how the Romans and the Greeks will influence development of w civilization including Christianity okay so um I'll be fing a lot at today so if you have any questions please let me know okay if I'm being unclear please let me know all right just raise your hand okay all right so let's review what what we know so far so the Romans and the Greeks are very different civilizations if you remember the Greeks the Greeks um are scattered across the Adan and across the mediterranian okay they have colonies over the place so the Greeks are primarily focused on trade especially with the great empires of um the of the near East okay primarily Egypt um Mesopotamia and Persia okay the three great civilizations that we will discuss um starting next week and so the Greeks have colonies all over uh these three civilizations and as such the RS are able to absorb new ideas pretty easily and because the Greeks are focused on trade Maritime trade there are they are very open-minded people okay so that's Greek civilization the Romans are completely different because they are across the Adriatic in Italy um and they are inland so there are much more insular and conservative people than the Greeks also the Romans have historically been surrounded by very um aggressive people including the the Latins the Sabin the atrians and so Rome has always had to struggle to survive in this very hostile environment and in order to survive they they developed a cultural system that made them the world's greatest military machine okay and the three pillars of this um culture are piety right piety obedience and loyalty to the gods to Rome and to your fathers second principle is the idea of Liberty which puts the nobility at the very heart and center of Roman society um Liberty means no Kings okay no no dictators no tyrants and the third and most important pillar is the idea of repa right the public good the idea here is everyone must sacrifice himself for the honor and Glory of Rome in fact it was a competition you want you want Prestige by winning new territory for Rome okay and this is a great system if you are a poor small nation always at War and under threat from larger Nations so remember in 216 BC Hannibal destroyed every Roman army but at the same time the Romans were able to Rally themselves and ultimately defeat Carthage in the Second Punic War okay so it's a great system if you're a small and poor and Nation always at war with larger uh Nations but this isn't breaks down when you become rich big Empire uh and you're the main major hamon in the area and this system will lead to three major problems in the Roman Republic corruption division right Civil Wars uh the first one between Marius and Sola and then between um Julius Caesar and Pompei and then finally between um Octavian and Mark Anthony okay and also inequality so now the Rome is in crisis and the ultimate resolution to all these problems was um the beginning of the Empire okay the emperor so Octavian became the emperor he he is now known as Augustus Caesar and again what he does is he centralizes all military Authority in his hands Egypt is now his private estate and he uses it to bank Row the Army which is now composed of professional soldiers before they were citizen soldiers so they only volunteered when Rome was at War but now in the Empire there's a professional standing army and they serve for like 20 years or 30 years and they're all paid by one men the emperor through his um land Holdings in Egypt okay he also established something called the ptan Guard the petorian guard is basically the secret police of Rome okay so there are no soldiers in Rome but there are there's a ping guard they're responsible for peace and Security in Rome and they're only responsible to one man okay the emperor so even though but even though Augustus Caesar has conquered Rome and basically most of the world he still has three major problems that he must resolve if he is to be Emperor fully okay the first problem he must solve is the question of legitimacy why is he Emperor and traditionally in the ancient world your legitimately legitimately comes from your family how old is your family how established is your family now there are two uh major myths about the founding of Rome okay the first is Romulus right the first king of Rome the second is Lucius Brutus and the founding of the Roman Republic now Julius Caesar and austa Caesar are not do not come from either of these two myths or families okay so he has to construct a new myth that shows that his family called the julii go way back they go back they go back to before ramulus okay so while he was alive Julius Caesar planted the seeds of this remember Julius Caesar is a great myth maker okay so the myth he came up with is is this there is a man named enas and inas is from Troy right when Troy was destroyed inas was able to escape with some survivors and they came to Italy and they built the foundations that would become Rome okay so in other words ramulus is descended from inas but Julius Caesar is also descended from inas okay so that is how Augustus Caesar will cement his legitimacy by promoting the idea that his ancestor was enas who is the real founder of Rome okay so he's tring a new myth and he's trying to popularize it so it's the first problem he's trying to solve legitimacy the second problem he's trying to Sol is like a new Roman cultural identity okay so remember the old Roman cultural identity was based on piety Liberty and Republica and this creates problems if the emperor because remember Marcus Buddhist and desus Buddhist they thought that they were descendants of sorry they thought they were descendants of L is Buddhist and therefore they had a responsibility to kill all Kings all tyrants and that's why they assassinated um Julius Caesar so you can't allow this cultural identity to exist right because it will encourage other Buddhists to come kill you the emperor so you have to change this you have to get rid of the idea of Liberty and Republic okay you have to promote a new Roman identity focused on obedience okay piety and obedience and then there's a third problem that Augustus Caesar must resolve as Emperor which is this even though the Romans have conquered most of the world okay basically the Mediterranean World culturally it's the Greeks who are dominant because the Greeks have a superior culture they have Homer they have Plato they have fiddies they have iselis okay so all Romans acknowledge the fact that Greek culture is superior and as Romans Embrace Greek culture Augustus Caesar believes they are corrupted okay for Augustus Caesar he believes that Greek culture it is too henis and that's ultimately what happened to Mark Anthony Mark Anthony was this good Roman who went off to Egypt and he became corrupted and seduced by Cleopatra and Greek culture Mark and became more Greek and that that's why he betrayed Rome Augustus Caesar also believe that's why Rome began began descending into Civil Wars because Rome was starting to to embrace Greek culture and it made everyone more individualistic more hidis more selfish and that's why they fought these Civil Wars okay so Augustus Caesar now has to somehow destroy Greek culture or the influence of Greek culture on the Roman soul and he knows the very essence the very basis of Greek culture is Homer especially the Iliad and the Odyssey these two books were essentially the Bible of Greek civilization this is how children were educated when they were young they memorize the ilad and they memorize the Odyssey that's what taught them how to speak well how to think well and how to debate well okay so Augustus Caesar understands that to defeat Homer he needs to have another he needs to create a Roman epic to replace Homer in the schools so he invited a man named Virgil who who at this time is considered um the greatest living Roman poet to write another epic in Latin to replace Homer as a Cornerstone of the education system okay and he wase something called the inad which is really about the Journey of inas as he creates Rome as he founds Rome okay so from 29 BCE until 19 BC for about over 10 years Virgil worked on the inad under direct supervision of Augustus Caesar okay so they basically co-authors Virgil was a poet he was the one who could put the words together but it was a a cesure who had the vision of what the Inc should be and the Inc will accomplish all three of these major challenges it will establish the Primacy of the Judi family as the first family of Rome it will establish a new Roman cultural identity focused on piety over Liberty and it will show that Greek culture is one of corruption and Hedonism and it must be repelled okay so you can make the argument that Virgil's inad is the greatest work of propaganda ever in human history right so that's what I'll will show you today okay to do this what I will do is compare and contrast the ilad and the Odyssey with the India to show you how different the Roman worldview is from the Greek worldview okay so uh before I start on any questions about this framework is this clear to you okay all right so let's start with the ilad okay okay and remember this is very important idea Homer and Virgil are two different individuals okay they're both poets but humer was writing when um Greek civilization was just beginning so he's trying to create the seeds of civilization okay he's trying to be a great teacher virtue is running when Rome is an Empire that is everywhere and everything it's basically God okay so it's trying to um um teach people how to be part of this Empire okay do you understand so so you can argue that Homer is an educator whereas Virgil is a propagandist right okay so um let's talk about the ilad okay so um the first thing is the OT is a very complicated work it's a Universe onto itself with like dozens of characters okay I'm only going to focus on one character Achilles and tell his story okay but but but please be aware um the story I'm telling it is my interpretation there are different interpretations okay but there a one interpretation found within the universe of the ilad okay so the basic story it's very simple Helen is the queen of Sparta married to the King of Sparta menas she is seduced by the prince of Troy named Paris they fall in love and they run off together to Troy menas and his brother EG Menon um they raised an army to uh rescue CH Helen or to retrieve Helen back from the children who refus to give her up and what follows is a 10year Siege of Troy and the Greeks aren't really getting anywhere because Troy it is the um largest city in the world at this time it's a wall City and the Greeks don't know how to break through the Tran walls okay the OT start when Achilles who is the greatest Warrior of the Greeks he gets into a fight with eg Manar they get into a fight and achilles calls aan a dog you insult me I fight for you I will not refuse to fight for you I will let the Trojans kill all of you EG Manon the king um wants to say face so he tells Achilles I don't need you okay but in fact the Greeks do need Achilles because the children have a great warrior named Hector and Hector recognizes that Achilles has retired from the battlefield and Hector leads his Army against the Greeks okay and they push the Greeks so far back the Greeks are now trapped in on their ships by the coast and what Hector wants to do is burn down these ships because if he burns down these ships the Greeks cannot rep cannot resupply themselves and they will eventually die in Troy okay so at this point EGA has no choice but to beg Achilles to return to the battlefield because only Achilles can defeat Hector in battle but Egan Manon doesn't want to lose face so he sends a um a delegation of generals led by a man named adicus to beg Achilles to return to the battlefield okay so adicus goes and sees Achilles on in a ship and adicus says listen Achilles we're dying out here if you don't if you don't fight for us we're going to die um Hector is destroying us if you fight for us EG Manon will give you everything okay all these Treasures we we are promised in Troy will give to you Egon will give you anything you want he'll give you the world and achilles because he's an says no I want EG man to come beg me himself okay so this goes nowhere and EG Manon refuses to come beg so um the children Advance further and further and they're about to burn their ships Petrus see is best friends with Achilles and he sees that Achilles um is conflicted because Achilles wants to jump into the afraid Achilles has a had a prophecy before he came to Troy okay and the prophecy is this he has a choice he either choose to die an old man at home and be a nobody or come to Troy Die Young at battle in the battle and be remembered forever as the greatest champion of the Greeks and for Achilles um that's not a choice because for him as a warrior he loves to fight he he can only achieve udonia in battle okay so for him to S just sit in in in a ship and watch the Greeks King destroy it is the worst punishment on Earth at the same time Achilles he's arrogant he's Vain and he demands egam Manon to come apologize which EG Manon is not gonna do okay EG Manon would rather see the entire Greek army demolish than to apologize to Achilles so pus tells Achilles listen let me jump into the battle to save the ships and achilles says fine I will let you stop the troan advance but do not under any circumstances fight Hector in battle so pus jumps in a battle and he fights the Trojans and then what does he do he fights Hector right and what happens he gets killed Achilles hears what the death of pacas and achilles is so angry at the death of his best friend that for he forgives EG Manon he lets go of his anger EG Manon and directs it at Hector he jumps into battle he challenges Hector to a duel and he kills Hector okay then what he does is he takes Hector Hector's dead body he ties it to his Chariot and then he drags Hector's body around the walls of Troy and on top of the walls of Troy are Hector's parents king prium and queen hecuba and they are screaming in anguish they hate this devil who not only um killed their son Hector but now is now humiliating and mutilating him in front of the entire Tran people okay so at this point you would think that Achilles has achieved immortality he's defeated Hector in battle he saved the Greek army and he'd be very happy but it turns out he falls into a deep depression he cannot sleep he cannot eat all he does is think about Petrus but he's so depressed he can't even cry for petas so this is where Homer is really the first psychologist because achillus is feeling this way because he is wrapped with guilt if you think about it it wasn't Hector who killed petropolis it was ailles who killed petropolis why because petus wouldn't be dead if a achilles not get that stupid fight with eg Manon okay B Achilles just forgave egam Manon when a disis came begging okay and C if ailles did not agree for protus to go into battle okay so without knowing it because because Achilles lacks self-awareness he is trapped by by his guilt over the death of focas and he is sticking out his rage on Hector okay he is supposed to return Hector's body for a ransom to the Trojans because everyone believes at this time that the the dead can only find peace in the afterlife if they're buried okay so for um Achilles to torment Hector's body like this is means that Hector can never find peace in the afterlife his father pram is back in Troy and he can't sleep either because he's depressed over what's happening to his son So eventually the gods broke her a peace deal okay and they tell Prime to go to Achilles and achilles will return the body to uh prior all right so late one night Prime sneaks into the tent and he's standing beh behind Achilles who is busy um discussing uh military matters with his generals now this point pre can take out a knife and stab Achilles to death and he wants to because he's so angry at this man who's killed and mutilated his son Hector instead and this is the genius of Homer okay pram kneels down and K kisses the hand of Achilles the man who has killed his beloved Son and in response Achilles stands and he is in awe of this old man who at this moment has demonstrated more courage more strength than Achilles has ever witnessed okay so in his act of submission pram has emotionally defeated Achilles and achilles is ashamed of himself and by forgiving Achilles Prime allows Achilles to now forgive himself okay does that make sense to you all right and so the two then start to become friends because in the face of prum Achilles sees his father pus and he pies pram for having lost his son and in the face of Achilles Priam sees his son Hector and they both hug and they cry this is the first time that Achilles has been able to cry since the death of petus and these tears release him from the ghost of pus who is haunting him okay and this is how the ilad ends what we've witnessed in the ilad is a character transformation of Achilles from a coldblooded merciless Vain and arrogant Warrior into a man who is capable of pity self-reflection and self forgiveness okay and you can argue that this is a process of civil ization and so the point of the ilad is even though it's about war it's really making the argument that love is the basis of civilization it is what unites us and inspires us love is the unifying force of the universe right even though pram and achilles are the most bitter enemies because of Hector's love for he because of prim's love for Hector and because of ail's love for his father pilas they're able to find common ground and become friends right that's alad does that make sense right so again it is arguably the greatest work of literature in human history and this is only one interpretation there are different interpretations okay but you can see how rich and complex sophisticated the elad is okay it is if by reading it you'll be inspired to reimagine yourself in the world around you that's how powerful it is all right now let's move on to the Odyssey the ilad is about Achilles and his and his transformation into self-awareness The Odyssey is about adicus and unlike um Achilles aesus does not want to go to the children War okay Achilles jumps at the chance to win Glory uh at Troy but ad disas was giv a different was given a prophecy which is this if he goes to Troy he will be gone for 20 years he lives in Ithaca with his wife peni and they just had a newborn son tacus okay and the prophecy is if you go to Troy you'll be gone for 20 20 years 10 years at war in Troy 10 years lost at sea and now this is who loves his family does not want to go to war okay so he pretends to be crazy insane and so what he does is he takes salt and a plow and he plows the field and salts it which kills the field okay so clearly this is a sign of insanity but the Greek soldiers who come to retrieve him are determined to get him because they know that adicus is the most strategic and the wisest of the Greeks he will be the one who will deliver Victory to the Greeks in Troy because adicus will come up with the choan horse strategy right he will he will it is his idea the children horse strategy so they need him so to test him him to see if he's really mad they put his son tacus who's only like six months old in front of him okay so if he's really crazy he would run over his son if he's not crazy then he would stop and obviously he's not going to run over his son okay so his his trick has been revealed and he's forced to go to war and he hates going to war okay but he's determined to win the war for the Greeks the first reason is he believes the Trojans are unjust how dare you steal another man's wife right second reason is he wants to build a legacy for his son tacus right he wants to go home to to Etha and tell his son how what a hero he is okay he wants to build a legacy for his son right the third thing is he wants to reunite the family which is which has been broken right menas and Helen just as he wants to return to his wife it penalty okay so this is what we call his world view the way he understands the world and the worldview is what allows us to be human and to exist right the world view explains to us who we are what do we want and what we should do the problem is after adicus comes up with the children horse they sneak into the City and they open the gates the Greeks come flooding in okay and now it's total bham because the Greeks are killing everyone inside the city aysus kills a chosen Soldier who's attacking him the children Soldier falls to the ground and then suddenly his wife screams at the death of her husband and she comes and sobs at the body of her dead husband okay and this creates something call cognitive dissonance okay con is when the worldview and the reality do not match there's conflict between the reality and the worldview remember adus came to Troy to for justice to build a legacy for his son tamus and to reunite a family and what he's doing now is destroying families the Greeks are just massacring everyone it's not Justice it's just Slaughter it's it's just a it's just complete Mayhem and so what happens is adicus is traumatized by what he sees okay and this is what we call pdsd right post-traumatic stress order and after Troy adicus becomes lost at sea he becomes tra he becomes like a sex slave to a goddess named cypo okay so he's stuck on an island uh for seven years and there's a goddess called CPO who's trapped him and he's basically like a sex slave okay and every day when he's not having sex with kpo which sucks um he's crying on the beach okay he has pdsd and he doesn't want to go home because he's ashamed to face his family he's so ashamed by what's happened in Troy he cannot face his family so he's he's just stuck where he is meanwhile at home Penelope his wife she is waiting for him to return but after some time people think oh this is must be dead so there's about a hundred young men 100 suitors who come and demand her hand in marriage okay but she refused to believe a this is dead so she falls into depression as well right she's waiting for her husband to return but all the signs are that he's dead she's been courted by 100 suitors and she can't say no to any of them because she's afraid her husband is really dead and she she doesn't want to be alone okay so she becomes depressed as well she she becomes paralyzed so she's stuck all right this means that tacus the son is stuck as well and he becomes a depressed teenager nature because if adicus were dead he would inherit his legacy he he could become his own man but this is not dead yet no one knows knows if he's still if he's dead or alive so he's stuck where he is if Penelope were just to marry and go somewhere else he would inherit the property right but she just she just stuck in her room so he's depressed as well so this entire family okay is depressed o this this is depressed Penelope T they're all depressed so they're just stuck there Athena who is the goddess of wisdom okay and she favors adicus aena sees all this from up high Mount Olympus and she pies the family and she resolves to bring the family back together again so she goes and tells clipo hey uh you've had your fun but you have to let you have to let a is go okay so now dis is is free to go home and atha tells o dis is listen um do not when you go home you can tell tamacas who you are but don't tell penel and anyone else who you are because you might be killed okay there's 100 suitors who would kill you if they knew who you were so theena disguises them as a different person as a beggar basically beggar and when I did returns to itha the first thing he wants to know is does peny still love him remember adicus is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder okay he's lost his ability to fight to imagine he's lost his capacity for love so he doesn't even know if his love his if his wife still loves him so um he meets with with penel okay and again he's still disguised penel has no idea who he is and he and he cannot reveal himself to penel but he sees penel is distraught and he tries to comfort penel by telling her that he has seen aysus aysia is still alive penel breaks down in tears at the thought that hband is still alive and then she ask ody Deus how do you know my husband is still alive prove to me that you've met my husband now this it says I will describe something intimate about him okay he has a brooch that he carries on his cloak and this brooch is beautiful and he goes into poetic detail and describes his bro and at this point when peni hears this she breaks down in complete tears because now she knows this beggar must be my husband aysus in Disguise how does he how does she know because only aysus we know all the details of the brooch what is the brooch the brooch is what peny gave aysus as adicus set sell for Troy right it is penel gift to him and and it is a this promised to her that he will return so even though has lost a brooch in war and at Sea the brooch is implanted in his mind The Broach symbolizes his Everlasting Love for penal okay so now that ply knows our this has returned they still have to figure out how to get rid of these 100 suas okay how to kill them because still they're still a threat to the family so peny has this great plan okay she's going to organize an archery contest this has a bowl if the suitter can string the bowl and shoot a Target then pupy will mirror that Suitor so she organizes this competition and all the 100 suitors they fail one by one okay they cannot string the B together then the beggar who is adicus says let me try and the moment he shinks the ball together the suits are afraid because they know this can only be aysus only adicus can string the ball together and use it and then one by one adicus takes his bow and he kills all the suitors what the bow symbolizes is his identity who he is the bowl by Shing together it represents the Resurrection The Shing together of his worldview okay he now remembers that he's a father a hero who fights for justice he fights to protect his family that's who he is really okay and so it is a this story is the power of love to heal trauma after War and again the main message is love is the unifying unifying force of the world it what it is what will heal you it is what will bring people together okay okay so that's thead in the honesty does that make sense and again the argument is love is the basis of civilization it is the thing that makes us human it is what gives us our strength our courage our power okay so um are you clear about the ilen Arts before before I move on to the inad any questions okay let's do the okay so the neither The Iliad or the Odyssey talks about the children horse but the OT the first thing it does is talk about the children horse so the children wake up one day and they find this huge children horse wooden Horse Outside their Gates and most are like this must be a Greek trick let's just burn it down okay but then the cap a Greek Soldier this Greek Soldier is very eloquent with logic and with building with power he he tells a false story of how the Greeks became disheartened by the progress of the war and they decide to sell home and to ensure their safe journey home they built a wooden horse for the Gods to win their favor okay and the story is so moving and so beautiful that TRS believe him okay and they let the children horse in so um the inad is not as subtle as the ilad of theology okay it's it's propaganda so what this is telling us is this the real children horse is Greek culture right logic philosophy and theater okay that's what Greek culture is logic philosophy and theater and that's what the Greek uses in order to manipulate the Trojans to lie to them okay so the message here is if we Romans Embrace Greek culture Embrace logic philosophy and theater then our culture will be destroyed the real children horse is Greek culture therefore we must resisted at all costs so inas wakes up and he finds the city inflames the Greeks are going around massacring everyone okay so inas goes and he tries to save prium he runs to the palace and pram is on his scr and he sees one of his sons being killed by K's son uh Neo tus okay Neo tmus and Prime curses Neo tus and he says your father you insult the honor of your father your father was an honorable man we were friends and then NE neis goes up to Prime and kills him and says my father is dead dad you should join him in the Underworld okay it is a horrific scene okay so what this is telling us again this is not subtle okay there's no place for love friendship and forgiveness that's all a lie it's all just trickery okay only brutality and force will Triumph in the end inas is trying to say Prime but then Prime dies and then he he discovers that hiding somewhere he sees Helen okay and he thinks that Helen is the one responsible for all of this she's a she's a if she just did her duty if she just stay at home where she was supposed to be this war would have started so he really wants to kill her okay in fact he is about to kill her then suddenly a goddess named Venus okay also um so the Romans call her Venus the Greeks call her Aphrodite and she is the mother of inas she appears before her son and says my son you're destined for greater things leave Helen return to your family so enas has no choice but to obey um his mother and he runs home and he sees that his family is fine his son is named julus he's he has a father and a wife and they're fine so he's like okay you guys are fine I'm gonna go and kill some Greeks I'm going to die with the city I'm going to fight unto my dying breath to save my city and the wife and the father are begging him to not go because you are one man against an entire Army you're going to get killed but indias is um stubborn and he's angry right now suddenly Julius here is on fire and there's it's and it's like a Golden Crown okay and the father says you see inas this is a sign this is a sign that your son will be the found of a great Empire okay we know this Empire to be called Rome okay and this is what stops inas from committing suicide it's like okay now I understand it is my duty to save my son my family so he carries his father who is um unable to walk he carries his son and he carries both of them to safety they're looking for ships okay and his wife follows behind behind they get to the ship and he chch around and he discovers his wife has disappeared he goes back and he's discovered that his wife has killed herself why because she knows that in this new world that they're going to she can only be a hendress okay she wants him to embrace the future and let go of the past also she's afraid that if she lives she' be captured and become a slave to the Greeks and she does not want to dishonor uh him like that okay so that's what a good wife is Right H's a bad wife because she's independent and she's looking for love but a good wife is someone who will kill herself for her husband okay so inas um and his people they're on ships and they end up in Carthage and their guest of a queen named ditto and ditto falls in love with enas they get married and enas is very happy in Carthage okay the god look at enas and says hey man we told you this many times but you have a destiny to go to Rome your son will be the founder of a great Empire okay that's the plan that's the destiny that's your mission that's your duty stop foing around in Carthage and do what you're told so car so inas has to go see ditto and say listen I I have to I have to go okay and ditto goes insane because she's in love with inas and she kills herself okay so the message here again this is not subtle okay the message here is love is a disease right love is a disease a plague upon the world it was Helen's love that cost the children war and it was did's love for inas that will cause the war between Carthage and Rome okay because before she dies it'll instructure people to destroy Rome in the future a great city called Rome will arise you the caragan people have a responsibility to honor my memory and Destroy Rome and that's why Hannibal went to attack Rome okay again this is not subtle propaganda inas ends up in Italy like he's supposed to and there uh he meets the local King his name is latinus and he's the king of Latins okay and he is mesmerized stunned by the nobility of enas and he wants his daughter to marry inas but his daughter has already um is already supposed to marry another Prince called ches and this starts a war between inas and chernes and this war goes on for a very long time it's it's like The Iliad and ches kills one of anas's friends okay and he sees that the friend of inas has this really nice belt he takes it for himself and this belt was a gift of from inas to his friend okay eventually inas and chernes get into a duel and inas overpowers chernus and at the very last minute chernus gives up surrenders his sword and begs for mercy and inas wants to show Mercy he's like I beaten you you're no longer a threat I can show some forgiveness okay I can be merciful but then he sees the belt that he gave his friend and he knows chus has killed his friend and so he just plunges his spear into chus and that's how the Indian end ends okay now the Indian is very confusing for Scholars because it's pretty awful and so Scholars have to debated whether or not Virgil was able to finish the inad and the the argument is the ending is too abrupt and therefore Virgil couldn't have finished the um inad okay it's unfinished you think about it it is finished okay because remember in The Iliad we see a character transformation of AES right well we also see a character transformation of enas in this book all right so remember um when Indian sees Howen he really wants to kill her and it took the go and he only stopped because the gods intervene okay remember inas wanted to abandon his family and get killed uh in the streets of Troy the gods have to send him a message okay so another divine intervention remember Indians want to stay at Carthage and be with d so the Greeks had to send a messenger to tell him you can't do that you have to fulfill your destiny and go to Troy sorry and go to Rome okay but at the very end when inas wanted to kill when when when inas wanted to kill chernes the gods didn't have to intervene okay he want to show Mercy to ches and he recognized no my duty is to kill this guy you understand okay so inas has become the embodiment of piety and Duty before the gods had to instruct him to do his duty now he recognizes what his duty is and he Embraces it Okay now what's important for us is to remember that throughout this play oh sorry throughout this book there's the idea of destiny that what enus is doing has been preordained by the gods because the real purpose of inas is to go to Rome so that his son can build the Roman Empire so another ma major message of this book is the end point of history is Augustus Caesar okay everything that H that is happening is to move towards converge to Augustus Caesar because Augustus Caesar will create the Pax Romana what we call the Roman peace which is the idea of Eternal peace peace on Earth remember that before go to Caesar there there all these civil wars that were killing millions of people right well after gu Caesar became emperor there is now the P Roma Eternal peace on Earth and this is the end point of History the Roman Empire will mean there will no longer be any wars there will no long be any conflicts why because what the Roman Empire will do is transition us from love to piety okay Homer believed that love is a base of civilization what the Roman Empire will show is is that piety is the basis of civilization love is the force that comes from within you okay it grows within you within but piety is what is told to you okay it is what you must accept love is what you can feel love is the Embrace of your emotions piety means the rejection of your emotions don't listen to your feelings listen to what you are told by embracing your emotions you have imagination okay but piety believes imagin imagination is destructive what matters is stability and harmony okay stability stability and obedience is what will give peace to the world okay so for Homer love is the UN unifying force of the universe but for Virgil love is the force that creates conflict in the universe right think of Helen think of ditto for humor the imagination is the animating force of the universe it is what gives life but for Virgil the imagination is the destructive force of the universe it is what destroys is basically you disobey that creates chaos and conflict and so we now have have a transition from the Greek world to the Roman world is focus on piety what vers is trying to create is the idea of Eternity right eternity something that lasts forever what homework trying to create is the idea of infinity how we can create the world through our our actions and emotions okay in the PX Roma and our caar all you have to do is obey and the world will be perfect we have come to the end of History history has stopped because we have found the perfect we have found Perfection we have found the perfect model to organize human civilization we are the Perfection we are the end okay and so this is the idea of Roman Roman eternity and this marks a radical transition in westernization okay does that make sense any questions one last point is this okay um the Romans were like the most non-creative people in the world okay they were anti-c creative so everything that they had they show from somewhere else somewhere else okay so the question then is Where do they get the idea of Eternity from can you guess Egypt okay next class I will show you it's the that the Romans are using the Egyptian sense of Eternity all right okay so um I know this is a lot to take in so feel free to ask for clarification of any points okay are you okay with with with this sure well they well I guess Caesar wants some reject culture but they can reject Greek culture because it's so powerful right so okay so this lecture is not about what Will H what happens in reality this lecture is about um the new conception of reality as introduced by the Roman Empire okay but eventually this will become the new reality but it will take time okay okay so um looking ahead the Romans will introduce a new idea that will make piety and obedience the Cornerstone of society okay um this idea is C cristianity okay looking ahead right I like this is not happening right right now because the Roman um conception is not as appealing as a Greek conception okay but eventually the Romans will create a new religion called Christianity that will dominate and make piety the Cornerstone of society and um civilization okay but looking ahead any questions okay so next class we will um discuss Egypt