History YMMV / TheAeneid

** The phrase "The Arms and The Man" (the [[LiteraryAllusionTitle title of a Shaw play]]) is from the first sentence of the epic and the memorable line translated as something like "going to hell is easy; it's getting back which is the hard part" might be considered the origin of the phrase ToHellAndBack.

** Aeneas in the Underworld, where he meets the ghosts of the past, is often cited by alter authors for its WorldBuilding (i.e. exit either via Gates of Horn and Ivory) and the moment where Jupiter comes and promises Aeneas that he, and the Trojans would become the Romans and finally inherit an empire without end.

** Aeneas. When he's introduced, he's ''bawling his eyes out'' over the threat of immediate death by drowning (mainly because they were doing so well immediately before Juno convinced Aeolus to whistle up that storm). Of his massive family, 95% are either dead or enslaved; his home is gone; every place he tried to settle turned out to be totally unsuitable; he finds love, but a divine messenger orders him to dump Dido; yet more hardships of travel ensue; his new friend dies... Yeah, he's having a bad time.
** Dido is also portrayed quite sympathetically. She was betrayed by her own brother, who murdered her husband, and when she thought she had found happiness again, the gods literally decreed she wasn't allowed to keep it. (It helps that Aeneas's arguments during their final scenes together are not as good as he's usually able to muster, which suggests that ''he'', and by extension Vergil, knows he screwed up.)

** In the 19th century the book was commonly interpreted as being about the glories and costs of imperialism, with Aeneas considered as a model empire-builder who continually suppresses his own personal desires for the greater glory of founding the Roman empire. But in the 20th century, which was marked by massive population displacement, it's been reinterpreted by a critic such as George Steiner as being about homelessness, with the Trojans considered as refugees displaced by the Greek sacking of Troy.

* MemeticMutation: "[T]imeō Danaōs et dōna ferentīs." ("I fear the Greeks even bearing gifts.") Often rendered as "Beware Greeks bearing gifts."

** The difference makes sense as by Virgil's time, Greeks are targets of vilification (for example the infamous line "timeo Danaos et dona ferentis" - I fear Greeks even bearing gifts). Demonizing the famous Greek leaders also makes the Trojans look better. Though interestingly enough, Diomedes, the guy who kicked Aeneas as in the ''Literature/{{Iliad}}'' is portrayed in a positive light.

** The difference makes sense as by Virgil's time, Greeks are AcceptableTargets (for example the infamous line "timeo Danaos et dona ferentis" - I fear Greeks even bearing gifts). Demonizing the famous Greek leaders also makes the Trojans look better. Though interestingly enough, Diomedes, the guy who kicked Aeneas as in the ''Literature/{{Iliad}}'' is portrayed in a positive light.

* EvilIsCool: Later Italian authors and readers tend to admit that they find the antagonists or the bad guys more interesting -- Camilla of the Vosci, Mezentius, Dido of Carthage and Turnus.

** The most difficult one is Helen. In one scene, she's suffering a [[BreakTheCutie total breakdown]]. In another, she's gleefully killing Trojans. It's possible to reconcile the two, but there's such a disparity that it may be one of the incomplete pats.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Virgil justifies the Trojans falling for the Trojan Horse so that they wouldn't go into the story looking like moronic losers, complete with the Trojan who vociferously argues against it, to the point of ''attacking the horse'' but whom the gods then strike down (along with his two children).[[note]]Elements of this go as far back as the lost ''[[Literature/TheTrojanCycle Sack of Ilion]]'', though there the death of Laocoon occurred ''after'' the Trojans decided to bring the TrojanHorse into the city, and his death was the portent that caused Aeneas to leave Troy with his companions.[[/note]] Virgil also stresses the fact that they kept Troy safe for over a decade and only lost by underhanded trickery.

** The same goes for Odysseus, who is presented in the ''Aeneid'' as more of a slimy trickster than a hero. In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Odysseus is a hero precisely because he is a slimy trickster but that attitude did not fly to a Roman audience.
** The most difficult one is Helen. In one scene, she's suffering a [[BreakTheCutie total breakdown]]. In another, she's gleefully killing Trojans. It's possible to reconcile the two, but there's such a disparity that it may be one of the [[AuthorExistenceFailure incomplete]] parts (see below).

** Mezentius's [[NayTheist refusal to worship the gods]] is supposed to make him look like a monster. Instead it makes him look like a badass.
** As a result of AuthorExistenceFailure, the finale where Aeneas kills Turnus and the story abruptly stops is regarded by some as a HeWhoFightsMonsters moment. Where Aeneas despite being noble and driven by Gods finally proves himself to be as brutish as common soldiers and his enemies.

* SeasonalRot: The epic contains twelve books, and a common opinion is that the quality declines sharply after Book VI. Whereas the escape from Troy, the episode in Carthage, and the trip to the underworld are classic and well-remembered, everything inbetween the underworld and Turnus is often thought to be filler. It's not surprising that the AP exam on Virgil usually favors the scenes from the first six books. See also VanillaProtagonist below.

* VanillaProtagonist: Critics note that Aeneas' characterization kind of dies after the visit to the underworld, and that the final part dealing with the arrival of the Trojans to Italy is more a series of vignettes about other characters who are more colourful than Aeneas. Some critics even feel that this is one reason why Virgil never finished the Aeneid and why he, according to myth, said that it should be burnt. He struggled to make Aeneas interesting and so strung together vignettes to fill space for his epic.

* PropagandaPiece: The poem was more or less state propaganda promoted by UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} to link the emerging and brand-new UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire with antique origins. It deliberately aimed to displace Remus and Romulus (the popular founders of Rome) with Aeneas. The Julio-Claudian family of which Augustus was a descendant claimed descent from the Trojans and the Goddess Venus, both origins linked Augustus and Caesar to Aeneas, thereby creating a continuity of the ruling family with their ancestors, and insisting that the foundations of Rome were imperial rather than republican. Aeneas likewise embodies virtues more amenable to Augustan Roman: piety, family honor, stoicism, differing from the more capricious and earthy nature of the Homeric attitude.
--> '''Jupiter''': His ego nec metas rerum nec tempora pono;\\
Imperium sine fine dedi.\\
["For these I set no limits, world or time,\\
But make the gift of empire without end"].\\
Lines 278–279 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)

* DracoInLeatherPants: Later Italian authors and readers tend to admit that they find the antagonists or the bad guys more interesting -- Camilla of the Vosci, Mezentius, Dido of Carthage and Turnus.

** There's also Vergil's description of Dido re-discovering love as re-kindling "an old flame." (Though the 'flame' is her sexual feelings more generally rather than a passion for a specific former lover, as it is usually used in English.)

** Aeneas. When he's introduced, he's ''bawling his eyes out'' over the threat of immediate death by drowning (mainly because they were doing so well immediately before Juno convinced Aeolus to whistle up that storm). Of his massive family, 95% are either dead or enslaved; his home is gone; every place he tried to settle turned out to be totally unsuitable; he finds love, but a divine messenger orders him to dump Dido; yet more hardships of travel ensue; his new friend dies...Yeah, he's having a bad time.

** The scene where Aeneas sees the mural of the Trojan War in Carthage and states, "sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt" ("The world is a world of tears, and the burdens of mortality touch the heart" -- Translated by Robert Fagles) more often shortened as "Lacrimae Rerum" and colloquially paraphrased as "these are the tears of things". This scene comes very early in the poem, in Book 1 around lines 400 and it is generally considered one of the most emotional an touching moments in antiquity, since it has Aeneas mourning about his Trojan people are gone forever with only a mural left to commemorate them.

* NintendoHard: Translating it, especially for students that have just come off prose. Vergil's poetic endings, word order (or lack thereof), and figurative language can be quite annoying. AuthorExistenceFailure also leads to some incomplete lines, making translation even more difficult.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: An inter-book example. Aeolus is seen in both ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' and ''Literature/TheAeneid''. In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', he is seen as a splendid guy with a fertile kingdom -- in the ''Aeneid'' he is seen as a jerk in a hollow barren cave, who screws over Aeneas for an arranged marriage with one of Juno's nymphs.

* FlatCharacter: Critics note that Aeneas' characterization kind of dies after the visit to the underworld, and that the final part dealing with the arrival of the Trojans to Italy is more a series of vignettes about other characters who are more colourful than Aeneas. Some critics even feel that this is one reason why Virgil never finished the Aeneid and why he, according to myth, said that it should be burnt. He struggled to make Aeneas interesting and so strung together vignettes to fill space for his epic.

** Aeneas. When he's introduced, he's ''bawling his eyes out'' over the threat of immediate death by drowning. He gets more pathetic from there, possibly changing once he gets to Italy.
** Dido is also portrayed quite sympathetically. Turnus skirts this during the parts when Virgil describes how he is doomed to die, and when one remembers that he didn't initially want the war at all and only got involved because of Juno and Allecto's manipulations.

* FlatCharacter: Critics note that Aeneas' characterization kind of dies after the visit to the underworld, and that the final part dealing with the arrival of the Trojans to Italy is more a series of vignettes about other characters who are more colourful than Aeneas. Some critics, even feel that this is one reason why Virgil never finished the Aeneid and why he, according to myth, said that it should be burnt. He struggled to make Aeneas interesting and so strung together vignettes to fill space for his epic.

** The same goes for Odysseus, who is presented in the ''Aeneid'' as more of a slimy trickster than a hero.

** Mezentius's [[NayTheist refusal to worship the gods]] is supposed to make him look like a monster. Instead it makes him look like a {{Badass}}.

* DesignatedHero: One of the reasons why the book sells less well than the ''Literature/TheIliad'' or ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' is that modern readers often consider Aeneas to be this.

* FlatCharacter: Critics note that Aeneas' characterization kind of dies after the visit to the underworld, and that the final part dealing with the arrival of the Trojans to Italy is more a series of vignettes about other characters who are more colourful than Aeneas. Some critics, even feel that this is one reason why Virgil never finished the Aeneid and why he, according to myth, said that it should be burnt. He struggled to make Aeneas interesting and so strung together vignettes to fill space for his epic.