9/10 Homework

Here are your two questions.  Remember, I'd like you to spend about 10 minutes per question; the first one should be 10 minutes of freewriting--don't pick up your pencil or pen to think, just keep writing.  For the second one you need to craft a thesis.  It only has to be one or two sentences, but spend some time (well, 10 minutes) crafting it.  Carefully consider not only your ideas but the sentence(s) that houses them--choose your words and phrasing carefully.

     1.  What does Virgil want us to see in those last two stanzas?  Are they in line with what he's
          shown us so far in the poem? Explain.

2.  One of the many purposes behind crafting an epic poem is to laud the beliefs, customs and morals of a certain group of people.  This is especially true of The Aeneid, which Virgil penned to celebrate the strength and power of the Roman Empire.  Read the passage below from Book IV, Anchises to Aeneas:

"Others, no doubt, will better mould the bronze
To the semblence of soft breathing, draw from marble
The living countenance; and others plead
With greater eloquence; or learn to measure,
Better than we, the pathways of the heavens,
The rising of the stars; remember, Roman,
To rule the people under law, to establish
The way of peace, to battle down the haughty,
To spare the meek. Our fine arts, these, forever."

            What aspects of Roman culture is Virgil praising; are they truly represented

within his poem?  Explain.