stylistic:style_transfer, structural:scholar_edition
Propaganda

Written during the reign of Augustus, the Aeneid presents the hero Aeneas as a strong and powerful leader. The favourable representation of Aeneas parallelsAugustus in that it portrays his reign in a progressive and admirable light, and allows Augustus to be positively associated with the portrayal of Aeneas. Although Virgil's patron Maecenas was obviously not Augustus himself, he was still a high figure within Augustus' administration and could have personallybenefitted from representing Aeneas in a positive light.

In the Aeneid, Aeneas is portrayed as the singular hope for the rebirth of the Trojan people. Charged with the preservation of his people by divine authority, Aeneas is symbolic of Augustus' own accomplishments in establishing order after the long period of chaos of the Roman civil wars. Augustus as the light of savior and the lasthope of the Roman people is a parallel to Aeneas as the savior of the Trojans. This parallel functions as propaganda in support of Augustus, as it depicts the Trojan people,future Romans themselves, as uniting behind a single leader who will lead them out of ruin:

New refugees in a great crowd: men and women Gathered for exile, young-pitiful people Coming from every quarter, minds made up, With their belongings, for whatever lands I'd lead them to by sea.

Later in Book 6, Aeneas travels to the underworld where he sees his father Anchises, who tells him of his own destiny as well as that ofthe Roman people. Anchises describes how Aeneas' descendant Romulus will found the great city of Rome,which will eventually be ruled by Caesar Augustus:

Turn your two eyes This way and see this people, your own Romans. Here is Caesar, and all the line of Iulus, All who shall one day pass under the dome Of the great sky: this is the man, this one, Of whom so often you have heard the promise, Caesar Augustus, son of the deified, Who shall bring once again an Age of Gold To Latium, to the land where Saturn reigned In early times.

Virgil writes about the fated future of Lavinium, the city that Aeneas will found, which will in turn lead directly to thegolden reign of Augustus. Virgil is using a form of literary propaganda to demonstrate the Augustanregime's destiny to bring glory and peace to Rome. Rather than use Aeneas indirectly as a positive parallelto Augustus as in other parts of the poem, Virgil outright praises the emperor in Book 6, referring to Augustus as a harbinger for the gloryof Rome and new levels of prosperity.