>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mon Oct 19 17:15:52 1998 >Received: ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) by wilsoninet.com (8.8.5) id RAA21591; Mon, 19 Oct 1998 17:09:59 -0600 (MDT) >X-Authentication-Warning: wilsoninet.com: Host f77.hotmail.com [207.82.250.183] claimed to be hotmail.com >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >X-Originating-IP: [207.103.78.22] >From: "Shannon Merlino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: VIRGIL: Virgil's religion or lack of >Content-Type: text/plain >Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 19:09:22 EDT >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To Whom it may Concern: > Recently in my Latin class I was involved in a discussion of Virgil's >'piety' or lack thereof. I was told that despite his traditional use of >the divine/supernatural in his works, Virgil, much like many of the >patricians of the time, was not very religious at all and hardly >believed in the Roman gods at all-a near-atheist, if you will. I >disagreed- am I correct in this? Surely Virgil, had he not been a >devout Roman or even one with a marginal belief of the gods, would not >have "stuck to tradition" and composed an epic glorifying Aeneas among >others for their purely terrestrial endeavours? Please let me know what >you think- > Shannon Merlino
Shannon, you're going to have to be very careful when you use the English word 'piety' in this context because the Roman concept of 'pietas' is not the same as the related word (which has picked up many connotations and is often coupled with 'religious' or moral piety). The Roman concept of pietas has much to do with the carrying out of certain obligations to family, country, and also religion. This is deffinately a crucial issue for Aeneas throughout the Aeneid. Aeneas is 'pious Aeneas' not because he closes his eyes when he prays, but because he fulfills his duties to family, country, and with ritual observance of religion. One must also remember that "believing" in religion and carrying out the duties and obligations may be totally separate things, an oversight many people make. Stephanie Spaulding > >______________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. >Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message >"unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You >can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
