Steering or Veering?

“Do the gods light this fire in our hearts or does each man’s mad desire become his god?” (9.272). In The Aeneid, we are presented with this thought provoking sentence. It’s so artfully phrased, and I will tell you that I have pondered multiple topics I could broach with this one sentence. But one that shines brightest in my mind being whose desire is taking control in this text? Do the gods influence the humans actions or do the humans have control over their own actions? The answer is yes, yes they do. I know what you’re thinking, Erin you didn’t pick a side! Well readers, that is the basis of my essay, I believe that the gods have control over the people and the people have control over themselves. Both having control some of the time, but not all of the time.

Evidence shows time and again that the gods do at least attempt to control the show. Just as in when Aeneas was commanded to part with Dido and pursue his fate to found Rome. The text says, “The King of gods, whose power sways earth and sky- he is the one who sends me down from brilliant Olympus, bearing commands for you” (4.136). The word “commands” alludes to Aeneas being forced into action by a god and having no control. Another example from the text being, Juno employing the help of The Fury, Allecto. Her mission is to cause chaos, so she goes to Turnus hoping to slip thoughts of bad will toward Aeneas and the Trojans into his mind. When Turnus retaliates against her, she becomes aggressive as seen in “I brandish war and death in my right hand.// With that she flung a torch at the prince and drove it home in his chest to smoke with a hellish black glare” (7.228). Turnus is depicted as showing signs of true illness and possibly going mad shortly after said occurrence with Allecto. Then a few lines later the text says “He burns with lust for the sword, the cursed madness of war /and rage to top it off.” (7.228). I find Turnus’ sudden thirst for war and bloodshed to be fascinating because only hours before he appears to not show a care in the world about the rumors of Aeneas’ and Lavinia’s marriage. It is shown in the text “Turnus, dead to the world, lay fast asleep..” (7.227). That being said, while reading over when Allecto says that she holds “war” I only thought it a dramatization of Allecto stating her powers, but then after Turnus has been driven mad the text says “the cursed madness of war.” (7.228) While this may simply be a coincidence and Virgil means nothing by it, I can’t help but see the connection and perceive it as yet another sign that Turnus had no control over his actions.

In contrast there are times when it appears that the humans do have control over their actions and are living day to day life based on what they want. One example being when Aeneas stayed with Dido for a period of time and even seemed to be making plans of building the Trojans new home there. As seen in “You, so now you lay foundation stones for the soaring walls of Carthage! Building her gorgeous city,” (4.136). Another time the Trojans seem to be in control of their actions is, meeting with Acestes and eventually leaving a large amount of his people to build a new home called Acesta. In the text it says, “The old men who are bent with age, the women sick of the sea, ones who are feeble, ones who shrink from danger, let them have their walls within this land. If he lends his name, they’ll call the town Acesta.” (5.176). I will admit that both these happenings are not attention grabbing details, but the fact that the humans were in control of their own journey for even a small amount of time is a “big deal” one might say as they seem to be the pawns in a game the gods play and also have a course set for them by Fate. How are they to ever have any control other than in these small moments?

While they seem to not have ultimate control on the final destination, I do sway towards the side of believing they do have some control over their journey and how they reach the end of said journey. However, if the humans veer off the path the gods believe they belong on, they will intervene and make sure that they steer back to said path and complete the tasks set before them. While some of the time the gods intervention was needed for Aeneas and the Trojans to fulfill their fate just as in when Aeneas had to leave Dido, I believe other times the gods intervention was not helpful to them reaching the end of their journey. Juno plays the lead role in this evil intervention of her’s, almost all of the time in the text when Juno concocts a plan, she is working to veer the humans off their journey. The answer to the question to who is in control of the journey: the humans or the gods? Can be answered by thinking, “Are they steering or are they veering?”. This can be asking of the humans or the gods and while it does not answer the question of who is in control, it can help you decide why the gods might have intervened or why the humans decided to try and take control of their life.