#classics shitpost

While Virgil draws inspiration from Homer, the Shield of Aeneas and Shield of Achilles stand apart in appearance and symbolism.

In Achilles’s, it shows the cosmos (earth, sky, sea, sun, moon, constellations) being balanced by peace and violence.

We see human life all at once: labor as the fields are plowed for the harvest, animal herds are tended; but there’s violence—lions tearing a bull, a child mourning a failed vineyard.

And still, even with brutality, there’s beauty like music, dancing, and celebration that make living feel the most alive.

Both sides exist together, and neither can replace the other.

When Thetis told Achilles her prophecy, he was given a choice: he can live a long life filled with moments that give meaning, or a short one at Troy, where his death will give him eternal glory.

He chooses Troy, and although he rejects the world the shield showed him, it will still go on without him.

But the Shield of Aeneas is different. It doesn’t show the world as it is, but rather what it becomes.

We see Romulus and Remus being fed by the she-wolf; war and reconciliation with the Sabines; religion and justice defining their people; punishment for betrayed loyalty; fight for freedom; the Battle of Actium.

In the end, Rome wins. Its enemies fall. 

Augustus triumphs, and the nation rises to its summit as the world turns toward it.

Unlike Achilles, Aeneas won’t leave a world unchanged. While he doesn’t fully understand it, the shield makes one thing clear:

Everything that comes is because of him.

For Achilles, he rejected the world and a life that gives meaning.

"Oh domus ends in -us so it must be 2nd declension masculine"

OBJECTION