For me, one of the most poignant moments in literature is in the second book of the Aeneid, when Aeneas is desperately searching for his wife on the streets of burning Troy. Troy has fallen. Hector, the late son of King Priam, appears to Aeneas to tell him to get out: “Hostis habet muros,” the enemy holds the walls, Troy has fallen from its great height. Aeneas’s reaction is to fight, not to flee, but he can’t prevent the inevitable. All he accomplishes is to witness the death of Priam by the hand of Achilles’s brutal son Pyrrhus, who had killed Priam’s son in front of the beaten King. Ultimately, the pleading of his wife and a sign from heaven convince Aeneas of what he must do. He carries his aging father Anchises and the penates, or household gods, and holds his young son Ascanius at his side. He tells Creusa, his wife, to follow, and they flee the city together. Except that when they get to the gates, Aeneas notices that Creusa is no longer with them.
Aeneas Searches for his Lost Wife
Aeneas Searches for his Lost Wife
Aeneas Searches for his Lost Wife
For me, one of the most poignant moments in literature is in the second book of the Aeneid, when Aeneas is desperately searching for his wife on the streets of burning Troy. Troy has fallen. Hector, the late son of King Priam, appears to Aeneas to tell him to get out: “Hostis habet muros,” the enemy holds the walls, Troy has fallen from its great height. Aeneas’s reaction is to fight, not to flee, but he can’t prevent the inevitable. All he accomplishes is to witness the death of Priam by the hand of Achilles’s brutal son Pyrrhus, who had killed Priam’s son in front of the beaten King. Ultimately, the pleading of his wife and a sign from heaven convince Aeneas of what he must do. He carries his aging father Anchises and the penates, or household gods, and holds his young son Ascanius at his side. He tells Creusa, his wife, to follow, and they flee the city together. Except that when they get to the gates, Aeneas notices that Creusa is no longer with them.