There is a Dangerous Tendency in Superficial Analyses of Virgil’s Aeneid

Reading Passage Question

There is a dangerous tendency in superficial analyses of Virgil’s Aeneid to accuse Virgil of writing the poem as shameless propaganda for Augustus’ recently assumed principate. One must admit that Virgil's decision to write a Homeric epic on the subject of one of Rome's legendary founders, Aeneas, suggests a celebration of both Rome’s origin and the man who reestablished peace and stability in the city after years of civil war. Virgil seems explicitly throughout the poem to connect the beginnings of the Roman people, as embodied by Aeneas and his actions, with the new beginning instituted by Aeneas’ descendant, Augustus. In book 1, Jupiter prophesies to Venus, Aeneas’ mother, that her son's descendants, including Augustus, would rule the world. In Book 6, when Aeneas in the Underworld sees a parade in chronological order of his unbom descendants, Virgil breaks the chronological sequence to juxtapose his description of Augustus directly after his description of Romulus, founder of the city of Rome. In book 8, the central scene of the shield Aeneas receives from the gods depicts Augustus’s victory in the battle of Actium, when he achieves supreme power. Clearly, Virgil seems to be connecting Augustus’ success with the success of Rome's founders, Aeneas and Romulus.

However, Virgil problematizes his hero Aeneas in ways that belie the appearance of propagandizing. For example, Aeneas’ constant attempts to escape his destiny show ambiguity about its optimistic fulfillment in Augustus. Moreover, Aeneas’ abandonment of Dido in book 4 and cold-blooded slaughter of the suppliant Turnus in the final scene of the poem may criticize Augustus’ official program supporting marriage and “family values,” and merciless pursuit and slaughter of his political and military enemies following the Battle of Actium that inaugurated the “Peace of Augustus.” Finally and perhaps most tellingly, an attempt to read the Aeneid as Augustan propaganda cannot account for Virgil's intent when he describes Aeneas’ departure from the Underworld at the end of book 6. Virgil describes two gates through which dreams depart from the Underworld, a gate for true dreams and a gate for false dreams. Aeneas, after seeing the parade of his great Roman descendants culminating in Augustus himself, leaves the Underworld through the gate of false dreams, seeming to nullify the optimistic patriotism that Virgil depicted in the Underworld scene. In glossing over this evidence, many readers unfairly dismiss the Aeneid as political propaganda dressed up as artful poetry.

“There is a dangerous tendency in superficial analyses of Virgil’s Aeneid”- is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and explanation

1. The author of the passage would likely agree with which of the following opinions about the Aeneid?

1. Despite the ambiguities throughout the poem, the first assessment of the poem is correct: the dominating feature is political propaganda.
2. It is no surprise that readers do not respond favorably to a poem like the Aeneid, because its ambiguities make interpretation so difficult. Aeneid creates a complex poem that will reward a careful reader.
3. Despite a surface appearance of patriotic propaganda, the ambiguities of the Aeneid create a complex poem that will reward a careful reader.
4. The Aeneid is very much a product of its time; despite his best attempts Virgil could not escape filling his poem with flattery that will leave a modem reader cold.
5. If modern readers can ignore the heavy-handed political propaganda, they will enjoy the artfulness with which Virgil dresses his poetry.

2. All of the following statements would weaken the argument of the passage EXCEPT:

1. A contemporary of Virgil's, the historian Livy, wrote about Aeneas without allusion to Augustus, and also denounced the decadence of the Augustan era.
2. Modern scholars believe that if Virgil had not died, he would have altered the lines in the Aeneid which describe Aeneas’ departure from the Underworld.
3. Virgil's text suggests that Dido was responsible for her own tragedy, and exonerates Aeneas of any blame.
4. Through the goddess Juno's sudden change of heart from Aeneas’ enemy to his supporter at the end of the Aeneid Virgil reflects the Roman belief that Juno was their enemy until the second Punic War.
5. One scholar has recently theorized that Virgil edited several sections of the Aeneid to create a more favorable portrayal of Aeneas and his descendants.

3. Which of the following conclusions about the accusation that Virgil’s poetry was intended as propaganda in support of Augustus’ rule can be supported by information contained in this passage?

1. Political propaganda is always inconsistent with great art.
2. A careful consideration of the Aeneid should not lead to the conclusion that Virgil intended the work as a wholehearted endorsement of Augustus and his regime.
3. Any poem which makes many direct comparisons between a living politician and an established legendary hero, as the Aeneid does, must be propaganda of some kind.
4. Because Virgil died before he completed the Aeneid, any attempt to assign a final overall intention to the poem must inevitably be flawed.
5. It is safe to assume that Augustus’ restoration of peace was a great motivation for writers, and thus some propaganda was inevitable.

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