Virgil’s Commedia has a strong religious connotation in the work.  The concept of heaven, hell and purgatory would not be appealing to someone of secular or irreligious identity.  Although that may be the case, the work has several appealing aspects to those who fall into the secular category.  Heaven, hell and purgatory may be applied to everyday life and present as a metaphor to many things happening in our life.  For example, purgatory may represent our loss in life, pertaining not to death but rather to loss of self in the world or ones life.  Hell may represent all the bad that a person may have done and wants to which may lead to darkness in the their life.  Heaven of course may represent clean intentions and the good a person may bring to others and him or herself.  The work as well can teach a bout life in general.  Virgil illustrates stories of those who are in each zone and it can be appealing to the readers to see what kind of actions people commit that may cause consequences in their life.  Not religious consequence, but a problem that they may encounter.  Virgil’s work as well can serve as a time machine to study what was viewed as wrong and right in his time compared to what we view in society now.  The work teaches about life overral making the work be appreciated by anyone of any belief.

It is interesting how much thought and detail is placed into defining love by those at the dinner.  All parties present seemed to feel that love much serve a bigger purpose to the lovers. Phaedrus believes that love should teach shame and pride.  Pausanias believes that love should make one good and wise, and he feels very upset that love is discriminating in attraction because it is attraction to the body not the mind.  Eryximachus stated that love is a balance and a sort of order in life that may appear anywhere.  What is interesting is how all the participants state a piece of their idea that if combined may create the definition of love.  However, maybe defining love is something that should be undefined.

What is the role of prophecies and/or fate in The Aeneid?

In this epic, Aeneas was aware of his fate and destiny.  The gods had made it clear that Aeneas has a specific path to Italy.  The prophecies that were displayed in this epic drove Aeneas to his actions and his life.  Life became chartered for Aeneas and he followed it without complaint.  Even when Dido asked him to stay because of her undying love for him, he left her and because it was the will of the gods and he had no free will in place.  This shows how much Aeneas allowed the gods and their prophecy to rule over him.