Be Warned and Study Justice:The Shifting Definition of Justice in Virgi

Be Warned and Study JusticeThe Shifting explanation of Justice in Virgils AeneidA twenty-first century practice of the Iliad and the Odyssey will highlight a seeming lack of justness hundreds of men die because of an adulteress, the most honorable characters are killed, the cowards survive, and everyone eventually goes to hell. Due to the inconsistency in the while period, culture, prominent religions and values, the modern idea of justice is lots different than that of Greece around 750 B.C. The idea of justice in Virgils the Aeneid is easier for us to recognize. As in our own culture, justice in the epic is found on a system of punishment for wrongs and rewards for honorable acts. Time and time again, Virgil provides his readers with examples of justice in the lives of his characters. Interestingly, the meaning of justice in the Aeneid transforms when applied to sentence and the actions of the gods. Unlike our modern (American) idea of blind, immutable Justice, the me anings and effects of justice shift, depending on whether its subject is mortal or immortal.Before discussing justice in the epic, it is most-valuable to establish the meaning of the term. For our present purpose, justice will specifically enforce to the social system of moral checks and balances. Acts that are valued in familiarity are rewarded materially or emotionally. Acts that are devalued lead to punishment. Also, recipients of undeserved punishment receive compensation for their injuries. Often, a person is seen as the conformation of the value of their action, thus a person can be seen as good or bad, and the consequences of justice that affect them are based on the general value of their general actions. The value given to actions is based on a soc... ...are confronted with the question of moral absolutes, we are forced to wonder when and to whom justice truly applies. Hopefully, we will look at our world and our ideas of right, wrong and revenge in different w ays, ways that will enlighten and enrich our lives, and the those of the an hearing of readers 2,000 years from now. Works CitedBraund, Susanna Morton. Virgil and the Cosmos Religious and Philosophical Ideas. The Cambridge Companion to Virgil. Charles Martindale, ed. Cambridge Cambridge UP, 1997. 204-221.Solmsen, Friedrich. The instauration of the Dead in Book 6 of the Aeneid. Oxford Readings in Vergils Aeneid. S. J. Harrison, ed. mod York Oxford UP, 1990. 208-223.Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York Vintage Books, 1983.Williams, Gordon. Technique and Ideas in the Aeneid. New Haven, Ct Yale UP, 1983.