Aeneid Books IX-X

I’m amazed at the similarities between this part of The Aeneid and The Iliad. Virgil explores the costs of war and its effect upon society. Several passages struck me. When Euryalus’ mother discovers her son has died on the battle field in book 9, she openly mourns her loss. Euryalus was “the only balm” or comfort of his mother in his later years (line 551). She fears his corpse will be mutilated and devoured by dogs and birds (line 556). She wishes she could have prepared the body for burial, and is grieved at the thought of his mutilated corpse. The war left behind mothers, wives, and children. Like Homer, Virgil reminds us of this.
Shortly thereafter in the same book, Numanus is taunting the Trojans. His jeers and insults break my heart. His culture has been bred to be warriors. They do not appreciate the humanities. The children are toughened up in “bitter icy streams” (line 687). The boys spend their childhood “up all night, hunting, scouring the woods” (line 688). The youth become “calloused by labor” and live their lives by “the hard edge of steel” (lines 690, 692). They live off the booty they can pillage from others. And Numanus has a deep sense of pride in this. It seems unreal that a society can have a value system that is so different from any other that I have encountered.
In book 10, Jove declares “Each man has his day, and the time of life is brief for all, and never comes again. But to lengthen out one’s fame with action, that’s the work of courage” (lines 553-556). Honor and glory still dictate how the Trojans will live their lives.