The Aeneid Family Quotes Page 3

But wait, there are even more father-son pairs in this poem! Here we see Lausus, the son of the freaky Etruscan warrior Mezentius just before he races to his death in an attempt to save his father from being killed.

Similarly, in this image of Mezentius, we see that the love between fathers and sons is not limited to the good characters in Virgil's poem. Even though Mezentius is a pretty bad guy, who doesn't worship the gods and was kicked out of his home city by his own people he still feels tremendous guilt at the fact that his son, Lausus, died trying to save him. Shortly afterwards, Mezentius will announce that he has lost the will to live – making him rush into battle on horseback, despite the wound in his groin (that's really got to hurt). He doesn't survive.

After so many images of Aeneas playing the role of devoted son, here we see him playing the role of father, instructing Ascanius in how to be a proper warrior. At the same time, he holds up a different family member, the Trojan warrior Hector, who died at Troy, as another role model for his son.