Essay Questions

Apply the Feminism theory is expounding Lavinia’s feminism.

Livy explains, “Aenas’ son Ascanius was not yet old enough to take over the throne as ruler. Nevertheless the kingdom survived intact for him until he grew to maturity because of Lavinia’s guardianship, for she was an able woman; in the interval before he came of age she preserved for her son the Latin community and the throne that his grandfather and father had held.” Lavinia’s leadership abilities are not hampered by her gender. Although the throne is predominantly occupied by men, she validates the idea that women can lead communities with remarkable results. She is a feminist who rises above the unadventurous role of bearing a successor. Had she been deficient of wisdom, her son would not have found the community and throne undamaged.

Expound the allusion which is applicable to ‘Vestal and her twin sons.’

Mythological allusion: Livy writes, “For when the Vestal, having been ravished, became the mother of twin sons, she name Mars as the father of her dubious progeny, either because she thought he really was the father or because naming a god as responsible for her transgression made a more respectable story.” The mythology alludes to the prospect of intimacy between humans and gods. Identifying the new-born son as Mars apprises the reader about Mars’ standing as a god.

Besides, Livy expounds, “He (the King) ordered that the priestess (Vestal) be taken into custody and put in chains, and the twins to be set out on the river where the current flowed strongly…legend has it that when the receding water left the basket in which the boys had been placed on a dry patch of ground, a thirsty she-wolf from the surrounding mountains headed toward the sound of their crying, so gently did she lower her teats for them to nurse that the king’s chief herdsman came upon her licking the babies with her tongue.” The term ‘legend’ surmises that Livy’s recount is based on a myth. The she-wolf’s ironic behaviour amplifies the appeal of the myth regarding Vestal’s sons. A wolf nursing humans is absolutely mythological; ordinarily the wolf would have devoured the boys.