While many scholars are convinced that Virgil wrote the Aeneid to provide the Roman people with a publicized epic to captivate their own history, there is great evidence that Virgil intended the Aeneid was something much more precious: a parable about the powers of the Platonic soul. In his Republic, Plato outlines the different elements of the soul: appetitive, lively and rational. Appetite, as the lowest part of the human soul, desires temporal things, lowest according to the hierarchy of being. Soul vibrancy is what the soul draws its energy from in the struggle to overcome challenges. The intellect governs man and is served by appetite and liveliness according to its place of primacy among the powers of the soul. Throughout the Aeneid, Virgil entrusts the significant characters of the epic with the task of portraying the powers of the Platonic soul and revealing how these powers are ordered towards the virtue of justice. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Before examining exactly how the characters in the Aeneid describe the different powers of the soul, it is necessary to discuss the nature of the soul according to Plato. In his Republic, Plato speaks of the kallipolis, the ideal city composed of three main classes: the producers, the guardians and the rulers, all of whom represent a particular power of the soul. Each class, together with its correlative power, finds its perfection in a virtue peculiar to its functioning. It is up to the producers, those who help the city acquire the resources necessary for survival, to exercise the virtue of moderation in declaring a ruler. It is up to the guardians, who embody the spirit of the empire, to put aside the false charm of recklessness and take courage in the defense of the kallipolis. The city's rulers cultivate wisdom in order to govern the city rationally. All the classes of the city, fulfilling their social obligations, giving each class its due, realize justice, a pre-eminent virtue throughout antiquity. Just as Plato describes the city's rulers as necessarily intent on promoting justice among themselves, so Virgil gives Aeneas a growth toward justice throughout the Aeneid. Despite Aeneas's efforts at such growth, the lower powers of his soul often hinder him and cause him to falter. In her embodiment of the appetitive power of the soul, the tragic Dido, queen of Carthage, plays a vital role in Aeneas's failure to uphold justice. Virgil shows that the relationship Aeneas shares with Dido does not promote justice, but selfish excess. Regarding Dido's unbridled passion, Virgil writes: “He no longer thought of a secret love but called it marriage. / So, under that name, he hid his guilt.” Just as Dido leads Aeneas into grave guilt, so appetite, when operating completely uncontrolled by the intellect, leads the individual to unbridled pleasure. Incessantly falling into such reckless pleasure, Dido loses her reputation among neighboring rulers. Complaining of her tarnished character, Dido exclaims to Aeneas: For you, Libyans and nomadic kings, detest me, my Tyrians are hostile; (4.290-342)Such immoderation, such disregard for integrity, instigates in both Dido and Aeneas an attitude focused primarily on taking from, rather than contributing to, their respective governments. Dido neglects her duties to Carthage, where Aeneas remains throughout the winter, having lost sight of her mission to found a new kingdom. Of Dido's negligence, Virgil writes: How Dido in her beauty honored her company, Then how they celebrated all winter Heedless of the kingdom, prisoners of lust. (4.175-234)Appetite dominates such behavior, totally ignoring one's duties to society and embracing disordered indulgence. Like appetite, liveliness, when in total dominion of the soul, leads to disorder. Turnus, Aeneas' rival in taking control of Italy and winning the hand of the beautiful Lavinia, embodies liveliness, and the unfortunate consequences of his rash decisions illustrate how, when a soul is under the reign of liveliness, disorder arises. In his essay “War and Peace” KW Grandsen writes of Turnus's general tendency towards lively spirit: “He is ready to take risks.” This is certainly true, as Turnus' unwise judgments are often based solely on his desire for war: his bloodlust. In describing Turnus' character, Virgil writes: "in him raged the lust for steel, the brutal madness of war and above all anger" (7.634-636). Through the sad consequences of his vainglorious actions, the character of Turnus symbolizes the need to channel the vivacity of the soul and cling to the virtue of courage: courage that seeks to defend the rights of others, rather than accumulate worthless glory for oneself. One particular episode in which Turnus distinguishes his foolishness is when he thoughtlessly gives up the wrong weapon before charging into battle, such is his thirst for conquest in battle. Even the scene during which Turnus brutally kills Pallas, Aeneas' companion, signifies vivacity, poorly controlled - an outburst which consequently causes Aeneas to allow his vivacity to rise above the authority of his intellect. From Turnus' reckless actions in battle, especially his inhumane killings, a great lack of justice emerges. This is shown when Turnus, locked alone within the gates of the Trojan camp and consumed by his quest for glory, swings his sword wildly rather than open the gate and allow his companions to enter. The fact that Turnus experiences an intense temptation to commit suicide indicates to the reader the ultimate deprivation of such justice: robbing oneself of one's own life. Just as Aeneas must conquer Turnus to take control of the barbarism that so pervades primitive Latin society, so too must the intellect take control of liveliness and appetite. However, unlike Dido and Turnus, who describe the soul's corresponding powers so flawlessly, Aeneas's depiction of the soul's intellectual power initially appears to be full of imperfections. Often in the Aeneid the hero of the epic is unable to tame his appetite and his spirit. His behavior with Dido and disproportionate course of action in response to Turnus' killing of Pallas reveal his weakness in governing his inferior faculties. Yet the lack of order in Aeneas' soul points to the growth of the power that should be present in all his actions: intellect. Just as the entire Aeneid is a gradual journey towards the founding of the land destined to become the Roman Empire, so Aeneas' inner growth is a process that encompasses the entire epic, and Aeneas, like Virgil's readers, has yet to find out how this process will end. As Harold Bloom writes, "Virgil's Aeneas is a man separated by a destiny of which he himself seems uncertain." Aeneas actualizes his potential for inner growth in the intellectual control of his appetite when he makes the decision to leave Dido. Aeneas, while desiring to remain with Dido, understands his duty to establish a place of settlement for his people. Concerning Aeneas' struggle to leave Dido, Virgil writes: Obligatory, Aeneas, though he struggled with desire To soothe and comfort her in all her sorrow, To speak to her and avert her, 1984.