Since most of us are familiar with Greek and Roman literature
from our Search classes last semester, I thought it might be interesting to
compare and contrast the Romans’ views of the gods with one of the philosophies
we more recently discussed—Epicureanism. The Epicurean philosophy rejects the
idea of an afterlife, and because of this, emphasizes that humans need not live
to please the gods. The gods are described as materialistic and imperfect, and “Nature”
is noted as a more influential force on humans than the gods. One similarity
between the two beliefs is that the gods are very human in their downfalls, and
can at times act selfishly and imperfectly. However, as demonstrated in the
opening books of The Aeneid, the
Romans hold very different beliefs about the overall importance of the gods. The
Roman gods play an essential role in the lives of the mortals. They are known
to meddle in the lives of the people for pure entertainment and sometimes even
use them as pawns in their own personal vendettas. Even so, the Romans believe
it is to their benefit to live a life that pleases the gods, and they practice
numerous rituals and celebrations in their honor, so that they may be in favor
with them. The Aeneid opens with
Virgil calling on a muse to explain why Juno, the queen of the gods, is so
angry with Aeneas. The fact that this is how the epic begins shows the
importance of the gods in the lives of the Romans, which contrasts with their
lack of importance in the lives of the Epicureans. Rather than living by the order
of nature, the Romans live by the order of the gods, who they believe control
nature and everything else. It will be interesting to see how the different philosophies
differ and agree in their views of different subjects, such as the gods.
On a similar note, I found our discussion during Friday's lecture of the differences and similarities between the gods of Anneid, Iliad, and Odyssey and the Stoicism idea of gods. The Stoic belief is that the gods take on a fatherly role in their relationship with people, with the agenda that their brand of "tough love" in the form of adversity will cause those who suffer to become better because of it. In some of the Epic poetry we've studied in the course, we see the gods take a parenting role in their relationship with mortals, such as in the relationship between Venus and Anneas. The gods demonstrated favoritism throughout the Iliad in using their power to protect fighters whom they sympathized with. However, the gods do not seem interested in trying to better the people, only protect them and prevent them from falling into harm. I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on the subject.
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