Which author contends that Aeneas failed Creusa; he has much more care for his son and father?

Which author contends that Aeneas failed Creusa; he has much more care for his son and father?

• A. Deryck Williams
• B. Kristine Perkell
• C. Ian Du Quesney
• D. Richard Jenkyns

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is how modern scholars interpret Aeneas’s priorities in relation to Creusa. Kristine Perkell argues that Aeneas’s pietas isn’t simply about dutifully saving everyone in the moment; it also reflects a commitment to the future of Rome that compels him to focus on his son Ascanius and his father Anchises. In this reading, Creusa’s fate is framed within the larger telos of founding a city and continuing the Trojan lineage, rather than as a straightforward display of personal loyalty to his wife. The consequence is that Aeneas appears to “fail” Creusa not because he intentionally abandons her for cruelty, but because his decisions are dominated by his duty to the future and to his family line—priorities that supersede the immediate protection of Creusa. Context helps here: in Virgil’s epic, pietas drives Aeneas through a series of increasingly burdensome duties—protecting his father, ensuring his son’s survival, and fulfilling the gods’ plan for Rome. Perkell’s reading emphasizes how Creusa’s voice and fate are integrated into that larger project, highlighting gendered dimensions of sacrifice and the tension between personal loss and public destiny. Among the listed scholars, Perkell is the one most associated with this particular argument about Aeneas’s priorities, which is why she is identified as the author in this item.

The idea being tested is how modern scholars interpret Aeneas’s priorities in relation to Creusa. Kristine Perkell argues that Aeneas’s pietas isn’t simply about dutifully saving everyone in the moment; it also reflects a commitment to the future of Rome that compels him to focus on his son Ascanius and his father Anchises. In this reading, Creusa’s fate is framed within the larger telos of founding a city and continuing the Trojan lineage, rather than as a straightforward display of personal loyalty to his wife. The consequence is that Aeneas appears to “fail” Creusa not because he intentionally abandons her for cruelty, but because his decisions are dominated by his duty to the future and to his family line—priorities that supersede the immediate protection of Creusa.

Context helps here: in Virgil’s epic, pietas drives Aeneas through a series of increasingly burdensome duties—protecting his father, ensuring his son’s survival, and fulfilling the gods’ plan for Rome. Perkell’s reading emphasizes how Creusa’s voice and fate are integrated into that larger project, highlighting gendered dimensions of sacrifice and the tension between personal loss and public destiny. Among the listed scholars, Perkell is the one most associated with this particular argument about Aeneas’s priorities, which is why she is identified as the author in this item.