Which scholar identifies the pageant of unborn Roman heroes described by Anchises as the most powerful patriotic message?

Which scholar identifies the pageant of unborn Roman heroes described by Anchises as the most powerful patriotic message?

• A. Paul F. Burke
• B. Oliver Lyne
• C. Denis Feeney
• D. R. D. Williams

Answer: (D)

The main idea being tested is how Virgil makes the Anchises pageant of future, unborn Roman heroes a vehicle for powerful patriotic feeling. In this moment, Anchises reveals to Aeneas a line of Rome’s destiny—from legendary founders to future emperors and glory-filled achievements—stretching into a future that the living audience is asked to envision as their own. That pageant works as propaganda in the strongest sense: it ties present Roman identity to a grand, teleological future, suggesting that the city’s greatness is not just a memory or a hope, but an inevitable outcome shaped by Rome’s virtue and duty. R. D. Williams argues that this pageant is the most potent patriotic message because it constructs a shared national destiny that listeners or readers are invited to participate in. By presenting unborn heroes and a continuous line of Roman greatness, the text gives the Roman people a unifying myth: their past justifies their present, and their present becomes a pledge to uphold the future. This makes the pageant a powerful tool for mobilizing collective pride and loyalty to the state and its imperial project, more so than other moments Virgil could emphasize. Other scholars might focus on related aspects—poetic technique, rhetoric, or broader Augustan political context—but Williams foregrounds the persuasive impact on national identity itself. He treats the pageant not just as a literary device, but as Virgil’s strongest statement about Rome’s mission and the citizenry’s obligation to participate in that destined greatness.

The main idea being tested is how Virgil makes the Anchises pageant of future, unborn Roman heroes a vehicle for powerful patriotic feeling. In this moment, Anchises reveals to Aeneas a line of Rome’s destiny—from legendary founders to future emperors and glory-filled achievements—stretching into a future that the living audience is asked to envision as their own. That pageant works as propaganda in the strongest sense: it ties present Roman identity to a grand, teleological future, suggesting that the city’s greatness is not just a memory or a hope, but an inevitable outcome shaped by Rome’s virtue and duty.

R. D. Williams argues that this pageant is the most potent patriotic message because it constructs a shared national destiny that listeners or readers are invited to participate in. By presenting unborn heroes and a continuous line of Roman greatness, the text gives the Roman people a unifying myth: their past justifies their present, and their present becomes a pledge to uphold the future. This makes the pageant a powerful tool for mobilizing collective pride and loyalty to the state and its imperial project, more so than other moments Virgil could emphasize.

Other scholars might focus on related aspects—poetic technique, rhetoric, or broader Augustan political context—but Williams foregrounds the persuasive impact on national identity itself. He treats the pageant not just as a literary device, but as Virgil’s strongest statement about Rome’s mission and the citizenry’s obligation to participate in that destined greatness.