Less concerned with the life and adventures of Aeneas than with the part he played in founding the Roman state, the Aeneid is a national epic, a glorification and exaltation of Rome and its people. Virgil has a spiritualized, idealistic, and aspiring conception of Rome, which he views as majestic and sacred, ordained by destiny to rule the world. He saw a golden age of human life emerging during Augustus's reign, a golden age brought about by the gods. The Aeneid is designed to exalt this new, ordered society and to glorify its virtues and finest features by their personification in Aeneas, an epic hero who is meant to represent the archetypal Roman. Aeneas embodies the most important Roman personal qualities and attributes, particularly the Roman sense of duty and responsibility that Virgil thought of as having built the Rome he loved.
During the century prior to Augustus's rule, the Roman republic was ravaged by a constant series of civil wars, which caused large human and financial losses. Finally, under Augustus, the state was unified once again. With the restoration of peace and order, and with the government taking an active interest in many different phases of economic and social life, Rome regained its prosperity and happiness. Unfortunately, this return to order was brought about through the establishment of an imperial form of government. While peace was restored, many of the old liberties that Romans had become accustomed to were abandoned, a situation that caused serious problems and occupied the minds of many responsible citizens, including Virgil.
