It is obvious that there are numerous qualities that make up a hero in BCE Roman culture. However, the quality that stands out against all others is the virtue of pietas, or devotion to duty. Virgil, quite possibly Rome's greatest poet, exhibited this devotion to duty in the writing of The Aenid. Virgil devoted the last ten years of his life to the story of the hero, Aenas, and his long adventure back to Rome. Even after a ten years of making this great epic, he wished it to be burned because it did not meet his criteria for publishing (Overfeild, 139). This action alone shows the reader t…
