of being wronged. He completely ignores his obligation to his country, to preserve his gods and escape to found Rome. He is described as a wolf, a creature typically seen as a scavenging, unhonorable, thing. In book 4 we see an Aeneas who has just lost his father, his source of guidance. He commits a huge amount of mistakes that cumulate in the death of Dido and the burning of Carthage. The gods tell him that he must leave so that he can found his new city. By Book 7 Aeneas is essentially a fully Roman hero. He is "pious Aeneas". In addition to this, he shows strong emotion when he kills, a strong disdain of slaughter. An interesting juxtaposition of ideas about heroics and villainy comes into play while delving into the last half of the epic.
             First there is the typical 'Greek' model of heroic conflict, in which there is a heroic figure that must battle (and dispatch) a clearly evil antithetical figure whose only goal is to cause pain and to further his own ends. This conflict is portrayed by Aeneas' battle with Mezentius. Mezentius is an Italian general who is described as "Mezentius the cruel, despiser of the gods" pp. 184, ln 855, an exiled king who seeks revenge (pp. 271, ln 168-1169). He is an evil personage who chains his living enemies to dead bodies, so that their putrefaction can enter the enemy's living body. "when Aeneas sees [Mezentius] down the long line of attack, he hurries on to meet him. The massive body of Mezentius stands, unfrightened, steady, and awaiting his great-hearted enemy; his eyes take measure of how much space is
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