Aeneas's Killing of Turnus: A Moral and Ethical Dilemma in The Aeneid

This essay delves into the ethical quandary of Aeneas's decision to kill Turnus at the conclusion of Virgil's *Aeneid*. The paper meticulously examines the events leading up to the climactic moment, evaluating the justifications for Aeneas's actions through the lens of morality and duty. It analyzes the concept of 'duty' as a central theme, highlighting Aeneas's commitment to fulfilling his destiny and the welfare of the Trojan people. The essay contrasts Aeneas's character with that of Turnus, exploring the complexities of their relationship and the humanitarian sentiments Aeneas displays. The primary argument presented is that Aeneas's killing of Turnus, despite Turnus's defeat and pleas for mercy, constitutes an unjust and immoral act, driven by revenge rather than adherence to ethical principles or the fulfillment of prophecies. The essay references scholarly opinions and primary sources, including Anchises' advice, to support its claims, ultimately concluding that the killing creates an ethical dilemma, with no clear definitive answer to whether Aeneas was right or wrong.

Running head: AENEAS AND TURNUS
Aeneas and Turnus
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The death of any character within a novel and drama constitutes a point of debate for the
literary scholars. The ethics and morality involved in it are the main points of discussion.
Furthermore, the need for the character in the development of the story can also be judged and
understood by the impact of the death of such a character (Weeda and van der Poel, pp 590). The
purpose of this paper is to understand the morality involved behind the killing of Turnus by
Aeneas towards the end of the Aeneid. To this extent, the paper makes a critical analysis of the
event leading up to the incident.
Discussion
“Duty” is considered to be one of the most important theme to be found within “The
Aeneid” (Hanford, pp16). It plays a significant role to identify the characteristic trait of the
various individuals that the readers come across in the novel. The character analysis of Aeneas
reveals that be was quite persistent to adhere to the fulfillment of his own destiny. Furthermore,
he was also concerned about the welfare and happiness of the Trojan people. His responsibility
and dedication towards the idea of duty for the Republic and the obedience towards Caeser,
shows that he was concerned about his duty (Gildenhard and Henderson, pp9). In this context,
Virgil termed Aeneas as ‘duty-bound’ where he was found to take the difficult decisions, most
often a few of which required the sacrifice of his own happiness.
Turnus of “The Aeneid” was considered to be an enemy of Aeneas, in the similar manner
the way Hektor was an enemy to Achilles in “The Iliad”. However, after the analysis of the
character of Aeneas, it can be observed that Aeneas was sympathetic towards his enemies and
often benevolent to them. Aeneas was able to propound a similar humanitarian passion towards

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the character of Turnus (Gildenhard and Henderson, pp 589). When Aeneas killed Lausus, who
was the son of Mezetius, Virgil described Aeneas to be extremely moved by pity and sorrow.
The morality of the question of Aeneas killing Turnus it can be seen that the killing
occurred mainly as a sign of revenge. The most apparent justification which is provided for the
killing of Aeneas is that Turnus was responsible for the death of Pallas (Kelley, pp 8). However,
it is significant to understand that the death of Pallas did not occur as a result of any deceit or
trickery. Turnus had to face Pallas in the battlefield and he did not have any choice expect to try
for a victory. Turnus was required to kill Pallas as a result of the practicalities involved in the
battle.
To this extent, the killing of Turnus by Aeneas was considered to be unjust and immoral.
When Aeneas was on the verge of killing Turnus, Turnus was defeated and was at the mercy of
Aeneas. His killing did not serve any particular purpose (Loseby, pp 6). Aeneas had won the
battle against Turnus front of many Latins and the Trojans. This evidenced that Trunus would no
longer continue as a threat to the power and authority of Aeneas. During this time, it was
expected by Aeneas to pay heed to the words of his father which is to pardon the defeated
individuals in the battle field. However, it is shown that Aeneas eventually killed Turnus in spite
of achieving all the objectives and goals which were prophesized by Jupiter. This set a bad
precedent to the future of the Roman Empire.
However, many scholars have justified the intention of Aeneas to kill Turnus. Aeneas
was a man of action and duty bound. He was fated to find Rome. As a consequence, there was a
popular conjecture that Aeneas was fated to kill Turnus from the first scene itself. However,
Virgil did not intend to reduce human nature and human action to be guided by a divine
influence. Instead, there are a variety of reason which are found to influence the course of human

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action, no matter the fate of the prophecies. Virgil wanted to highlight the humane side of
Aeneas which was guided by revenge rather by a logical adherence to the issue of prophecy.
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be observed that the issue of Aeneas killing Turnus constitutes an
ethical dilemma. The law of the battle field dictates that when an enemy is armed, then only a
soldier is supposed to strike them. However, when Aeneas was fighting Turnus, Turnus was
armless and was at the mercy of Aeneas. This constituted the ethical immorality of Aeneas
killing Turnus. However, another set of scholarly literature exists which states that Aeneas was
prophesized to kill Turnus from the very beginning. As a consonance, it cannot be stated in a
clear and definitive manner that whether Aeneas was ethical right to kill Turnus.

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References:
Gildenhard, Ingo, And John Henderson. "Virgil, Aeneid 11 (Pallas & Camilla)."
Gildenhard, Ingo, and John Henderson. Virgil, Aeneid 11 (Pallas & Camilla), 1–224, 498–521,
532–96, 648–89, 725–835.: Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, and Commentary.
Open Book Publishers, 2018.
Hanford, Timothy. "Senecan Tragedy and Virgil's Aeneid: Repetition and Reversal." (2014).
Kelley, Matthew W. Inflamed by the Furies: The Role of Emotion in the Imperial Destiny of the
Aeneid. Diss. Tufts University, 2014.
Loseby, P. J., ed. Roman Aeneas. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Weeda, Leendert, and Marc van der Poel. "Vergil and the Batavians (Aeneid
8.727)." Mnemosyne 67.4 (2014): 588-612.