>>25374083
we called it peak

Vergil was seen as a proto Christian because of his 4th poem in his first collection. It was about a to be born son of some Roman official but Christians retconned it to be about Christ

>>25374531
His lack of faith is shown through all the book, though. He is a symbol of reason, and there are lots of obstacles that he can't pass on his own.

>>25374083
ok
we found the zoomer novel
make it happen boys

>>25374083
>What the fuck is this self insert fanfic
It really is that stupid and I don't know why people have propped it up for centuries.

>Virgil is the bestest!
>He's so cool and wise and smart and epic and funny and creative and badass and
>By the way, he doesn't get to come to Heaven with me.
Grim.

>And over there is Odysseus burning in hell for all eternity because the super greatest bestest poet of all time Virgil, who is also personally helping me because I'm so smart and worthy, said we wuz Trojans and shiiiet

>>25375368
Ehhh, at the time that Dante lived, I don't think The Odyssey was available in a language that Dante could read himself. He only knew Roman opinions, and the Romans opined that Odysseus sucks because only assholes use trickery instead of pure might and strength.

>>25375456
And they were right

>>25375456
It's interesting how normies genuinely believe the Romans aped the Greeks' whole mythology when they're are incredible differences between them. Like Ares being a scumbag to the Greeks; whereas Mars is honourable and venerated to the Romans. And how Cronus was a bitter tyrant; whereas Saturn represented an important god of fertility to the Romans.

>>25375456
Pure martial excellence is Achilles. Virgil is famously skeptical of this. Aeneas is increasingly likened to a beast in his furor and his human sacrifices probably wouldn't have been seen as particularly good behavior. Moreover, the murder of Turnus, right after he appeals to Achises, who last we saw was imploding Aeneas to spare the vanquished (right before Aeneas heads up from the underworld through the lying Ivory Gate), as the end of the poem certainly seems like a less than wholehearted endorsement of that side of Aeneas.

Where Aeneas is presented in an unambiguously positive light is as the hero of pietas, carrying his father and the household gods (tradition) out of the burning Troy, along with his son (the future), when he spurns Dido and his own desires for the greater destiny of Rome and the common good of his people, and when he is acting as a moral exemplar and traditional authority for his people (in his many rituals).

So what makes Aenead better is his piety and mission, he looks back to his people and roots, and forward to an empire that promises glory, prosperity, and order. But plenty in the text makes it seem that Virgil was skeptical of if this could ever be borne out long term. This is why Virgil can lead Dante to the Earthly Paradise, but no further, and vanishes there. He thinks utopia can be grasped for brief moments at best. Yet he still thinks pietas > Odysseus' cunning and art > Achilles' largely martial excellence.

>>25375456
To use Odysseus as an example implies some level of knowledge regarding his accomplishments during the Trojan War. Dante was a Virgil super fanboy so I have no doubt he took the Aeneid as a pseudo-historical account, even if he was primarily going off of Roman opinion I still think he would have come to the conclusion that Odysseus tricked "his people". Roman's thinking he was a dickhead could have also acted as confirmation bias.
Odysseus' inclusion in Hell is obviously looked at through a Christian lens but I think just below the surface it was Dante being butthurt, look at all the other people he decided were hellbound just because he didn't like them.

>>25374648
greatest btfo of christianity ever...

My favorite take is Dante using Odysseus as a pre-faust faustian