Predictive History - The Story of "Civilization", "Secret History", "Game Theory" and more - Civilization #17 - Homer, Vergil, and the War for the Soul of Rome

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

Civilization #17 - Homer, Vergil, and the War for the Soul of Rome

Okay, good morning. So this is going to be a very long class today, and I'm going to throw a lot of information at you. The reason why is I want to summarize and review what we've learned about Rome so far. Compare and contrast it to the Greeks, and I look forward on how the Romans and the Greeks will influence development of Western civilization, including Christianity. Okay, so I'll be throwing a lot at you today. So if you have any questions, please let me know, okay? If I'm being unclear, please let me know. All right, just raise your hand. Okay.

All right. So let's review what we know so far. So the Romans and the Greeks are very different civilizations. If you remember the Greeks, the Greeks are scattered across the Aegean and across the Mediterranean. They have colonies over the place. So the Greeks are primarily focused on trade, especially with the great empires of the Near East, primarily Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia,

the three great civilizations that we will discuss starting next week. And so the Greeks have colonies all over these three civilizations, and as such, the Greeks are able to absorb new ideas pretty easily. And because the Greeks are focused on trade, maritime trade, they're a very open-minded people. So that's Greek civilization. The Romans are completely different because they are across the Adriatic, and it's a little bit. and they're inland. So there are much more insular and conservative people than the Greeks.

Also, the Romans have historically been surrounded by very aggressive people, including the Latins, the Sabins, the Atricians. And so Rome has always had to struggle to survive in this very very strong. hostile environment. And in order to survive, they developed a cultural system that made them the world's greatest military machine. And the three pillars of this culture are piety, right? Piety.

Obedience and loyalty to the gods, to Rome and to your fathers. Second principle is the idea of liberty, which puts the nobility at the very heart and center of Roman society. Liberty means no kings, no dictators, no tyrants. And the third and most important pillar is the idea of republica, right? The public good. The idea here is everyone must sacrifice himself for the honor and good. for the honor and glory of Rome. In fact, there's a competition.

You want prestige by winning new territory for Rome. And this is a great system. If you are a poor, small nation always at war and under threat from larger nations. So remember in 216 BC, Hanibal destroyed every Roman army, but at the same time, the Romans were able to rally themselves and ultimately defeat Carthage in the Second Punic War. So it's a great system if you're a small and poor nation always at war with larger nations. But this system breaks down when you become rich, big empire, and you're the major hegemon.

major hegemon in the area. This system will lead to three major problems in the Roman Republic. Corruption, division, civil wars. The first one between Marius and Sola, and then between Julius Caesar and Pompeii, and then finally between Octavian and Mark Anthony. And also inequality.

So now the Rome is in crisis. And the ultimate resolution to all these problems was the beginning of the empire, okay, the emperor. So Octavian became the emperor. He is now known as Augustus Caesar. And again, what he does is he centralizes all military authority in his hands. Egypt is now his private estate, and he uses it to bankrupt the army, which is now composed of professional soldiers. Before they were citizen soldiers, so they only volunteered when Rome was at war. But now in the empire, there's a professional-standing army, and they serve for like 20 years or 30 years. They're all paid by one men, the emperor, through his land holdings in Egypt.

He also established something called the Praetorian Guard. The Paturian Guard is basically the secret police of Rome. So there are no soldiers in Rome, but there's a patern guard. They're responsible for peace and security in Rome. They're only responsible to one man, the emperor. So even though, but even though Augustus Caesar has conquered Rome and basically most of the world, He still has three major problems that he must resolve if he is to be emperor fully. Okay?

The first problem he must solve is the question of legitimacy. Why is he emperor? And traditionally, in the ancient world, you legitimately comes from your family. How old is your family? How established is your family? Now, there are two major myths about the founding of Rome. Okay, the first is Romulus, right? The first king of Rome.

The second is Lucius Buddhist in the founding of the Roman Republic. Now, Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar are not, do not come from either of these two myths or families. Okay? So he has to construct a new myth that shows that his family, called the Giuliai, go way back. They go back to before Romulus. Okay, so while he was alive, Julius Caesar planted the seeds of this. Remember, Jewish Caesar is a great myth maker.

So the myth he came up with is this. There is a man named Ineus. And Ineus is from Troy. When Troy was destroyed, Ineus was able to escape. was able to escape with some survivors, and they came to Italy, and they built the foundations that would become Rome.

Okay? So in other words, Romulus is the senate from Inius, but Julius Caesar is also descended from Inius. So that is how Augusta Caesar will cement his legitimacy. by promoting the idea that his ancestor was Ineus, who is the real founder of Rome. So he's training a new myth, and he's trying to popularize it. So it's the first problem he's trying to solve, legitimacy. Let's a problem he's trying to solve is like a new Roman cultural identity.

So remember, the old Roman cultural identity was basically. based on piety, liberty, and repelika. And this creates problems if the emperor, because remember, Marcus Buddhists and Desmond's Buddhists, they thought that they were descendants of, sorry, they thought they were descendants of Lucia's Buddhists, and therefore, they had a responsibility to kill all kings, all tyrants.

And that's why they assassinated Julie Caesar. So you can't allow this cultural identity, to exist, right? Because it will encourage other Buddhists to come kill you, the emperor. So you have to change this. You have to get rid of the idea of liberty and repulcate.

You have to promote a new Roman identity focus on obedience, piety and obedience. And then there's a third problem that Augusta Caesar must resolve as emperor, which is this. Even though the Romans have conquered most of the world, basically the Mediterranean world. Culturally, it's the Greeks who are dominant.

Because the Greeks have a superior culture, they have Homer, they have Plato, they have Fucydides, they have Ischelus. So all Romans acknowledge the fact that Greek culture is superior. And as Romans embrace Greek culture, Augustus Caesar believes they are corrupted. For Augustus Caesar, he believes that he believes that Greek culture, it is too hedonistic.

And that's ultimately what happened to Mark Anthony. Mark Anthony was this good Roman who went off to Egypt, and became corrupted and seduced by Pilopatra and Greek culture. Mark Anthony became more Greek, and that's why he betrayed Rome. Augusta Caesar also believed that's why Rome began descending into civil wars because Rome was starting to embrace Greek culture and it made everyone more individualistic,

more hedonistic, more selfish. And that's why they fought these civil wars. So Augusta Caesar now has to somehow destroy Greek culture or the influence of Greek culture on the Roman soul. And he knows the very, essence, the very basis of Greek culture is Homer, especially the Iliad and the Odyssey. These two books were essentially the Bible of Greek civilization.

This is how children were educated. When they were young, they memorized the Iliad and they memorized the Odyssey. That's what taught them how to speak well, how to think well, and how to debate well. Okay? So Augusta Caesar understands that to defeat Homer, he needs to have another, he needs to create a Roman epic to replace Homer in the schools.

So he invited a man named Virgil, who at this time is considered the greatest living Roman poet to write another epic in Latin to replace Homer as a cornerstone of the education system, okay? And he was something called the Inniad, which is really about the journey of Innius as he creates Rome, as he found Rome. So from 29 BC, until 19 BC, for about over 10 years, Virgil worked on the Inniad under the

direct supervision of Augustus Caesar, okay? So they were basically co-authors. Virgil was a poet. He was the one who could put the words together. But it was Augustus Caesar who had the vision of what the Indianette should be. And the Indian ad will accomplish all three of these major challenges. It will establish the primacy of the July family as the first family of Rome. It will establish a new Roman cultural identity focus on piety over liberty.

and it will show that Greek culture is one of corruption and hedonism, and it must be repelled. So you can make the argument that Virgil's Inniad is the greatest work of propaganda ever in human history. So that's what I will show you today, okay? To do this, what I will do, is compare and contrast the Iliad and the Odyssey with the Inniath to show you how different the Roman worldview is from the Greek worldview. Okay, so before I start, I need questions about this framework. Is this clear to you? Okay.

All right. So let's start with the Iliath. Okay. And remember, this is very important. This is a very important idea. Homer and Virgil are two different individuals. They're both poets. But Homer was writing when Greek civilization was just beginning.

So he's trying to create the seeds of civilization. He's trying to be a great teacher. Virgil is writing when Rome is an empire that is everywhere and everything. It's basically God. So it's trying to teach. teach people how to be part of this empire. Okay? Do you understand?

So you can argue that Homer is an educator, whereas Virgil is a propagandist. All right. Okay, so let's talk about the Iliad. Okay, so the first thing is the Iliad is a very complicated work. It's a universe onto itself with like, dozens of characters. Okay?

I'm only going to focus on one character, Achilles, and tell his story, okay? But please be aware, the story I'm telling, it is my interpretation. There are different interpretations, okay? But it's one interpretation found within the universe of the Iliad. So the basic story, it's very simple. Helen is the queen of Sparta, Mary, to the King of Sparta, Menelaus. She is seduced by the Prince of Troy named Paris.

They fall in love and they run off together to Troy. Menelaus and his brother, again, Menloz, they raised an army to rescue Helen or to retrieve Helen back from the children, who refused to give her up. And what followed her. is a 10-year siege of Troy. And the Greeks aren't really gaining anywhere

because Troy, it is the largest city in the world at this time. It's a walled city, and the Greeks don't know how to break through the Trojan walls. The alien starts when Achilles, who is the greatest warrior of the Greeks, he gets into a fight with Agamon. They get into a fight and Achilles calls Agamander a dog. You insult me, I fight for you, I will not refuse to fight for you. I will let the Trojans kill all of you. And Agamon, the king wants to say face, so he tells Achilles, I don't need you.

But in fact, the Greeks do need Achilles because the Trojans have a great warrior named Hector. And Hector recognizes that Achilles has retired from the battlefield, and Hector leads his army against the Greeks. Okay? And they push the Greeks so far back, the Greeks are now trapped on their ships by the coast. And what Hector wants to do is burn down these ships. Because if he burns down these ships, the Greeks cannot resupply themselves, and they will eventually die in Troy.

Okay? So at this point, Egemannan has no choice but to beg Achilles to return to the battlefield. Because only Achilles can defeat Hector in battle. But Egen-Mannon doesn't want to lose face. So he sends a delegation of generals led by a man named Odysseus to beg Achilles to return to the battlefield. Okay? So Odysseus goes and sees Achilles on in a shift, And Odysseus says, listen, Achilles, we're dying out here. If you don't fight for us, we're going to die. Hector is destroying us. If you fight for us, Agamannon will give you everything, okay?

All these treasures we are promised in Troy will give to you. Eggatheed by anyone will give you anything you want. He'll give you the world. And Achilles, because he's an asshole, says, no, I want Eggman to come beg me himself. Okay, so this goes nowhere. And Agamana refuses to come back, so the Trojans advance further and about to burn the ships.

Patroclus see his best friends with Achilles, and he sees that Achilles is conflicted, because Achilles wants to jump into the fray. Achilles has had a prophecy before he came to Troy, okay? The prophecy is this. He has a choice. He can either choose to die an old man at home and be a nobody, or come to Troy, die young at battle in the battle, and be remembered forever as the greatest champion of the Greeks. And for Achilles, that's not a choice because for him as a warrior, he loves to fight.

he can only achieve eudaimonia in battle. So for him to sit in a ship and watch the Greeks can destroy, it is the worst punishment on earth. By the same time, Achilles, he's arrogant, he's vain, and he demands Egeemnon to come apologize. Which Egan Mennon is not going to do, okay? Egan Mennon would rather see the entire Greek army demolish than to apologize to Achilles.

So, Patroclus tells Achilles, listen, let me jump into the battle to save the ships. And Achilles says, fine, I will let you stop the Trojan advance, but do not, under any circumstances, fight Hector in battle. So Patroclus jumps into the battle, and he fights the Trojans, and then what does he do? He fights Hector, right? And then what happens? he gets killed. Achilles hears with the death of Photococulus, and Achilles is so angry at the death of his best friend that he forgives Egamanon. He lets go of his anger at Egamanon and direction at Hector. He jumps into battle, he challenges Hector to a duel, and he kills Hector. Okay? Then what he does is he takes him.

Hector's dead body, he ties it to his chariot, and then he drags Hector's body around the walls of Troy. And on top of the walls of Troy are Hector's parents, King Priam and Queen Hecuba. And they are screaming in anguish. They hate this devil who not only killed their son Hector. but is now humiliating and mutilating him in front of the entire Trojan people. Okay? So at this point, you would think that Achilles has achieved immortality.

He's defeated Hector in battle. He saved the Greek army, and he'd be very happy. But it turns out he falls into a deep depression. He cannot sleep. He cannot eat. All he does is think about Petroclus. But he's so depressed, he can't. even cry for Patroclus. So this is where Homer is really the first psychologist,

because Achilles is feeling this way because he is wrapped with guilt. If you think about it, it wasn't Hector who killed Patroclus. It was Achilles who killed Patroclus. Why? Because Because Patroclus wouldn't be dead if, A, Achilles did not shoot with egg and man on, okay? B, Achilles just forgade Egemanon when Adidas came begging, okay? And C, if Achilles did not agree for Patroclus to go into battle. Okay? So while knowing it, because Achilles lacks self-awareness, he is trapped by his guilt.

over the death of Pachococulus. And he is taking out his rage on Hector, okay? He is supposed to return Hector's body for a ransom to the Trojans. Because everyone believes at this time that the dead can only find peace in the afterlife if they're buried, okay? So for Achilles to torment Hector's body like this is means that Hector can never find peace. in the afterlife. His father, Priam, is back in Troy and he can't sleep either because he's depressed over what's happened to his son. So eventually the gods broker a peace deal, okay,

and they tell Prime to go to Achilles and Achilles will return the body to Priam. So late one night, Prime sneaks into the tent and he's standing behind Achilles, who is busy, discussing military matters with his generals. And at this point, Priam can take it on a knife and stab Achilles to death. And he wants to, because he's so angry at this man who's killed and mutilated his son Hector. Instead, and this is the genius of Homer, okay? Priam kneels down and kisses the hand of Achilles. the man who has killed his beloved son.

And in response, Achilles stands, and he is in awe of this old man, who at this moment has demonstrated more courage, more strength than Achilles has ever witnessed. So in this act of submission, Priam has emotionally defeated Achilles. And Achilles is ashamed of himself. And by forgiving Achilles, Prime allows Achilles to now forgive himself.

Does that make sense to you? All right. And so the two then start to become friends. Because in the face of Priam, Achilles sees his father, Pilius. And he pities Priam for having lost his son. And in the face of Achilles, Priam sees his son Hector. And they both hug and they cry.

And this is the first time that Achilles has been able to cry since the death of Petropolis. And these tears release him from the ghost of Petroclos who is haunting him. Okay? And this is how the Iliad ends. What we've witnessed in the East the Eilead is the character transformation of Achilles from a co-blooded merciless, vain, and arrogant

warrior into a man who is capable of pity, self-reflection, and self-forgiveness. Okay? And you can argue that this is a process of civilization. And so the point of the Eliad is, even though it's about war, it's really making the argument that love is the basis of civilization. It's what unites us and inspires us. Love is the unifying force of the universe, right? Even though Priam and Achilles are the most bitter enemies,

because of Hector's love for Hector, and because of Achilles' love for his father Pilias, they're able to find a carbon ground and become fuller. friends. That's the Aaliyah. Does that make sense? So again it is arguably the greatest work of literature and human history. And this is only one interpretation. There are different interpretations, okay? But you can see how rich and complex, sophisticated, the Aaliyadh. It is, by reading it, you'll be inspired to reimagine yourself in the world around you. That's how power for this. All right. Now let's move on to the Odyssey. The

Eliet is about Achilles and its in its transformation into self-awareness. The Odyssey is about Odysseus and unlike Achilles, Odysseus does not want to go to the Trojan War, okay? Achilles jumps at the chance to win glory at Troy. But Odysseus was given a prophecy which is this if he goes to Troy he will be gone for 20 years he lives in Ithaca with his wife Penelope and they just had a newborn son Talakas okay and the prophecy is if you go to Troy you'll be gone for 20 20 years 10 years at war in Troy 10 years lost at sea and Odysseus who loves his family does not want to go to war okay

So he pretends to be crazy, insane. And so what he does is he takes salt and a plow. And he plows the field and salts it, which kills the field. So clearly this is a sign of insanity. But the Greek soldiers who come to retrieve him are determined to get him because they know that Odysseus is the most strategic and the wisest of the Greeks. He will be the one who will deliver victory to the Greeks in Troy because Odysseus will come up with the Trojan horse strategy.

It is his idea, the Trojan horse strategy. So they need him. So to test him, to see if he's really mad, they put his son Tarnakis, who's only like six months old, in front of him, okay? So if he's really crazy, he would run over his son. If he's not crazy, then he would stop. And obviously he's going to run over his son, okay? So his trick has been revealed and he's forced to go to war.

And he hates going to war, okay? But he's determined to win the war for the Greeks. The first reason is he believes the Trojans are unjust. How dare you steal another man's wife? Right? Second reason is he wants to build a legacy for his son, Tamacchus, right? He wants to go home to Ithaca and tell his son what a hero he is. He wants to build a legacy for his son.

The third thing is he wants to reunite the family which has been broken, right? Menelaus and Helen, just as he wants to return to his wife, Penelope. So this is what we call it his worldview. The way he understands the world. And the worldview is what allows us to be human and to exist, right? The world view explains to us who we are, what do we want, and what we should do. The problem is, after Odysseus comes up with George horse, they sneak into the city and they open the gates, the Greeks come flooding in, okay?

And now it's total mayhem because the Greeks are killing everyone inside the city. Odysseus kills a Trojan soldier who's attacking him. The Trojan soldier falls to the ground. And then suddenly his wife screams at the death of her husband, and she comes and sobs at the body of her dead husband, okay? And this creates something called cognitive dissonance. Okay, cognitive dissonance is when the worldview, and the reality do not match.

There's conflict between the reality and the worldview. Remember, Adidas came to Troy for justice, to build a legacy for his son, Tamaikis, and to reunite a family. And what he's doing now, is destroying families.

The Greeks are just massacring everyone. It's not justice. It's just slaughter. It's just complete mayhem. And so what happens is Odysse is traumatized by what he sees. Okay?

And this is what we call PDSD, right? Post-traumatic stress order. And after Troy, Odysseus becomes lost at sea. becomes lost at sea and he becomes trapped he becomes like a sex slave to a goddess in Calypso okay so he's stuck on an island for seven years and there's a goddess called Clipso who's trapped him and he's basically like a sex slave okay and every day when he's not having sex with Calypso which sucks he's crying on the beach okay

he has PDSD and he doesn't want to go home because he's a shame to face his family He's so ashamed by what's happened in Troy. He cannot face his family. So he's just stuck where he is. Meanwhile, at home, Penelope, his wife, she is waiting for him to return. But after some time, people think,

oh, this is must be dead. So there's about 100 young men, 100 suitors, who come and demand her hand in marriage. Okay, but she refused to believe that this is dead. So she falls into depression as well, right? She's waiting for her husband to return, but all the signs are that he's dead. She's been courted by 100 suitors and she can't say no to any of them because she's afraid her husband is really dead and she doesn't want to be alone, okay?

So she becomes depressed as well. She becomes paralyzed. So she's stuck, all right? This means that Tanakis, the son, is stuck as well. And he becomes a depressed teenager because if Odysseus were dead, he would inherit his legacy. He could become his own man. But Aldousin's not dead yet.

No one knows if he's still, if he's dead or alive. So he's stuck where he is. If Penelope were just to marry and go somewhere else, he would inherit the property, right? But she's just stuck in her room. So he's depressed as well. So this entire family, okay? It's depressed.

Odysseus is depressed. Penelope, Talakish, they're all depressed. So they just stuck there. Athena, who is the goddess of wisdom, okay? And she favors Odysseus. Athena sees all this from up high Mount Olympias, and she pities the family. And she resolves to bring the family back together,

So she goes and tells Calypso, hey, you've had your fun, but you have to let Odysseus go, okay? So now Odysseus is free to go home. And the thing that tells Odysseus, listen, do not, when you go home, you can tell Tamakis who you are, but don't tell Penelope and anyone else who you are, because you might be killed, okay? There's 100 suitors who would kill you if they knew who you were. you were. So Athenian disguises him as a different person, as a beggar, basically. Beggar. And when Odysseus returns to Ithaca, the first thing he wants to know is, does Penelope still love him? Remember, Odysseus is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, okay?

He's lost his ability to fight, to imagine. He's lost his capacity for love. So he doesn't even know if his wife still loves him. So he meets with Penelope, okay? And again, he's still this guy. Penelope has no idea who he is. And he cannot reveal himself to Penelope. But he sees Penelope is distraught.

And he tries to comfort Penelope by telling her, that he has seen Odysseus. Odysseus is still alive. Penelope breaks down in tears at the thought that her husband is still alive. And then she asked Odysseus, how do you know my husband is still alive? Prove to me that you've met my husband.

Now, this says, I will describe something intimate about him. He has a brooch that he carries on his cloak. And this brooch is beautiful. And he goes into poetic detail and describes this brooch. And at this point, when Perlopi hears this, she breaks down in complete tears. Because now she knows this beggar must be my husband Odysseus

in disguise. How does she know? Because only Odysseus would know all the details of the brooch. What is the brooch? The brooch is what Penelope gave Odysseus as Odysseus set self for Troy. Right? It is Penelope's gift to him and it is Odysseus promised to her that he will return. So even though Odysseus has lost the brooch in war and at sea, the brooch is implanted in his mind.

broach symbolizes his everlasting love for Penelope. So now like Penelope knows our business has returned, they still have to figure out how to get rid of these hundred suitors, okay? How to kill them. Because there's still a threat to the family. So Penelope has this great plan, okay? She's going to organize an archery contest. Auditian has a bowl. If the shooters can string a bowl and shoot a target, then Penupi will marry that suitor. So she organizes competition, and all the hundred suitors,

they fail one by one. They cannot string the bowl together. Then the beggar, who is Odysseus, says, let me try. And the moment he strings the bowl together, the suitors are afraid, because they know this can only be Odysseus. Only Odysseus can string the bowl together and use it. And then one by one, Odysseus, takes his bow and he kills all the suitors.

What the bow symbolizes is his identity, who he is. The bull, by shooting together, it represents the resurrection that stringing together of his world view. He now remembers that he's a father, a hero, who fights for justice. He fights to protect his family. That's who he is, really. And so this story is the power of love to to heal trauma after war.

And again, the main message is love is the unifying force of the world. It is what will heal you. It is what will bring people together. So that's the alienity. Does that make sense? And again, the argument is love is a basis of civilization. It is the thing that makes us human. It is what gives us our strength, our courage, or power.

Okay. So are you clear about the alien and odds before I move on to the Inniad? Any questions? Okay, let's do the Indianette. So neither the Idiot or the Odyssey talks about the Trojan horse. But the Indianian, the first thing it does is talk about the Trojan horse. So the Trojans wake up one day and they find this huge Trojan horse. horse, wooden horse, outside the gates. And most are like, this must be a Greek trick. Let's just

burn it down, okay? But then they capture a Greek soldier. This Greek soldier is very eloquent. With logic and with beauty and power, he tells a false story of how the Greeks became disheartened by the progress of the war, and they decide to sell home. And to understand. ensure their safe journey home, they built a wooden horse for the gods to win their favor. And the story is so moving and so beautiful, the Trojans believed him, okay? And they let the Trojan horse in. So the Iniad is not as subtle as the Iliad of the Odyssey, okay? It's propaganda.

So what this is telling us is this. The real Trojan horse is Greek culture, right? Logic, philosophy, and theater. That's what Greek culture is, logic, philosophy, and theater. And that's what the Greek church uses in order to manipulate the Trojans, to lie to them. So the message here is, if we women embrace Greek culture, embrace logic, philosophy, and theater, in our culture we destroy. The real church of wars is Greek culture.

Therefore, we must resist it at all costs. So Ineus wakes up and he finds the city in flames. The Greeks are going around massacring everyone, okay? So Ineus goes and he tries to say Priam. He runs to the palace and Priam is on his throne and he sees one of his sons being killed by Kili's son, Neo-Tolomus, okay? Neo-Tolomis. And Prime curses Neoptolemus.

And he says, your father, you insult the honor of your father. Your father was an honorable man. We were friends. And then Neatolus goes up to Prime and kills him and says, my father is dead. You should join him in the underworld. Okay? It is a horrific scene.

So what this is telling us, again, this is not subtle, okay? There is no place for love, friendship, and forgiveness. That's all a lie. It's all just trickery. Only brutality and force will triumph in the end. Ineus is trying to say prime, but then prime dies. And then he discovers that high, somewhere he sees Helen okay and he thinks that Helen is the one responsible for

all this she's a whore she's a slut if she just did her duty if she just stayed at home where she was supposed to be this world would have started so he really wants to kill her okay in fact he is about to kill her then suddenly a a goddess named Venus, okay? Also, so the Romans call her Venus, the Greeks call her Aphrodite. And she is the mother of Inius. She appears before her son and says,

My son, you're destined for greater things. Leave Helen, return to your family. So Innius has no choice, but to obey his mother, and he runs home. And he sees that his family, It's fine. His son is named Julius. He has a father and a wife, and they're fine. So he's like, okay, you guys are fine. I'm going to go and kill some Greeks. I'm going to die with the city. I'm going to fight unto my dying breath to save my city. And the wife and the father are begging him

to not go because you are one man against an entire army. You're going to get killed. but Ineus is stubborn and he's angry right now. Suddenly, Julius here is on fire. And it's like a golden crown. And the father says, you see, Ineus, this is a sign. This is a sign that your son will be the founder of a great empire. We know that's an empire to be called Rome. okay and this is what stops inia's from committing suicide is like okay now I

understand it is my duty to save my son my family so he carries his father who is unable to walk he carries his son and he carries both of them to safety they're looking for ships okay and his wife follows behind they get to the ship and he church around and he discovers his wife it has disappeared he goes back and he's discovered that his wife has killed herself why because she knows that in this new world that they're going to she can only be a hindrance okay she wants him to embrace the future and let go of the past also she's afraid that if she lives she'd be captured become a slave to the Greeks and she does not want to dishonor him like

that okay so that's what a good wife is right that's a bad wife because she's independent and she's looking for love but a good wife is someone who will kill herself for her husband okay so innius and his people they're on ships and they end up in Carthage and their guests of a queen named Ditto and Ditto falls in love with Ineus they get married and in is very happy in Carthids okay But the gods look at Ineus and says, hey man, we told you this many times, but you have a destiny to go to Rome. Your son will be the founder of a great empire. Okay.

That's the plan. That's the destiny. That's your mission. That's your duty. Stop running around in Carthage and do what you're told. So Carthet, so Ineus has to go see Ditto and say, listen, I have to go. Okay, and Ditto goes insane because she's in love with Innius. And she kills yourself, okay?

So the message here, again, this is not subtle, okay? The message here is, love is a disease, right? Love is a disease, a plague upon the world. It was Helen's love that caused the children war. And it was Ditto's love for Ineus that will cause caused the war between Carthage and Rome. Because before she dies, it'll instruct her people to destroy Rome. In the future, a great city called Rome will arise.

You, the Carthage people have a responsibility to honor my memory and destroy Rome. And that's why Hannibal went to attack Rome. Again, this is that subtle propaganda. Ineus ends up in Italy like he's supposed to. And there he meets the local king, his name is Latinus, and he's the king of the Latins, okay? And he is mesmerized, stunned by the nobility of Innius. And he wants his daughter to marry Innius. But his daughter is already supposed to marry another prince called Ternus.

And this starts a war between Innius and Churnus. And this war goes on for a very long time. It's like the Iliad. And Churnas kills one of Ineus' friends. Okay? And he sees that the friend of Ineus has this really nice belt. He takes it for himself. And this belt was a gift from Ineus to his friend.

Eventually, Innius and Churness get into a duel. And Ineus overpowers Churness. And at the very last minute, Churness gives up, surrenders your sword, and begs for mercy. And Ineus wants to show mercy. He's like, I've been in you, you're no longer a threat. I can show you some forgiveness, okay?

I can be merciful. But then he sees the belt that he gave his friend. And he knows Chernas has killed. killed his friend and so he just plunges his spear into churness and that's how the indian ends okay now the indian is very confusing for scholars because it's pretty awful and so scholars have debated whether or not Virgil was able to finish the Indian yet and the argument is the ending is too abrupt and therefore Virgil couldn't have finished the Iliad.

It's unfinished. But you think about it, it is finished, okay? Because remember in the Iliad, we see a character transformation of Achilles, right? Well, we also see a character transformation of Ineus in this book, all right? So remember, when Ineus sees Helen, he really wants to kill her.

And he only stopped because the gods intervened. Okay? Remember, Innius wanted to abandon his family and get killed in the streets of Troy. The gods have to send him a message, okay? So another divine intervention. Remember, Ineus wanted to stay at Carthage and be with Dittle. So the Greeks had to send a messenger to tell him,

you can't do that. You have to fulfill your destiny and go to Troy. story and go to Rome okay but at the very end when Innius wanted to kill when when in is wanted to kill Churness the gods didn't have to intervene okay he wanted to show mercy to Charnes and he recognized no my duty is to kill this guy you understand okay so Innius has become the embodiment of piety and duty before the gods had to instruct him to do his duty. Now he recognizes what his duty is.

He embraces it. Now what's important for us is to remember that throughout this book, throughout this book, there's the idea of destiny that what Ineus is doing has been preordained by the gods because the real purpose of Ineus is to go to Rome so that his son can be. build the Roman Empire. So another major message of this book is,

the end point of history is Augustus Caesar, okay? Everything that is happening is to move towards, converge to Augustus Caesar. Because Augustus Caesar will create the Pax Romana, what we call the Roman peace. Which is the idea of eternal peace. Peace on earth. Remember that before Augusta Caesar, there were all the civil war

that were killing millions of people, right? Well, after Augustus Caesar became emperor, there is now the Pax Romanah, eternal peace on earth. And this is the end point of history. The Roman Empire will mean there will no longer be any wars. There will no longer be any conflicts. Why? Because what the Roman Empire will do is transition us from love to piety.

Okay? Homer believed that love is the basis of civilization. What the Roman Empire will show is that piety is the basis of civilization. Love is the force that comes from within you, okay? It grows within you. But piety is what is told to you, okay? It is what you must accept. Love is what you can feel.

Love is the embrace of your emotions. Piety means the rejection of your emotions. Don't listen to your feelings. Listen to what you are told. By enriching your emotions, you have imagination. But piety believes imagination is destructive. What matters is stability and harmony, okay? Stability.

Stability and obedience is what will give peace to the world. So for Homer, love is a unifying force of the universe. But for Virgil, love is the force that creates conflict in the universe, right? Think of Helen, think of Ditto. For Homer, the imagination is the animating force of the universe. It is what gives life. But for Virgil, the imagination is the destructive, force of the universe. It is what destroys. It's basically you disobey that creates chaos and

conflict. And so we now have a transition from the Greek world to the Roman world that is focused on piety. What version is trying to create is the idea of eternity, right? Eternity. Something that lasts forever. What Homer is trying to create this idea of infinity, how we can create the world through our actions and emotions. In the Paxo-Mana and our goshisor Caesar, all I have to do is obey and the world to be perfect. We have come to the end of history. History has stopped because we have found perfection. We have found the perfect model to organize human civilization.

We are the perfection. We are the end. Okay. And so this is the idea of Roman eternity. And this marks a radical transition in Western civilization, okay? Doesn't make sense. Any questions? One last point is this, okay?

The Romans were like the most non-creative people in the world, okay? They were anti-creative. So everything that they had, they sold from somewhere else, okay? So the question then is, where did they get the idea of eternity from? Can you guess? Egypt. Next class, I will show you, it's the, that the Romans are using the Egyptian sense of eternity.

So I know this is a lot to take in, so feel free to ask for clarification on any point, okay? Are you okay with this? Sure. Well, Augusta Caesar wants them to reject Greek culture, but they cannot reject Greek culture because it's so powerful, right? So, okay, so this lecture is not about

what will happen to reality. This lecture is about the new conception of reality as introduced by the Roman Empire. But eventually this will become the new reality. It will take time. So, looking ahead, the Romans will introduce a new idea that will make piety and obedience, the cornerstone of society.

This idea is called Christianity. Looking ahead, right? I like this is not happening right now because the Roman conception is not as appealing as a Greek conception. But eventually the Romans will create a new religion called Christianity that will dominate and make piety the make piety the cornerstone of society and civilization. Okay, but looking ahead. Any questions? Okay, so next class, we will discuss Egypt.