THE SCENE: In this little parable about the fall of Troy, the great hero Aeneas earns the respect of his enemies by demonstrating that family and god come first.
THE TEXT: When Troy was taken, Aeneas, together with some other Trojans, seized a part of the city and held off the attackers, and when the Greeks let them depart under a truce and agreed with them that each man might take with him as many of his possession as he could, all the rest took silver or gold or some other costly article, whereas Aeneas lifted upon his shoulders his father, who was now grown quite old, and bore him away. For this deed he won the admiration of the Greeks and was again given permission to choose out what he would of his household possessions. When he bore off the household gods, all the more was his virtue approved, receiving the plaudits even of his enemies; for the man showed that in the midst of the greatest peril his first concern was piety towards parents and reverence for the gods, and this was the reason, we are told, why he, together with the Trojans who still survived, was allowed to leave the Troad in complete safety and go to whatever land he wished.
– Bibliotheca Historica, Diodorus Siculus, 1st Century BC
[Image Credit: Aeneas and his Father Fleeing Troy by Simon Vouet]
