It is a weighty, thought provoking word. It brings to mind images of decorated soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder with each other, hands raised in crisp salute, as a twenty-one gun salute fires off its sharp retort beside the grave of a fallen comrade. More images flood the minds" eye. The exploding shores of Normandy being invaded by battalions of Marines, the liberation of Europe ahead. Doctors in blood-soaked scrubs, feverishly working in emergency rooms trauma wards, going to extraordinary measures to save a dying patient. Defense attorneys chasing down that eye witness to prove their client is not guilty. Most people have some action that they perform out of duty, an obligation that would cause more heartache and trouble if they were to shirk it. In The Aeneid, Aeneas is a loyal and trustworthy slave of duty. He constantly has to overcome adversity to do his god-ordained duty of founding the city and society of Rome. At times he wavers, and it costs him and his companions, but he eventually returns to the task at hand, to the path of duty. In the classic tragic epic poem of The Aeneid, duty is all that matters, and all other tasks, peoples and plans are secondary, to the ultimate goal of completion of that duty. This is why Aeneas had to kill Turnus. Turnus must die, as his living would have interfered with the duty of founding the Roman life.
Aeneas isn't always the most steadfast fellow. He had many distractions. As an example of this, if he had followed his basic instincts, the Trojans would have settled on the North African coast, and he would have reigned with Dido, establishing the Rome there, instead of in Italy. It is only through divine intervention that he leaves the kingdom of Dido, sneaking out under the cover of night, to embrace the future that awaits him on the other side of the Mediterranean. .
/ "Look here, for the second time / a god from heaven's high air is goading me / to hasten our break away, to cut the cables.