There are several times I mention Virgil’s Aeneid in the novel. During Augustus’s reign, Homer was still so popular that he said, “Hmph. It’s no fair that the Greeks have this awesome piece of literature. We need one too.”
He’d especially think so because Romans claim to have been founded by escapees from Troy, after the Greeks destroyed it. So Augustus commissioned Virgil to write a Roman equivalent of the Iliad and Odyssey. The result is the Aeneid.
My personal opinion (take this with a grain of salt) is that Virgil’s masterpiece doesn’t measure up to Homer’s. Probably because I had read Homer first, but it felt like a copy. (Gee, maybe because it was?) Hence why I have Jason sharing my opinion in the beginning of chapter 8.
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