In Book 6, Anchises describes a pageant of unborn Roman heroes; this is described as the most powerful patriotic message in the whole poem. Which scholar makes this claim?

• A. R. D. Williams
• B. Denis Feeney
• C. Paul F. Burke
• D. Ellen O'Gorman

Answer: (A)

Interpreting why that pageant stands out relies on recognizing a specific scholarly claim: R. D. Williams argues this ritual of unborn Roman heroes is Virgil’s most powerful patriotic statement in the poem. His reading shows how Anchises’ vision fuses founding myth with a future destiny, turning poetry into a tool for national memory and political legitimation. The unborn figures symbolize a continuous line of Roman virtue and leadership, implying that Rome’s greatness is prefigured and sanctioned by divine and historical order. By presenting this forward-looking grandeur, the scene elevates patriotism from a personal or tragic moment to a shared civic destiny, urging readers to take pride in Rome’s destined glory and the role poetry plays in shaping that memory. While other scholars explore related ideas—patriotism, imperial ideology, and memory in the epic—Williams is the one who explicitly highlights this particular passage as the poem’s strongest patriotic message.