R. D. Williams describes the Aeneid as essentially which kind of poem?

• A. A national poem exploring what Romans were like, what they should be like and what they could teach the world
• B. A myth about the founding of Rome with no moral purpose
• C. An entertainment work with no political aims
• D. A collection of episodic adventures without unity

Answer: (B)

The main idea this question tests is how Williams reads the Aeneid’s purpose: as a founding myth of Rome rather than a moral instruction or a political program. Williams emphasizes that Virgil’s epic centers on the origin story of Rome—the journey of Aeneas and the events that lead to Rome’s founding—so the poem functions as a mythic narrative that explains where Rome comes from. In this reading, the poem’s primary role is to establish Rome’s earthly beginnings and divine sanction, not to deliver a direct moral manual about how Romans should behave or to advance a specific contemporary political agenda. That focus on origins and destiny gives the Aeneid its unity as a single mythic project, rather than treating it as a loose collection of episodes or as merely an entertainment piece. The other views push the poem toward explicit moralizing, national character, or episodic independence, which Williams would argue misplace its central function as a foundational myth.