Which scholar argues that Aeneas displays virtues quintessentially Roman, aligning with the ideals Augustus promoted: religious, social and familial?

• A. Fiachra Mac Gorain - Aeneas and Augustan values
• B. Bob Cowan - Aeneas and Augustan values
• C. Susanna Morton Braund - Characterisation of Aeneas
• D. Philip Hardie - Modern audience and Dido

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how Aeneas is read as embodying Roman virtues—especially those Augustus promoted as the foundation of the new Roman state. Aeneas is shown as deeply pious (pietas) toward the gods, dutiful toward his people, and attentive to family obligations, all of which reinforce a vision of Rome built on religious duty, social order, and familial lineage. Fiachra Mac Gorain makes this connection explicit in his argument that Aeneas embodies these quintessential Roman qualities in a way that aligns with Augustan ideology. He treats the hero’s religious duty to the gods, his leadership and care for the Trojan remnant as a model of civic virtue, and his fidelity to family and dynasty as central to the state-building project Augustus celebrated. This direct framing—linking Aeneas’s virtues to Augustus’s promoted ideals—is why this reading stands out as the best match for the question.

Other scholars focus on related but different angles. One emphasizes the nuances of Aeneas’s characterization itself, not necessarily tying those traits to Augustan propaganda. Another looks at how modern audiences interpret Dido and the epic, or at how Augustan values operate in reception rather than in the poem’s explicit moral program. While these are valuable, they don’t present the same direct, explicit link between Aeneas’s virtues and Augustus’s ideological program as clearly as Mac Gorain does.