Which scholar identifies the pageant of unborn Roman heroes described by Anchises as the most powerful patriotic message?

• A. Paul F. Burke
• B. Oliver Lyne
• C. Denis Feeney
• D. R. D. Williams

Answer: (D)

The strongest patriotic message in the Anchises pageant lies in its presentation of a future Roman lineage—the unborn heroes who willFound and govern the empire. By showing that Rome’s greatness is preordained and rooted in virtus and divine sanction, Virgil invites readers to see the present struggle as part of a long, glorious national destiny. This framing turns Aeneas’s exile and hardships into a prelude to Rome’s inevitable greatness, linking individual sacrifice to a collective mission that transcends generations. That is why this particular interpretation emphasizes the pageant as the epic’s most powerful patriotic statement: it binds the audience to a sense of national identity and imperial purpose.

This view is associated with R. D. Williams, who highlights how the pageant functions as a propagandistic assertion of Rome’s destined dominance and unity. While other scholars illuminate different aspects— stylistic features, narrative structure, or imperial ideology in broader terms—the distinctive claim that the unborn-heroes sequence delivers the core patriotic message is Williams’s contribution.