Who defines Aeneas's pietas as Virgil's standing epithet?

• A. Isabel Paintin
• B. Bob Cowan
• C. R.D Williams
• D. Galinsky

Answer: (C)

The concept being tested is how Virgil uses a recurring label to define a central character’s guiding trait. In the Aeneid, pietas is not just one momentary virtue; it functions as a persistent, shaping description of Aeneas throughout the poem. The idea that pietas is Virgil’s standing epithet for Aeneas means the poet repeatedly frames the hero by this same attribute, guiding readers to see his actions—from obedience to the gods to loyalty to family and to the future city of Rome—as rooted in dutiful piety.

R. D. Williams is the scholar who argues that Virgil deliberately makes pietas the sustained epithet by which Aeneas is recognized and understood. This framing turns pietas into a structural hinge of the epic: it explains why Aeneas behaves as he does in pivotal moments and why Virgil foregrounds this particular virtue across the narrative. While other scholars discuss the nuances and tensions of pietas within the poem, Williams specifically identifies it as the standing epithet Virgil assigns to Aeneas, shaping the entire portrayal.