Furor and pietas
What is furor and pietas?
Their role the text
Learning Intention

Today we will learn about what furor
and pietas are and their functions
within the text. We will look at specific
examples which will further enable us
to understand the text.
What is furor?
Furor meaning disarray.
 Words used in the text to describe
Aeneas’ various states of disarray:
insonia (madness), furor (furios),
violentia (ungoverned passion).

Role in the text
Juno constantly running Aeneas off
course but eventually he founds the
Roman race and thus restores order.
 In battle Aeneas is twice (at least)
shown as carried away by blood-lust,
furor is the cause of his making a fatal
tactical mistake.

Activity
Read the section titled Conflict between
furor and pietas, p15 (Findlay).
 Jot down points that you may have
missed.

Quirky question.
What can be seen in the middle of
March and April that cannot be seen at
the beginning or end of either month?
 The letter ‘R’.

What is pietas?
Pietas means order.
 Roman value – constantly exhibited by
Aeneas.
 He has moments of furor yet in general
he is a calming force and restores order
to his group.

Role in the text.
When Aeneas and his crew are washed
up on the shores of North Africa, he
goes searching for the rest of his men
and kills several deer for the crew to
feast on.
 Aeneas is known as the true, he is
pious: “a man so marked for goodness”
(Bk 1).

Activity.

Fill in the sheet.