Essay On Passion And Reason In Ancient Rome

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As we progress in the world today, there will always be a debate between passion and reason. Some may say that people need one more than the other to function, but both are essential. Though in Ancient Rome, it is seen through many epics and stories that the people lean more towards the reasoning side of their brains. The use of reasoning in Rome is influenced by the philosophy of stoicism originating from Hellenistic Greece. The idea of stoicism represents what Ancient Rome was all about. Stoicism is all about going through and achieving hardships or difficulties without complaint, and by using the concepts of logos. Logos is using the more rational side of thought to do things rather than pathos. So, the use of this type of philosophy is …show more content…
Dido changes from a fantastic ruler who cares about her society and the wellbeing of everyone in it, to a woman who lacks interest in her society and thinks mainly about herself. Thus, the scene where Aeneas chooses his fate to find Rome over Dido, let’s the reader recognize how much Dido has lost herself to this infatuation. Once she realizes that she cannot change Aeneas’s mind to choosing her she, “driven by madness, beaten down by anguish, Dido was fixed on dying” (IV. 634.594-595). Here readers can understand fully how far Dido would take her passion. She would die and leave her sister along with her society of Carthage as if they were nothing to her. By letting this consume her and dying, Dido let her emotions take control and destroy her. If she were to think rationally, she would realize that this is a great loss to everything she has built up until now. If she were not to die, Dido may have found happiness in both her love life and city. Dido could have lead her people and herself into greatness if only her actions were all followed by reason instead of passion. But in the end, she surrenders to her own