The Aeneid is a poem of parallels and contrasts. This is because Virgil crafted his epic as a means of placing the Romans above the Greeks on the literal level. It was often understood that while Rome had a far superior military, the Greeks had a far more evolved sense of Art and the more sublime aspects of existence. As such, Virgil wrote the Aeneid as a direct parallel to Homer’s great epics: the …showed first 75 words of 2064 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2064 total…the plot shows how weak the Greek characters are when compared to Roman characters; Mezentius simply isn’t deep enough to merit a large role. In conclusion, the primary goals of Virgil’s introduction of a tragic villain such as Turnus into the epic formula originated by Homer is to further the depth of the main character, and to show how weak the Homeric villain is by highlighting Mezentius’ weaknesses through the methods outlined above.