The paper begins by emphasising the importance of Book VI of Virgil's "Aeneid" to the epic as a whole and sketching Aeneas'
more mature character at the start of the book. It discusses his meetings with old acquaintances in the underworld and the
effect of these on him. After dealing with the comparisons to Homer and discussing the "Augustan propaganda" label, it analyses the message of the Show of Heroes and its inspiring effect on the hero.