Although literature throughout history can be viewed as a social and political commentary on the values of the time, some of these works go to an extreme to convey this message. In the way that Virgil used The Aeneid to provide an example for what the values in Rome should be, Euripides also used The Bacchae to send a message to the people of Athens, but in a more radical way.
Many scholars see the hero Aeneas as a model that Virgil was presenting for the emperor Augustus to follow. Throughout the epic, Aeneas is referred to as “pious Aeneas,” and it is apparent that Virgil is stressing this piety and reverence for a reason (Lecture, Dr. Gleason, 10/11). Augustus was a young man with a huge amount of power, and it was around this time that the Roman republic started to become more like an empire (Lecture, Dr. Griffin, 10/15). It can be argued that Virgil used The Aeneid to remind Augustus of the values that had been important in Roman culture in the past and what a good leader should be like (Lecture, Dr. Gleason, 10/11). In several places, he almost directly states his purpose, as when Aeneas's father Anchises tells Aeneas directly what he should strive to do: “Roman, remember by your strength to rule Earth's peoples-for your arts are to be these: to pacify, to impose the rule of law, to spare the conquered, battle down the proud” (The Aeneid in Norton Anthology 1 1123).
Euripides is a little less straightforward about the purpose of The Bacchae, but the image he presents is far more extreme. Whereas in The Aeneid, the correct values are shown through advice to Aeneas and through his actions, Euripides criticizes Athens not by offering a solution to the problem, but by diagnosing it with symbols and the exaggeration of disorder. Pentheus can be viewed as a symbol for the polis of Athens (Lecture, Dr. Freis, 9/27). As Athens was in the Peloponnesian War, Pentheus was war-mongering without the support of the people. The wise Tiresias says, “A man who influences others with overbearing is dangerous for his city: he lacks reason” (The Bacchae 20). Pentheus was fighting for order and the involvement of all of his people in his kingdom against the chaos of outside forces, just as Athens was fighting and trying to control outsiders instead of merely the members of the polis. Perhaps the violent death of Pentheus symbolizes the lives lost in the Peloponnesian War, which many of the Greeks thought to be pointless (Lecture, Dr. Freis, 9/27).
Both of these works of literature also provide a commentary on the religious values of the time. In The Aeneid, it is shown that the gods are important and should be worshipped. Aeneas states, “Filthy with war, just come from slaughter, I must never touch these sacred things until I bathe myself within a running stream” (The Aeneid in Norton Anthology 1 1083). This reverence is stated clearly, and it shows that Virgil believed reverence to be an important aspect of Roman culture that should not be lost. In The Bacchae, however, Euripides indirectly suggests that the blind following of the gods is foolish, leading to chaos and death. Possibly showing how shallow the worship of gods to such an extreme extent is, Euripides is also hinting that a shift in focus is necessary in Athens, but, once again, his meaning is hidden behind far more extreme events.
As a social commentary, The Bacchae is both more indirect and more radical than The Aeneid. Where The Aeneid states directly what Augustus should do and what role Rome should have in the world, The Bacchae uses symbols and the exaggeration of human emotions and decisions to show what the Athenians should not do. It is radical in that the situations on the play are violent and drastic, whereas in The Aeneid, nothing out of the ordinary happens to convey Virgil's point.
