Why No Mercy? : A Study of Aeneas' Missing Virtue
When Octavian in 27 BC was given the title of Augustus, a shield was set up in the senate inscribed with four virtues; virtus, clementia, iustitia, and pietas. Aeneas, the great ancestor of Octavian, is frequently praised for pietas, virtus, and iustitia in the Aeneid. Regarding clementia, however, Vergil is conspicuously silent. Indeed, in the battle scenes of books 10 and 12, Aeneas refuses to s