Dr. Andrew Dinan Makes the Case for Virgil’s Aeneid

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On September 13, Thomas Aquinas College welcomed Dr. Andrew Dinan to the New England campus , where he presented a defense of Virgil’s epic poem, the Aeneid, as a glorious work in its own right. A professor of classics at Ave Maria University and the father of alumnus Paul Dinan (NE’23), Dr. Dinan gave his talk, The Aeneid as an Apology, as part of the St. Vincent de Paul Lecture and Concert Series. 

Dr. Dinan began by acknowledging that the Aeneid is often not a favorite among students. “I once had a student send me an email years after he had taken my class, telling me that he had given Virgil an honest try and still thought it was awful,” he remarked, eliciting laughter from the audience, especially members of the Sophomore Class, who just finished reading the Aeneid in Seminar. 

Yet Dr. Dinan proceeded to make the case for why Virgil’s work is much more than a cheap copy of Homer or a piece of Roman propaganda. Instead, he argued, the Aeneid is a masterpiece of Latin poetry. It raises profound questions about life and how it should be lived — and may even be thought to foreshadow the coming of Christ. 

At the conclusion of the lecture, students gave Dr. Dinan a standing ovation before heading to Dolben Library for a thought-provoking question-and-answer session. “I definitely want to re-read the Aeneid now,” said Catherine Welter (’27). “There’s even more to it than I knew!” 

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