6. Often, leaders must suppress their true emotions or put on a “brave face” for the sake of their followers and their success. Provide examples from the text when a leader had to refrain from displaying his true emotions and how refraining from doing so affected the success of the leader.
- Aeneas
- Lost and sacrificed his wife, his home, his father, Dido, and much more, but he buried his grief and sadness in order to continue on the journey which he was fated to take
- During a time when Aeneas felt great sadness for all he had lost, he managed to mask his pain to motivate his soldiers to keep pushing on despite all they have already and will endure (pg 54, line 232)
- Aeneas’ ability to refrain from displaying his true emotions was beneficial to his success as a leader. If he had succumbed to his emotions and indulged in self-pity, he would not have continued onto the journey fate set for him; therefore, he would not have succeeded in founding Rome.
- Suppressing his emotion at the times that he did allowed for them to build up inside of him, and he was able to use all of his pain and grief to his advantage in battle. All of his emotion was released onto his enemies and this helped him achieve success as well.
Ideas in Antiquity Online Study Guide 