Precis for "Rome and its traditions"

          James Zetzel, in his essay "Rome and its traditions" (10-11-12) claims that throughout the Aeneid, Virgil includes "descriptions of Rome and Italy's past and present" that although significant, may be misleading (Zetzel 189). Zetzel finds instances in almost every Book in the epic that have some relevance to describing Romans, and their major historical events, and even Italy as a whole. He examines 3 major prophecies in the epic, which show Virgil's own view of Rome, and those are Jupiter's prophecy to Venus, Anchises' disclosure to Aeneas, and Vulcan's gift to Aeneas, the shield. Zetzel says that although Virgil did his research and did acquire historical information based off of other  authors and poets, he also made up some of his characters and events himself. Because of this, other inconsistencies in the epic, and also Virgil's emphasis on perspective and uncertainty, Zetzel argues that history has no concise solution and no real truth, and the reader is able to make what he or she will of Rome's history.
          I thought this article was pretty convincing. I really liked the whole idea of perception and the mysteries of Rome's past. I didn't realize how many connections there were to history throughout the Aeneid, as I had only spotted the obvious ones; however, the ones that the author pointed out to me made sense and were relevant to Virgil's writing. I also did not pick up on all of Virgil's inconsistencies that were pointed out to me within this essay, which also made a lot of sense. I thought this article was interesting because it examined a unique topic; however, the title was misleading because when I think of traditions, I think of customs, holidays, and even attire, and not necessarily history.