Lusiads 1-5

Lusiads 1
The council of the gods establishes the intent of fate to support the expansion of the empire. I am looking for more empire support through the rest of this propaganda leaflet we call an epic.

Lusiads 2
They meet the Sultan. De Gama dresses in ceremonial garb to meet him.

Lusiads 3
"It was Heaven permitted this, and not the might of your armies; for so was prophesied in the Ancient Word..." I don't know what prophecies he's drawing from, but this might be a way that the expansion of empire was justified.

Lusiads 4
"This was ordained by Divine Heaven, which spoke its will by many signs"... again, more justification for empire?

Lusiads 5
Paragraph 23 was very interesting. It says that if old philosophers had known the discoveries De Gama's fleet had, that they would have left better writings. This is a sort of nostalgia, and Hegelian notion that everything has been a progression and is moving forward. Would the Greeks had written better philosophy? Maybe they would have just played Playstation instead.

Aeneid 11, 12

Aeneid 11
The scene with Pallas's death is vaguely reminiscent of death scenes in the Iliad, with concepts of honor for the dead. Aeneus loses him much like Achilles loses his right hand man. The uneasy truce is reminiscent also of the uneasy peace as Achilles and Priam talk about what to do with the corpse. The king is surprisingly placid for having lost his son. He is the most unrealistic character in the book for me.

Aeneid 12
Turnus finally agrees to single combat having failed in all other options. However, war breaks out before the battle can be held. It is interesting that another woman kills herself in this chapter. I don't remember a suicide in the Iliad (maybe I'm not thinking hard enough). Is it a metaphor that those who don't go along with Rome and just killing themselves? I'm not sure. The end is not very merciful for Turnis as Aeneus slays him, and Turnus even admits he deserves it. I'm not sure what to make of this. The characters, especially the non-Trojans, seem so unrealistic at time