While on the surface the Aeneid could be seen as a Roman epic meant to glorify Rome and rival those of the ancient Greeks, the author was engaged in a struggle. Virgil had to satisfy the cultural demands of his work, the political demands of his time, and his own personal demands as an artist. In tackling his problem, Virgil is revealed to be slightly reluctant of embracing fully the still young regime of Octavian but still proud of Rome and his ancestry, and concerned with the moral issues of civil war. When considering the style with which Virgil composed...
Italian pride.

Rome saw itself as the light in a dark world. It was held that their civilization was the greatest since Athens in its heyday, and the poets conformed. The Iliad and Odyssey are oral tales that were handed down, arguably more the creation of legend than that of Homer. They could be deemed products of an entire society. The Aeneid was contrarily a singular voice, of one man alone. It was the product of an individual; free in a relative sense of the word. It lacked social constraints but still respected the ideals behind those very constraints.