Adnan Yaqub
Chelmsford, United Kingdom

In the epic poem the Aeneid, Virgil details the journey of the Trojan hero Aeneas to Italy. Beyond descriptions of battlefield violence, the poem explores the emotional suffering of the warriors and of their families, friends, allies, and enemies.

Modern psychology recognizes that traumatic events can produce a range of psychological responses, affecting cognitive, behavioral, and physiological functioning.¹ Although current psychiatric diagnoses cannot be applied to ancient literary figures, Virgil’s descriptions provide a valuable insight into the emotional responses to warfare.

The trauma of survival

Through Aeneas, Virgil highlights the psychological burden carried by the survivors of war. Despite escaping the destruction of Troy, his survival is accompanied by memories of suffering and loss. When Dido asks him to recount the fall of Troy, Aeneas tells her, “O queen, you command me to renew unspeakable grief.”² Aeneas’s reluctance demonstrates the pain of recounting the war, implying that the trauma of war remains unresolved despite victory. Virgil further conveys the intensity of Aeneas’s distress as he “shudders” and “recoils”² upon recollection of the war, highlighting that his emotional suffering is so severe that it elicits an involuntary physical reaction.

This association between psychological distress and bodily response is recognized in modern psychological research, which suggests that traumatic memories can manifest not only as narrative recollections, but also invoke somatic responses.³ Such manifestations resemble posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in which individuals may experience strong physiological reactions, including increased heart rate and sweating, to reminders of a traumatic event.⁴ Although Aeneas cannot be retrospectively diagnosed with a modern psychiatric disorder, Virgil’s description of his emotional pain and involuntary physical reaction provide a striking literary representation of the psychological impact the Trojan war had on Aeneas.

The trauma of bereavement

A poignant description of psychological trauma in the Aeneid occurs after the death of Euryalus in Book 9. When Euryalus’s mother learns of his death, Virgil describes how “all warmth left her helpless bones, the shuttle was hurled from her hands, the thread unwound.”⁵ Sharrock (2011) notes that the abandonment of her weaving tools, traditional markers of respectable Roman femininity, symbolizes how grief overwhelms her ability to continue her ordinary role, reflecting the severe disruption caused by traumatic loss.⁶ Virgil conjures a vivid image of her distress: “shrieking madly, her hair dishevelled” and “she filled the heavens with her lament.”⁵ The employment of rhetorical questions amplifies her overwhelming desperation for a final farewell with her son: “How could you bring yourself to leave me alone, cruel child?” and “Why did you not give your poor mother the chance for a final goodbye?”⁵

In her grief, she no longer wishes to live, and later asks both the enemy (the Rutulians) and the gods to take her life: we are told she can “shatter this cruel life no other way.”⁵ This extreme reaction, coupled with her intense physical expression of grief, parallels modern research into bereavement, which highlights that traumatic grief can be associated with considerable psychiatric morbidities, including suicidality.⁷

Moral conflict in war

Virgil further explores psychological trauma through Aeneas’s remorse for killing Lausus. In Book 10, Aeneas kills Lausus in a fit of rage, after Lausus confronted him while defending his wounded father, Mezentius. However, Aeneas immediately experiences remorse for his actions: “he groaned deeply with pity.”⁸ Here, Virgil demonstrates the emotional weight of the act; Lausus’s death reminds Aeneas of his own paternal loss of Anchises, transforming Aeneas’s victory into a moment of personal grief. His remorse extends beyond pity into a desire to honor Lausus. Addressing the dead warrior, Aeneas asks: “Unhappy child, what can loyal Aeneas grant to such a nature, worthy of these glorious deeds of yours?”⁸

The concept of moral injury, describing the psychological suffering among individuals exposed to events that conflict with their ethical beliefs during warfare, may provide a contemporary framework for interpreting Aeneas’s reaction.⁹ Discussed particularly among military personnel, moral injury is associated with emotions including shame, grief, and remorse for violating core moral beliefs.¹⁰ Rather than framing Lausus’s death as a military success, Virgil emphasizes Aeneas’s emotional turmoil, transforming victory into a source of psychological suffering.

The impact of warfare on emotional regulation

The psychological consequences of war are relayed through a different lens when examining Turnus’s impulsive behavior during his assault on the Trojan camp. Despite having an opportunity to achieve victory by opening the gate to his allies, Turnus is unable to act strategically. Instead, Virgil explains that “rage and insane desire for slaughter drove him, passionate, against the enemy.”⁵ The verb “drove” is significant, as Virgil personifies Turnus’s “rage” and “desire” as emotions that controlled his actions and overpowered his rational judgement. The violence of war is presented here as creating a psychological state in which destructive emotions dominate rationality, causing Turnus to abandon strategic objective for immediate bloodshed.

This portrayal links with psychological descriptions of emotional dysregulation, defined as “patterns of emotional experience or expression that interfere with goal-directed activity.”¹¹ In individuals exposed to traumatic or highly stressful experiences such as warfare, prolonged activation of threat responses may contribute to impaired emotional regulation, increasing vulnerability to impulsive behavior.¹² Recent research has demonstrated an association between emotional dysregulation and violent behavior, with impulsivity acting as a mediating factor.¹³ This impaired emotional control may have been a contributing factor to Turnus’s downfall, as the warrior is later reduced to submission and humiliation before his death: “he lowered his eyes in submission and stretched out his right hand.”¹⁴ Through Turnus, Virgil suggests that psychological trauma may manifest not only through suffering and grief, but also through destructive behavior and altered emotional control.

Conclusion

The Aeneid provides an evocative and profound insight into the psychological trauma that is experienced by those involved in conflict. While modern psychological theories provide valuable interpretations of these responses, Virgil’s descriptions highlight the complex relationship between traumatic experiences and human behavior, demonstrating that the ramifications of warfare extend far beyond physical injury.

References

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8. Virgil. Aeneid, Book X. Translated by Kline AS. Poetry in Translation. Published 2002. Accessed August 2, 2026. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidX.php

9. Braun D. Moral injury in modern warfare: clinical reflections and implications for military psychiatry. Front Psychiatry. 2026;17:1738799. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2026.1738799

10. Bryan CJ, Bryan AO, Anestis MD, et al. Measuring moral injury: psychometric properties of the Moral Injury Events Scale in two military samples. Assessment. 2016;23(5):557-570. doi:10.1177/1073191115590855

11. Thompson RA. Emotion dysregulation: a theme in search of definition. Dev Psychopathol. 2019;31(3):805-815. doi:10.1017/S0954579419000282

12. Ceschi G, Billieux J, Hearn M, Fürst G, Van der Linden M. Trauma exposure interacts with impulsivity in predicting emotion regulation and depressive mood. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2014;5(1):24104. doi:10.3402/ejpt.v5.24104

13. Wang H, Amin S. From emotional dysregulation to violence: psychological pathways associated with aggressive behavior. J Affect Disord. 2026;412:122028. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2026.122028

14. Virgil. Aeneid, Book XII. Translated by Kline AS. Poetry in Translation. Published 2002. Accessed August 2, 2026. https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/VirgilAeneidXII.php

Acknowledgement

The author would like to acknowledge the Classics Department at Brentwood School for fostering his interest in Latin literature and classical studies.