The Aeneid, an epic written by Vergil in the 1st century BC has a key feature distinguishing from those of Homer—the Iliad and the Odyssey having come into existence around the 8th century BC—which is the awareness of the issues on "government of the citizens, by the citizens, for the citizens in the peaceful world consisting of various peoples"—hereafter 'government'. The world here means a region consisting of the Mediterranean and its surrounding areas which is substantially 'the world' for the peoples there at that time. This awareness was formed for the first time in the human history when Rome brought the region under the rule of unified laws after several thousand years of intermittent armed conflicts among peoples. In other words, the Aeneid is not only about what happened for founding Rome but also about how should be 'government'.
The Aeneid led Roman citizens with the awareness above to think why it was neither Troy, Greece (which had destroyed Troy and even Persia later) nor Cartago (which had defeated Greece in the sea) but Rome that Jupiter had already given the commission of 'government', what was the differences between Rome and those, what Jupiter, Juno and Venus represented in terms of 'government' respectively, and what future efforts Roman citizens would have to make to carry out Jupiter's commission from generation to generation. Jupiter tells the goal but not the way—'true effort to learn' in A. 12.435 means efforts to find and follow the way as Aeneas did. The Aeneid would also lead its readers in any century to think of those when 'government' is an issue to be addressed.
As 'government' was achieved by Rome after the long history in the region, so the Aeneid was created by Vergil based on the accumulation of literature, philosophy, and various studies in the region—works in the mythological period, in the historical period before Vergil, and in Vergil's period, which multilayered support the theme of 'government'.
In 1.410-436 the Aeneid refers to the Odyssey, the Menaechmi and the Georgicon at least: for example, the Odyssey for how was the traditional relation between Gods and heroes in the mythological age which gives a background to interpret Aeneas' behaviors, the Menaechmi for how was the senses of values of normal Roman people having enabled the Roman republic to grow by the victories in the Punic Wars, and the Georgicon for Vergil's ideas on 'government' who suffered from the Roman civil wars caused by the negative effects of Roman republic's growth.
In Od. 7.14-17 Athena casts about Odysseus a thick mist to prevent troubles, and also in A. 1.411-414 Venus does so for Aeneas with Achates. Using the similar plot, relation between a goddess and a hero in the Aeneid seems to be much less close than in the Odyssey. This suggests that the realization of destiny to humansin the Aeneid depends more on humans than gods requiring strong will and loyalty .
In Od. 7.44 Odysseus marvels at appearances of agoras, but Aeneas marvels at political activities (in the forum) in A 1.426. This difference would result from the awareness of 'government' issues in the Aeneid.
In the Menaechi, a women's mantle originally to cover and prevent its wearer from troubles, of which function is the same as the mist in the Aeneid and the Odyssey, in an ironic manner typical to comedy causes many troubles revealing real issues of Roman daily lives which would have become some causes of the Social war and the Roman civil wars. It would be the most suggestive that the twin brothers place more value on their blood relationship ('form' in a sense) than their 'content' resulting in Menaechmus' divorce: the same blood relationship drove the growth of the Roman republic, but after that it did not prevent the long wars within the same blood.
The lines of A 1.430-436 compare the way Carthaginians are to that of bees which is the theme of Georgicon book 4. In G. 4, especially the episode of Aristaeus and Orpheus is not only directly about 'the Amor-induced death (destruction) and rebirth' of Aristaeus' swarm of bees, but also indirectly about that of a human kingdom; from the viewpoint of the Aeneid, it is about that of Troy, and in terms of 'government', it is about that of the total system of nature/gods and humans going back to the origin and making a fresh start—a process from Aeneas to Augustus over one thousand year, which is a necessary period for each human soul to be purified (A. 6.747). From Jupiter's viewpoint, former Carthaginians and Greeks should be sublated into new Romans.
The above memorandum is what I speculated about expecting that much wider range of people will be interested in the Aeneid.

My other Menaechmi-related recitations with slides:
※Aeneid and Menaechmi; Hexameter D/S-A/P arrangement as a key for Virgil [[ Ссылка ]]
※Development of Patria Pietāsque from Menaechmī into Aenēis [[ Ссылка ]]

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