While Virgil may not have been the first person to realize that those who are brave enough to strive for something often achieve their goals, he did put it very succinctly in his Aeneid, Fortune favours those who dare. The importance of this line is found in not only the meaning of it when taken out of context (in such a situation, we are presented with a simple sentence that, like so many positive-affirmations, can be a simple and easy motivator moving people to work hard toward their aspirations) but also very distinct meaning within the work itself. It is the latter that we are concerned with. What, indeed, was the contextual meaning and value of this line? How did Virgil intend for the reader to experience and agree or disagree? What, exactly, does it mean within the Aeneid? These are the questions that will form the structure of this paper.
