Discuss Virgil's use of the themes of furor and pietas in Aeneid Book 12.

Book twelve of the Aeneid, the final book of the epic, culminates in a final act which epitomises the relationship between furor (rage) and pietas (duty to family, gods and state) which has been central to the entire epic. In his closing of the work Virgil chooses not to allow furor and pietas to remain a simple binary, but reveals the flawed nature of his own epic hero (and, by extension, of mankind in general). By having Aeneas, whose entire journey from its beginnings leaving Troy has been founded on following the idea of pietas and who in Book Twelve is referred to as 'pater Aeneas', evoking these themes, give in to the rage (furor) inside him and kill the yielding and defenceless Turnus, Virgil ends the epic on a moment of complete doubt as to whether the perfect Roman man, even observant of pietas and ever in control, can possibly exist.This exposure of the closeness of furor and pietas inside the mind of Rome's founding hero also casts doubt upon the themes of the primacy of Roman men and the natural preeminence of the Roman race which can be read elsewhere in the epic. Far from ending on a fanfare of Rome's greatness, Virgil uses the explosive act of furor emerging from the Roman epitome of pietas to fundamentally undercut the message of a great and morally upstanding founding hero for Rome. Instead we are left with a flawed hero to begin the history of a nation which, by extension, will be imperfect. Rather than a final note of greatness, Virgil's exploration of pietas and furor leaves Rome on a great note of uncertainty as it begins to come into being.