Well, 2025 off to a high-energy rip-roarin start had some pretty major setbacks, some kind of apocalyptic stuff going on, but also some high-tee stuff.

Inauguration is coming up. America is turning 250 in 26 next year.

Generally, I would say 2025 off to a strong start. Aeneas, on the other hand, not so much.

So, welcome to the official start of our Young Heretics Tour through Virgil's Aeneid.

As you will see, unlike the year 2025, the poem begins with a bit of a stumble, not necessarily a poetic stumble, but Aeneas himself does not stride onto stage as the grand and glorious hero we might expect him to be.

We're going to talk today about why that is as well as why Aeneas is the hero of this poem at all. What's he doing here?

Why did Virgil pick him? Why did Virgil choose to tell

this particular story at this particular time? We are going to launch now on our proper journey

through the Aeneid. If you're just joining us, if you're new to Young Heretics, welcome.

This is a great time, actually, to get started, get getting on the ground level of this tour through the great Roman epic, the Aeneid. This is the classical education you didn't know you were missing. We've had many, many years, generations even, I would say, of looking down on the classics, of taking them out of school curricula,

and a lot of us grew up without access to this stuff, which means we don't really know how

awesome it can be and how much it can do for us. That's what the show is here to give to you.

So if you're new, don't forget to subscribe. We do weekly episodes, usually two episodes a week.

You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube if you're watching

there. Give it a five-star rating, just help spread the word. But most of all, come along for

the journey. This is also an optimal time, whether you're new to Young Heretics or not,

this is a perfect time to be reading the Aeneid, actually, because we are in this moment in America,

where, like I said, we've got our 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence

coming up. We're going to have some

sort of major celebration year of major celebrations in 26. And we've also just been through a period

of extreme pessimism about the country and specifically about the founding of the country. We had the 1619 project.

It was a huge deal. The New York Times plastered it everywhere they could. All about how this country is founded in slavery and moral evil.

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