ABSTRACT
An inspiring myth may be most necessary when soldiers are being asked to take the offensive; in that circumstance, military leaders cannot count on self-preservation to motivate a soldier to become an aggressor. Together with Rich's acidic revaluation of Aeneas's heroic mantle, Peele's admission, and Essex's metaphor, Garrard's advice prepares to appreciate Marlowe's scrutiny of the fictions of epic masculinity that are implicitly resident in the Dido-Aeneas myth. Only a short time later, Aeneas and company in effect occupy Carthage and rule over the 'barbarous' souls; eventually the Trojans' control is so great that Cloanthus proposes renaming Carthage 'Aenea'. Flying in the face of the myth popularized by Geoffrey of Monmouth that London had been founded by Brutus, a great-grandson of Aeneas, Rich makes Troy's efforts at self-defense a counter-example to what he believes London should be doing.
