When Aeneas fled from burning Troy, he had some difficult decisions to make. His first priority was to rescue his country gods and relics, but he was covered in gore from combat and did not want to carry these sacred artifacts with his own hands. His solution was novel: Anchises, his father, could carry the artifacts and Aeneas would carry him upon his back. His second priority was to guard the safety of his wife Creusa and his son. With his heavy burden, he “satisficed” by holding the hand of his son and bidding his wife to follow him. Unfortunately, though he succeeded in rescuing the country gods and his son, he lost his wife during his flight from the doomed city.

Earning the appellation “pious” involved some cruel choices for Aeneas, but despite this offense to modern sensibilities (I daresay many of us would have tossed the country gods and told Anchises to walk on his own two feet), it is hard to blame him. Weary from battle, burdened with both his family and the country gods, it would be difficult to pay attention to everything of merit. It is not surprising that he did not even know when or how he had lost his wife.

Graduate school has some similarities. Granted, most students do not have to face a ravaging horde of Greek soldiers, nor are they surrounded by burning buildings.