The Aeneid
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4.5 • 10 Ratings
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Publisher Description
The Aeneid is a masterpiece of epic poetry and the Latin language poem is more than early imperial propaganda. It proclaims the divine mission of Aeneas to found Rome and the divine injunction of the Romans to unite the world under a noble emperor such as Augustus.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Princeton scholar Fagles follows up his celebrated Iliad and Odyssey with a new, fast-moving, readable rendition of the national epic of ancient Rome. Virgil's long-renowned narrative follows the Trojan warrior Aeneas as he carries his family from his besieged, fallen home, stops in Carthage for a doomed love affair, visits the underworld and founds in Italy, through difficult combat, the settlements that will become, first the Roman republic, and then the empire Virgil knew. Recent translators (such as Allen Mandelbaum) put Virgil's meters into English blank verse. Fagles chooses to forgo meter entirely, which lets him stay literal when he wishes, and grow eloquent when he wants: "Aeneas flies ahead, spurring his dark ranks on and storming/ over the open fields like a cloudburst wiping out the sun." A substantial preface from the eminent classicist Bernard Knox discusses Virgil's place in history, while Fagles himself appends a postscript and notes. Scholars still debate whether Virgil supported or critiqued the empire's expansion; Aeneas' story might prompt new reflection now, when Americans are already thinking about international conflict and the unexpected costs of war.
Customer Reviews
John Dryden's translation
This is the text of John Dryden’s classic 1697 translation in rhyming couplets. In its own right it was a major influence on English poetry. It is given here with the original punctuation, as far as I can tell, but the spelling updated to modern American (“long labors both by land and sea he bore”).
I’m enjoying it very much to dip into Dryden’s classic verse as I travel about.
The text currently on the details page on the itunes store are irrelevant. It is nothing to do with Robert Fagles and there is no introduction by Bernard Knox.
There is no annotation. The separate books can be reached from the contents page.