Aeneid
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Considered the greatest Roman poet, Vergil spent over a decade working on this monumental epic poem, which has been a source of literary inspiration and poetic grandeur for more than 2,000 years. Its twelve books tell the heroic story of Aeneas, a Trojan who escaped the burning ruins of Troy to found a new city in the west. This city, Lavinium, was the parent city of Rome.
Drawn by divine destiny after the fall of Troy, Aeneas sailed westward toward the land of the Tiber. After many adventures, he and his men were shipwrecked on the shores of Carthage, where Aeneas and Queen Dido fell in love. Reminded of his duty, however, Aeneas sailed on. After visiting his father in the underworld, Aeneas saw the future of the Roman people and their exploits in peace and war. Eventually he arrived in Italy, where he and his men struggled valiantly to secure a foothold for the founding of Rome.
Vast in scope, crowded with exciting adventure and heroic deeds, the Aeneid was Vergil's imagined account of Roman beginnings and a tribute to the history, character and achievements of the Roman people. On the other hand, its depth, vision and empathy with human suffering make the poem relevant to the general human condition. Now this enduring multileveled masterpiece is available in this republication of a standard unabridged translation, the most inexpensive complete version available.
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.
