The Aeneid

Book Description

Robert Fagles's translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and become the standard translations of our era. Now, his stunning modern verse translation of Virgil's Aeneid is poised to do the same. This beautifully produced edition of the Aeneid will be eagerly sought by readers desiring to complete their Fagles collection—and the attention it receives will stimulate even greater interest in his translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey. BACKCOVER: Praise for Robert Fagles's translation of the Odyssey:
“Wonderfully readable . . . just the right blend of sophistication and roughness, it seems to me.”
—Ted Hughes

“A memorable achievement . . . Mr. Fagles has been remarkably successful in finding a style that is of our time and yet timeless.”
—Richard Jenkyns, The New York Times Book Review

“Remarkably seductive . . . In Fagles's hands, this `perennial poem of adventure' is again a work of entertainment, of majesty and epic beauty great enough to stun the senses.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Customer Reviews:

The Aeneid.......2007-10-09

I have yet to read the book, but I'm very excited about reading it. The book was in perfect condition and arrived on time.

Exactly what I thought it'd be! .......2007-09-22

The book is new, just like I ordered it, and it came within a week of my online order. Great job, Amazon!

Another atrocious Aeneid translation by an unpoetical professor.......2007-05-29

I should preface this review by saying that I am fluent in Latin (or at any rate I read it about as easily as I read English or French.)

This particular translation of the Aeneid is the worst I have ever seen. The so-called blank verse is devoid of metre, and amounts to nothing more than prose - very awkward, uninspired prose - artificially chopped up into lines of a more or less constant length. This sort of travesty has been common in English translations of the classics since the 1940's or so, but Fagles adds his own inexpressible sense of bad taste. The result is absurd rubbish.

For the benefit of monolingual anglophones, I observe that Virgil is at least equal to Shakespeare as a poet. As a stylist he is far superior. Does anyone imagine that some professor in say, Egypt, could translate Shakespeare into say, Arabic, in a way that could give Arabs a sense of just how wonderfully beautiful and moving Shakespeare is at his best? Of course not. The only example in English of a great poet being translated into really great English verse is Fitzgerald's Omar Khayyam. And Fitzgerald was a great English poet, not a professor.

In American culture however, only professors get the chance to translate the Greek and Latin classics any more, for only they know the originals well enough to attempt this. Further, English poetry is virtually dead - very few people read poetry, and even fewer have any idea of what poetry is, or how it differs from prose.

The result is the worst possible cultural climate in which to translate a sublime poet like Virgil. The translators are dull professors with no real knowledge of English poetry, no knowledge of metre or rhyme, no knowledge of the resources of English poetry, and certainly no ability to innovate in English poetry without making fools of themselves.

If you really want to gain some idea of the poetical beauty of the Aeneid, don't bother reading any modern translation, or even any of the older translations like Dryden or Gawain Douglas - they are all miserable failures - though not as embarrassingly bad as Fagles. Instead, get an English interlinear of the Aeneid and a Latin grammar, and invest a few years of your spare time in learning Latin.

Or wait for my own translation of the Aeneid....

Terrific translation.......2007-05-13

The original author was great; this translator is superb...as exciting as anything yhou can imagine. Don't get it if you think it will put you to sleep at night.

sound and action.......2007-05-07

Fagles's Aeneid is swift, vivid, and sonorous. With his translations of Homer behind him, Fagles enjoys a surety of reference that allows him--and the reader--to concentrate on the visual and auditory and intellectual action. Fagles gets a lovely running-before-the-wind feel by alternating fourteeners and hexameter, trimming the course with pentameter. Some transitional phrases seem too smooth, as if perhaps Fagles has stolen the ball, and occasionally I missed the poetic precision in the English that more delicate translations e.g. C.Day Lewis's achieve at points. Bernard Knox's introduction is interesting and moving, if hastily written. The glossary of persons/gods and places is useful and ample and in the back of the book where it can be ignored as desired. This reads wonderfully aloud, perhaps 1/2 to 1 book per evening, aloud with friends or family or by yourself. This is delectable action poetry, to take you lands away--to Rome no less.

Average customer rating:

Excellent Rendition of a Classic
A Stone Waste!
A classic of Western literature that is often a fun read (or listen)
Translation and reading great, pity the original isn't
Wonderful read...annoying listen.

The Aeneid
Virgil
Manufacturer: Penguin Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0143059025
Release Date: 2006-11-02

Book Description

The much-anticipated new translation of Virgil's epic poem from the award-winning translator of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

Unabridged CDs - 10 CDs, 12.5 hours

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Rendition of a Classic.......2007-07-26

I don't think that anyone could ask for a better presentation of Virgil's classic. Fagles's translation is scintillating. When I listen to a work like this I generally simultaneously read or consult a number of translations, and Fagles definitely has created a wondrous and exceptional work in English. Simon Callow's rendition is simultaneously exhilarating and haunting. Highly recommended.

A Stone Waste!.......2007-07-26

I understand that many readers in the United States find Robert Fagles' translation easy to read. Some likely appreciate his use of colloquialisms. A reader with a European accent surely wasn't the best choice for this translation.

Most importantly, Penguin should never have allowed this audio book to leave its shop in the present condition. Sometimes Mr. Callow was so loud that my ears hurt and at other times he sort of muttered. Some of his presentation was enjoyable, but I gave up on the second CD. I use a reasonably good sound system to listen to audio books and have never before had such difficulty.

A classic of Western literature that is often a fun read (or listen).......2007-06-13

This is a review of the CD audio book version of Robert Fagles' translation of Virgil's Aeneid.

Victorian Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once quipped, "My wife is a lovely woman, but she can never remember which came first: the Greeks or the Romans." The Greeks "came first" in two senses. Their civilization produced great works of literature, philosophy and art when Rome was still a primitive village, and although the Romans later conquered the Greek world their cultural achievements never quite matched those of Greece, and they knew it.

The Aeneid is an epic poem that tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan who flees his city as it is being sacked by the Greeks. (The story of the Trojan Horse is actually not in the Iliad, but there is a moving account of it in the Aeneid.) Aeneas wanders for many years and eventually comes to Italy and founds what becomes Roman civilization. Aeneas is thus conquered by the Greeks, but founds the civilization that will conquer them. And this poem about Aeneas is meant to rival the Iliad (with its accounts of battles) and the Odyssey (with its accounts of the wanderings of its hero on his way home).

The Aeneid is also a commentary on the politics of the era in which it was composed. Virgil lived in the time when the Roman Republic had come to an end and Octavian had succeeded Caesar as emperor. Aeneas is the supposed founder of the Roman royal line, so in honoring him Virgil is honoring his patron. And Octavian came to power only after a period of warfare (just like Aeneas). Further parallels are provided by the relationship between Aeneas and Dido, Queen of Carthage. Aeneas and Dido fall in love, and he is tempted to stay with her. But he remembers his sacred duty to found a new empire in Italy, so he leaves her behind. (I don't want to spoil the story for you, but what happens with Dido after Aeneas leaves her is one of the most famous parts of the Aeneid.) Carthage was a city that fought two wars with Rome. (Remember Hannibal leading the elephants over the alps? That was the Carthaginians.) So Aeneas's psychological victory over the temptations of Carthage foreshadows the later conflict between the empires. Furthermore, Octavian's rule was secure only after he defeated Mark Anthony. Mark Anthony allowed himself to be seduced by a foreign queen (Cleopatra in this case). So in showing Aeneas's resolve against the temptations of a foreign queen, Virgil is condemning Octavian's opponent.

The Aeneid is considered one of the greatest works (perhaps THE greatest) of Latin literature. It was so highly esteemed that it was sometimes used as a book of divination: you opened it up to a random page and stuck your finger on a line, which was your "fortune." (I tried it: apparently I am going to be shot dead with an arrow by a goddess.)

As a story, I find the Aeneid good but uneven. Parts of it are quite gripping. In addition to some of the events I've mentioned, the account of Aeneid's visit to the underworld, and the poetically appropriate punishments that the vicious receive, is engaging. We can see why Dante was so inspired by it that, in the Divine Comedy, he makes Virgil be his guide through Hell. At his worst, though, Virgil can be a bit bombastic. This isn't helped by the actor who reads the text for this audio book. His delivery reminds one of a stodgy British professor delivering a commencement address.

The CD case includes a booklet with the introduction to Fagles' translation by classicist Bernard Knox. This is very helpful, situating Virgil in his time, summarizing the poem (I found this useful as a review after having listened to the whole thing), and offering some personal reflections on the meaning Virgil has for him.

In the final analysis, the Aeneid is very good, but not as great as the Iliad or the Odyssey. I guess the Greeks do still "come first."

Translation and reading great, pity the original isn't.......2007-05-12

This is by far the best translation of The Aeneid I have found. And the reading suits the translation and Virgil's intentions. But the original Latin work is over-ornamented, derivative, very violent (likely the highest body count of any ancient epic), and pure propaganda for Augustus. The main character is totally without personality. It was written for the entertainment of educated pampered Romans reveling in their triumph over the rest of the world. That being said, this is a classic of Western Literature and has been widely praised for centuries. It (literally) speaks volumes about the Romans of this period! One is uneducated unless he or she knows this work and this audio version is the most painless way to approach it. Unfortunately, Virgil isn't Homer and this epic lacks much found in the Greek epics.

The translator has given us the real Virgil in English. And it is neat to know how to pronounce all those ancient names that I have been stumbling over for years.

Wonderful read...annoying listen........2007-04-27

5 stars for the translation: The meaning and context is clearly understandable and easily readable. Mandelbaum's translation was very good. The Fitzgerald translation was passable. I always felt that Fitzgerald "rewrote" the Aeneid in a style HE thought should have been written. Fagles' translation does justice to Virgil in that Fagles has translated it in a style and manner more closely to what Virgil orginally wrote.

MINUS 2 stars: voicing and voice characterization
This is the most annoying aspect of this reading. Simon Callow is no George Guidall or Frank Muller as fans of recordedbooks will quickly notice.

Callow's voice characterization can only be described as high screechy/wailing and raspy for female reading parts. This includes all harpies, sibyls and most disappointing of all Dido. He just seems to use the same characterization for all of them and it gets rather tiresome quickly. And to top it off, sometimes he starts in this high screeching raspy voice and then reverts to his stentorian Shakespearean voice for the rest of the part.

Most disappointing considering that Simon Callow does have a very forceful dramatic voice when he reads in his own style. I just wish he had used it for the entire read.

MINUS 1 star: Voice dynamics
His voice dynamics is uneven...sometimes his voice is booming and at other times it is almost at an inaudible whisper. I listen to this in my car and I find that I have to rewind numerous times to hear what he said.

Summary: Until there is a better audio - read the poem instead and let your imagination take you to a time and place long gone but whose hero's travails are somehow relevant to this time and place. I guess that's why this poem is still being read today.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful translation of a Classic
aweful translation, but not quite as bad as Fagles
What kind of a dope...
The Aeneid of Virgil, translated by Fitzgerald
What kind of a dope....

The Aeneid
Virgil
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679729526
Release Date: 1990-06-16

Book Description

Virgil's great epic transforms the Homeric tradition into a triumphal statement of the Roman civilizing mission. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful translation of a Classic.......2007-06-06

Fitzgerald's version of the Aeneid is literature in its own right. Readable without being sing-songy, classic without being stilted, this translation kept me hooked on the Aeneas story long after high school Latin class ended at Book 6, and it stirred my imagination to such an extent that I got the impudent idea to emulate him in The Laviniad: An Epic Poem.

And as for the poem itself, this seminal work of Western literature deeply inspired everyone from Augustine to Dante, but unfortunately seems to be passing out of academic consciousness. Vergil's Aeneid is the very pinnacle of Ancient Roman literature, a classic story of piety, duty, and honor as opposed to immediate gratification and selfish interest. It represents the very best ideals that ancient Rome had to offer. Perhaps in this modern age those virtues don't seem relevant--but if so, that's why we need this poem all the more.

aweful translation, but not quite as bad as Fagles.......2007-05-29

See my review of Fagles' Aeneid for more on the travesty of modern English translations of Virgil, also my review of Lombardo's translation of the Aeneid.

As for Fitzgerald's translation in particular, it has for some strange reason been anointed by the universities as the 'standard'. It is hard to say why. The language is contemptibly low and unpoetical, the metre nonexistent, and even his knowledge of Latin distinctly imperfect. But then, one can become a Latin professor in America with no very extensive knowledge of Latin, much less of Latin poetry. More to the point, to translate a great poet requires a great poet who also knows intimately the language from which he is translating, and this is very, very rare.

What makes the whole situation downright provoking is the publishers blurbs that tout all these perfectly aweful translations as 'wonderful', 'superb' etc; blurbs which the ignorant hoi polloi echo in their reviews on this site.

What kind of a dope..........2007-05-10

Thinks the Aeneid begins with armis virumque? (For those missing the point, I'm poking fun at a reviewer who got the opening words of the epic in Latin wrong - it's "arma virumque cano")

I've read this translation several times and taught out of it, and I think it's quite readable and faithful to the original. I don't think you can go wrong with Fagles, Fitzgerald, or Mandelbaum, to be honest. Or Vergil in the Latin, of course.

The Aeneid of Virgil, translated by Fitzgerald.......2007-03-09

I use this translation as my primary source in studying The Aeneid. I also possess and refer to translations by Mandelbaum, Dryden, Humphries, Rhoades, and Dickinson as well as various commentaries. Regrettably, I know of none that translate the original in Latin to English on a line by line basis.

What kind of a dope...........2006-11-01

takes "Armis virumque" and gets "I sing of warfare and a man at war"? The consensus in the reviews is that Fitzgerald has written a fine epic. It just is not the same one written by Virgil. If you want to read Fitzgerald, this is the book for you. If you want to read Virgil you need the Mandelbaum translation.

Virgil, I, Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid: Books 1-6, Revised Edition (Loeb Classical Library)

Average customer rating:

Review of revised Loeb Virgil - 2 volumes
Not a Verse Translation
Loeb does it right
Student Savior!
The Loeb series continues to deliver excellent translations

Virgil, I, Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid: Books 1-6, Revised Edition (Loeb Classical Library)
Virgil , and G. P. Goold
Manufacturer: Loeb Classical Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 067499583X

Book Description

Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) was born in 70 BCE near Mantua and was educated at Cremona, Milan and Rome. Slow in speech, shy in manner, thoughtful in mind, weak in health, he went back north for a quiet life. Influenced by the group of poets there, he may have written some of the doubtful poems included in our Virgilian manuscripts. All his undoubted extant work is written in his perfect hexameters. Earliest comes the collection of ten pleasingly artificial bucolic poems, the Eclogues, which imitated freely Theocritus's idylls. They deal with pastoral life and love. Before 29 BCE came one of the best of all didactic works, the four hooks of Georgics on tillage, trees, cattle, and bees. Virgil's remaining years were spent in composing his great, not wholly finished, epic the Aeneid, on the traditional theme of Rome's origins through Aeneas of Troy. Inspired by the Emperor Augustus's rule, the poem is Homeric in metre and method but influenced also by later Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, and learning, and deeply Roman in spirit. Virgil died in 19 BCE at Brundisium on his way home from Greece, where he had intended to round off the Aeneid. He had left in Rome a request that all its twelve books should be destroyed if he were to die then, but they were published by the executors of his will.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Virgil is in two volumes.

Customer Reviews:

Review of revised Loeb Virgil - 2 volumes.......2007-01-12

This new edition fulfils a longstanding need. The text is rightly updated, and the translation is modern. The explanatory notes are a useful feature.

Classics students depended on the older edition for its convenience and assistance (I used it myself nearly 40 years ago), but had to go to other editions for more scholarly purposes. This has now been remedied.

Not a Verse Translation.......2005-08-11

Don't get me wrong, the translation is fine, but if you're looking for a verse translation of the Eclogues, the Georgics, or the Aeneid, look elsewhere. Unfortunately, I had to purchase the item without knowing whether it was verse or prose, since none of the reviews indicates that it is, in fact, prose. I suppose I can't have too much Virgil, but it's nice to know ahead of time, right? Well, now all the other people in the world looking for a verse translation of Virgil's works (all twenty of them, right?) will know that this isn't what they want.

Loeb does it right.......2005-07-29

Roman society was enamoured of Greek culture -- many of the best 'Roman' things were Greek; the major gods were derivative of the Greek pantheon; philosophy, literature, science, political ideals, architecture -- all this was adopted from the Greeks. It makes sense that, at the point of their ascendancy in the world, they would long for an epic history similar to the Homeric legends; the Iliad and the Odyssey, written some 500 years after the actual events they depict, tell of the heroism of the Greeks in their battle against Troy (Ilium). The Aeneid, written by Vergil 700 years after Homer, at the commission of Augustus (himself in the process of consolidating his authority over Rome), turns the heroic victory of the much-admired Greeks on its head by postulating a survivor from Troy, Aeneas, who undergoes as journey akin to the Odyssey, even further afield.

Vergil constructs Aeneas, a very minor character in the Iliad, as the princely survivor and pilgrim from Troy, on a journey through the Mediterranean in search of a new home. According to Fitzgerald, who wrote a brief postscript to the poem, Vergil created a Homeric hero set in a Homeric age, purposefully following the Iliad and Odyssey as if they were formula, in the way that many a Hollywood director follows the formulaic pattern of past successful films. Vergil did not create the Trojan legend of Roman origins, but his poem solidified the notion in popular and scholarly sentiment.

Vergil sets the seeds for future animosity between Carthage and Rome in the Aeneid, too -- the curse of queen Dido on the descendants of Aeneas of never-ending strife played into then-recent recollections of war in the Roman mind. Books I through VI are much more studied than VII through XII, but the whole of the Aeneid is a spectacular tale.

True to the Loeb translations generally, this offers the Latin text on one page and an English translation on the facing page; this translation is done by G.P. Goold, working from H.R. Fairclough's standard edition (which is true also for the second half of the Aeneid, in the second volume of the Loeb printing). The translations are careful and work more at being faithful to the text in literal without being choppy manner; poetic license (which can often wreak havoc on a comparison of original language to translation analyses) is kept to a minimum, but not entirely absent here.

Vergil died before he could complete the story. He wished it to be burned; fortunately, Augustus had other ideas. Still, there are incomplete lines and thoughts, and occasional conflicts in the storyline that one assumes might have been worked out in the end, had more editing time been available. Despite these, the Aeneid remains a masterpiece, and the Loeb editions will remain standards for academic scholarship for some time to come.

Student Savior!.......2003-07-24

As a student preparing for the "AP Latin: Vergil" exam largely on my own, I can say from experience that this book is a great tool for students, regardless of the intensity at which you are studying Vergil.

Unlike the Mandelbaum or Fitzgerald translations, the Loeb is very literal, which helped me to see how the words fit together syntactically. A page of Latin text faces its translation, and it is easy to look back and forth to understand the translation. Because there are no vocabulary words or footnotes, the Loeb cannot be used alone by a student first learning Vergil. However, used in conjunction with the Boyd or Pharr edition of the Aeneid, it is a wonderful help.

Whether to help with translation or to study for tests, I highly recommend the Loeb. Because the Latin is on a page by itself with the English translation facing it, students can translate without any help whenever they are ready, making the Loeb a uniquely flexible aid to studying Vergil.

The Loeb series continues to deliver excellent translations.......2000-04-23

Just for those who have never seen a Loeb-it has the original Latin (or Greek) on one side with the translation on the following page. The Loeb series are known for their excellent translations and are vital to any researcher or historian who wants to return to the orginal for their primary source. Virgil's Georgics alone make this book a necessity (the Georgics used to be standard reading before and after the revolution in universities) and the Aeneid provides an excellent balance to the Eclouges and the Georgics. Virgil's writings are fairly simple yet convey both the message and the image of what he wishes to get across to the reader. The Loeb series are a bit more pricey than the Penguin translations but the added luxury of the Latin text make this series indispensable to the student or reseacher of Rome or the Latin language.

Average customer rating:

Another prose translation of the Aeneid masquerading as verse
Excellent Translation
The new standard for the Aeneid
Excellent

Aeneid
Publio Maron Virgilio , and Stanley Lombardo
Manufacturer: Hackett Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0872207315

Book Description

Long a master of the crafts of Homeric translation and of rhapsodic performance, Stanley Lombardo now turns to the quintessential epic of Roman antiquity, a work with deep roots in the Homeric tradition. With characteristic virtuosity, he delivers a rendering of the Aeneid as compelling as his groundbreaking translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey, yet one that—like the Aeneid itself—conveys a unique epic sensibility and a haunting artistry all its own.

W. R. Johnson's Introduction makes an ideal companion to the translation, offering brilliant insight into the legend of Aeneas; the contrasting roles of the gods, fate, and fortune in Homeric versus Virgilian epic; the character of Aeneas as both wanderer and warrior; Aeneas' relationship to both his enemy Turnus and his lover Dido; the theme of doomed youths in the epic; and Virgil's relationship to the brutal history of Rome that he memorializes in his poem.

A map, a Glossary of Names, a Translator's Preface, and Suggestions for Further Reading are also included.

Customer Reviews:

Another prose translation of the Aeneid masquerading as verse.......2007-05-31

Someone should really tell these modern American translators of the Aeneid that Virgil wrote highly metrical poetry in the high style, not prose in the middle or low style, and they have very little chance of translating the Aeneid well unless they learn what verse is.

For example, here are lines 693 and 694 from Book Four of the Aeneid:

Tum Iun(o) omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem
difficilisqu(e) obitus, Irim demisit Olympo,

which, like all Virgilian verses, scans quite regularly as:

-- -uu -/- -uu -uu --
-uu -uu -/- -- -uu --

Lombardo translates this as:

Then Almighty Juno, pitying Dido's long agony
And hard death, sent Iris down from Olympus

which is prose, not poetry. There is neither isosyllabism nor rhyme, which in accentual languages are virtually indispensable if verse is to be clearly distinguished from prose. If one attempts to scan these two lines, one has:

uu- u- u- uu- uu- u-
uu- u- u- uu- u

The first so-called verse mixes anapaests and iambs according to no discernable rule. But such mixtures have always been considered prose in English, unless they exhibit some alternating or centauric pattern such as uu- u- uu- u- uu-. Certainly this line of Lombardo's sounds like prose, not verse. Traditionally, English verse admits free substitution only of fourth paeons in iambic verse, for only this sounds like verse to English ears, the more so as such mixtures of anapaests and iambs separate the acute accents by an unpredictable (and hence prosy) number of grave accents. Also, mixtures of feet of three different 'times' such as uuu- u- uu- are forbidden, for the pattern is not simple enough to make the line sound like verse; it sounds like prose, but of a somewhat artificial or pretentious kind. Lombardo has many such mixtures, however, and it is fair to say that his translation is in slightly rhythmic prose, not poetry.

The second so-called verse is even worse, because it ends on an isolated grave syllable.

I will say that Lombardo's translation is in more rhythmic prose than Fagle's or Fitzgerald's, and generally his style is slightly less low and contemptible, but there are already much better translations of the Aeneid, such as Fairfax-Taylor's into Spernserian stanzas or Delabere May's blank verse. These are dull and frustrating to read, but at least the form is not offensive.

I refer the reader to my reviews of Dryden's, Fagle's and Fitzgerald's translations of the Aeneid.

Excellent Translation.......2006-08-22

Stanley Lombardo really catches the essence of Vergil. I have read parts of Vergil's Aeneid in the original Latin, and I agree with his substance. I have also read Lombardo's translations of Iliad and Odyssey, both excellent. The English is up to date, rhythmic and fluid.

The new standard for the Aeneid.......2005-08-30

I bow to no one in my love of Robert Fitzgerlad's translation of the Aeneid--the standard for the last 25 years. Stanley Lombardo's relavatory translations, however, nudges the older one aside. Lombardo has a history of actually performing the great poems of antiquity, not at fashionable coffeehouses but on sidewalks, plazas, parks, and other public areas to the accompaniment of drums or music. And let me tell you, these performances capture his audiences--including jaded college students who leave their hacky-sacks and stand mesmerized while the readings go on. This kind of percussive, driven performances carries over into the book form, and similarly to his translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, you feel like you're reading a WWII triller. That is not to say his translation is ugly or course, particularly in this most elegant of poems. No, he matches being relentless with being refined to create a story that actually matters--it is a gripping tale that covers the very social, political and moral issues we struggle with today. But the language is so immediate that you can't put it down.

The Aeneid's fortunes have waxed and waned over the centuries, and for a while it was in danger of being relegated to a second-year Latin grammar text. This translation transforms the work and win over a whole new generation of listeners.

Excellent.......2005-05-16

W. R. Johnson's introduction alone makes this book a valuable contribution to Virgil studies. And Lombardo's translation, while sometimes more creative than faithful, is very readable.

Average customer rating:

Makes the Aeneid Come to Life
Grotesque parody of Virgil
Reader-Friendly Version of the Classic
The Aeneid of Virgil (Bantam Classics)
Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!

The Aeneid of Virgil (Bantam Classics)
Virgil
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0553210416
Release Date: 1981-09-01

Book Description

Aeneas flees the ashes of Troy to found the city of Rome and change forever the course of the Western world--as literature as well. Virgil's Aeneid is as eternal as Rome itself, a sweeping epic of arms and heroism--the searching portrait of a man caught between love and duty, human feeling and the force of fate--that has influenced writers for over 2,000 years. Filled with drama, passion, and the universal pathos that only a masterpiece can express. The Aeneid is a book for all the time and all people.

Customer Reviews:

Makes the Aeneid Come to Life.......2007-09-10

I have read all or parts of several versions of The Aeneid, including the highly praised Robert Fagles's and Robert Fitzgerald's versions. Mandelbaum's translation is far superior. He takes the reader into the epic's action without sacrificing the Latin of the original. His version is lively and the reader will (or should) have no difficulty reading the Aeneid to the conclusion. He will be carried along by the poetry and the subject matter of this great epic. Highly recommended.

Grotesque parody of Virgil.......2007-06-07

Every two or three years some semi-educated American Classics professor trots out another translation of Virgil or Homer - these being the last two Classical poets that anyone can be prevailed upon to read, even in translation. It was much the same in the nineteenth century, except that back then every educated person understood more or less what metre was and how poetry differed from prose. In America at least the educated are no longer at all sure what metre or poetry are, and 'poets' apparently just sit down and scrawl out some prose that they think sounds vaguely poetical. Occasionally they will even chop up their prose into 'verses' of more or less equal length.

Noted reviewers can be prevailed upon by the publishers to give blurbs to these American professors' abominable travesties of Virgil or Homer, and the poor ignorant masses read this stuff in college. A few - a VERY few - are even impressed by these translations, God help them.

I remember a class I was in where everyone groaned about how aweful Mandelbaum's Virgil was. The consensus was Virgil must have been a very second-rate poet. I was the only student that knew Latin - I had been studying it since the age of eight. I tried to tell my fellows that Virgil was at least as interesting as Spenser or Shakespeare, and much more beautiful, but no one believed me.

I will say however that Mandelbaum is not the worst of the lot. To split your sides laughing, try Fagles, who converts Virgil into low buffoonery. Fagles by the way, had not studied Latin for decades when he made his translation - apparently he never read Latin for pleasure. And he presumed to translate the Aeneid! Enough said.

Reader-Friendly Version of the Classic.......2007-03-22

First, I'm not qualified to opine on whether Mandelbaum's translation is true to the Latin. I struggled with Virgil's complex poetry as a 4th year Latin student and have no idea if Mandelbaum gets it right. But this translation is eminently readable, retaining the feel of epic poetry. I have the feeling that any flaws in Mandelbaum's rendering reflect shortcomings in Virgil's original text.

Second, this is a very handy edition, especially for the price. Even if you already own the Aeneid in other form, you might want to pick this one up. It is a pocket-sized paperback, yet the print is not tiny and is very readable. This is a better edition to bring with you on the plane than one of the bulkier versions. Plus, this edition provides an excellent glossary, which is an absolute must given the torrent of names that flow through this work.

Finally, the Aeneid itself: Virgil is a literary titan, if only for his Georgics. The Aeneid is also a towering work, but troubling and flawed. Virgil himself was troubled by this work, which he left unfinished with instructions for it to be destroyed. In his effort to give Rome its own epic, combining features of both the Odyssey and Iliad to create the Aeneid, Virgil adopted some of the less interesting mannerisms of those older works. In particular, the battle scenes are violent, soaked in blood, long on smashed brains and decapitations and dripping entrails, short on exploring the pathos of life cut short for the sake of pointless conflict. It reads much like the Iliad, with seemingly endless lines of "A slew B and C slew D and E slew F." Maybe this was good stuff to an ancient Roman but to a modern reader it is boring in the same way as all the "begats" in some books of the Bible. Even more disturbing than the over-the-top, repetitive violence of the work is the sense of underlying pessimism, as every time reason and peace seem about to prevail, some god or goddess shakes things up and -- all too easily -- the killing starts anew. Maybe this reflected Virgil's own disgust with the times that he had lived through, with civil war erupting every few years until Octavian had finally killed off every other rival. But the rivers of blood that are spilled in the second half of the Aeneid do not make for as ennobling a foundation myth as perhaps Virgil was looking for. While Rome is destined for greatness, it is so because Jupiter has said so, has decided to favor Aeneas above his enemies, not because of anything inherently great about the proto-Romans. Maybe, had Virgil lived longer, he might have found a way to tweak this work to have Aeneas end up as more than just an executioner for Fate.

And it is in the first half of the epic that Aeneas indeed is more than just a slayer. His romance with Dido is perhaps the most famous story within the poem and, although it is also marred by too much Olympian meddling, portrays Aeneas as possessing humanity and a capacity to love that is missing at the end. His descent into Hades, so that he can have one last conversation with his father, is also a compelling episode. In short, the Aeneid stands as a great work, a classic, for these beautiful passages, even if the last few books of the poem read a little like someone trying to narrate the events in a violent video game.

The Aeneid of Virgil (Bantam Classics).......2007-03-09

I consider the primary difficulty in studying The Aeneid to be the introduction of more than 250 proper names in the first three books. This Bantam Classic includes the best glossary I have found in any translation or commentary. The Mandelbaum translation is also the one quoted by Professor Elizabeth Vandiver in her lectures "The Aeneid of Virgil" published by The Teaching Company.

Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!.......2006-12-17

With Robert Fagles's version of 'The Aeneid' just released, I thought that would be the version I would be reading. I tried Robert Fitzgerald's version some years ago, but I gave up after the 5th or 6th "book".
After reading the numerous glowing reviews for Allen Mandelbaum's translation, I thought I would give it a shot.... plus it cost a lot less than Fagles's! I was not disappointed.
Mr. Mandelbaum's take on Virgil's epic is eminently accessible, very easy to understand (but not dumbed down at all). The glossary at the end is a huge help in identifying characters and places (as many of them go by more than one name).
This is a thrilling tale full of adventure, romance, war, friendship and loyalty. If you buy only one version, this is the one to get.

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Tried and True
Excellent for HS Latin students
I wish there were more volumes like this
I sing of arms and a man...
An Indispensable Aid for the Study of Vergil

Vergil's Aeneid
Clyde Pharr
Manufacturer: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0865164339

Book Description

Both paperback and clothbound now contain an "Annotated Bibliography on Vergil, to Supplement Pharr's Aeneid," by Alexander McKay, a bibliography of articles and books in English, for use in college and high school Vergil courses, for students and their teachers.

Customer Reviews:

Tried and True.......2005-06-24

This book is the pinnacle of Aeneid translators. I used this in AP latin during high school and have recently purchased my own copy to start it up again. The footnotes and appendices are invaluable resources in their helpfulness and explanation of Vergil's poetry and scansion for those not familiar with dactyllic hexameter. The word list in the back is very helpful as well but a latin dictionary is a must since some derivatives of words are hard to translate (not a negative for this book, just a warning). Highly recommended by everyone with whom I've spoken who know of the Aeneid.

Excellent for HS Latin students.......2004-11-22

What a wonderful introduction to Latin poetry this work is. The fold-out vocabulary sheet and on-the-page vocabulary lists (referenced by non-italicizing the text) faciliate translation for beginning Latin scholars who must plod through the 1800 lines or so for the AP exam. The notes are copious and provide a much needed introduction to general features of Latin poetry. This text should not however, be used at the college level when trying to gain greater self-sufficiency at reading Latin.

I wish there were more volumes like this.......2004-07-14

I took (by choice) four years of Latin in high school and have continued to play intermittently with the language since then. Of all the various texts and readers that I've seen over the years, Pharr's edition of "The Aeneid" is by far the best. Why? Because its structure removes much of the tedious burden of looking up vocabulary in the dictionary and allows the reader to focus on the way the language is used and to appreciate the literary aspects of the Virgil's work. Having the vocabulary for each page on the bottom of that page along with the standard grammatical notes was a stroke of genius. This page vocabulary is suppplemented by a bare-bones pull-out sheet of common words and a full grammar as an appendix, so everything the student-reader needs is right there and readily accessible.

My sole complaint is that this volume includes only Books 1-6. Even though Books 7-12 are generally considered less interesting than 1-6, they deserve a similar treatment as well. Barbara Boyd's Pharr-like treatment of selected scenes from 7-12 is just not enough for die-hard Virgil addicts.

I've seen relatively little comparable to Pharr for other Latin classics, but I'd love to find editions like this for Ovid, Livy, Cicero, or Horace. Pharr's approach is the most sensible I've found for instilling a sense of love for the Latin language in its students. If my high school teacher hadn't used Pharr's edition of Virgil all those years ago, I suspect my love for the Latin language would be a distant memory by now. Thanks to Pharr, Latin may have killed off all the Romans, but it didn't succeed in killing me.

I sing of arms and a man..........2004-07-05

I used this book nearly 20 years ago in a class devoted to studying and translating the Aeneid; looking at the copyright page, I can see that the first copyright on the book was back in 1930. Clyde Pharr produced a far-reaching book, for it to remain in effective, useful life for such a long term. Reprinted now by the Bolchazy-Carducci Press (the press responsible for such fun books as 'Cat in the Hat' and 'Green Eggs and Ham' in Latin), it remains one of the better books for students, classroom and independent study types, to use to learn Latin and study the Aeneid.

Each page consists of anywhere from five to twenty lines of text from Vergil's Aeneid. The rest of the page is devoted to reader notes. These are in two sections -- first, a secondary vocabulary list taken from the lines above; the bottom section are generous notes, which give unique vocabulary, grammar points, special usage notes, history and more. The text is printed with most general vocabulary printed in standard font face (these are words that occur frequently), and can be found on the General Word List in the back. Other words appear in italics, and are found in the list in the middle of the page. At the end of the book, there are lists of words broken into frequency -- the General Word List contains all words occuring 24 times or more in the six books; two other lists have the words which occur 12-23 time and 6-11 times, respectively. The amount of memorisation for vocabulary versus looking up words in the notes can then be regulated by the student or teacher.

There is a grammatical appendix at the end, with 477 separate items of concern. Much of this is review from prior Latin grammars the student is supposed to have learned; a companion Latin grammar is also recommended by Pharr (there are several from which to choose). The appendix follows different pagination, and even has its own index.

The Aeneid is a fascinating text, one of the greatest epics of the ancient world; it takes up the task of the Iliad/Odyssey cycle and 'updates', if you will, the story line into the Roman era. Pharr's book helps the reader to work with it in its original language, easily and methodically, with only a minimum of Latin training (one year is probably sufficient) required for engagement.

An Indispensable Aid for the Study of Vergil.......2002-09-15

Just this year, we began using this textbook in our Latin class. I have found that it has made an immense difference in the class's ability to translate and understand the rhetorical devices used. They no longer struggle with the vocabulary: it is presented on the same page as the text! The notes that accompany each page are extensive and very enlightening. I VERY rarely disagree with them (with our previous textbook, I didn't agree with many of the choices they made). The grammatical appendix is outstanding. One caution for teachers using this as a classroom textbook: your students may begin to use the vocabulary lists as a crutch, never actually learning the words. Otherwise, I would very strongly recommend this book for anyone who desires to read this masterpiece in its original form, for a class or otherwise. To Clyde Pharr, I say "Optime!"

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The Tragedy of Dido
What beautiful words these are!
The classic Roman epic, better than I expected
I sing of a great story
"Fated to be an Exile..."

The Aeneid (Penguin Classics)
Virgil
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140440518

Customer Reviews:

The Tragedy of Dido.......2007-01-12

I read this book while on the beach in East Africa and was blown away. The beautiful descriptions of temples, castles, people, and their motivations for living and dying were incredible. Particularly, the Carthaginian Queen Dido and her disastrous love for Aeneas made me cringe as she cried in death on the fire. Buy this book---it will resonate within you for years.

What beautiful words these are!.......2007-01-05

I do not want to get into a discussion as to who was the greater poet - Virgo or Homer. One was Roman and one was Greek. Both wrote with wondrous and beautiful words, but this book by Virgo is a stunner. This lengthy poem in twelve books traces the mighty Roman empire from the end of the Trojan war to the beginnings of the great empire which was led by Julius Caesar. Aeneas was the first of the great Roman rulers. I had read this story many years ago, and as I read it again, I remembered why I enjoyed this Roman story so much. I have always liked the Roman gods and goddesses, and this epic poem was the reason why. In this poem Virgil presents a struggling Aeneas who has to fight and win many battles before he can claim his crown. We also see the mighty gods and goddesses getting involved in human strife while the drama is played out on earth. But it is the descriptive language that is the beautiful thing here. Words like these can truly live forever.

The classic Roman epic, better than I expected.......2006-07-22

I'm continually impressed by these classics written over two thousand years ago; some of them are astoundingly good. Seutonius' "The Twelve Caesars" or Plato's "The Republic" come to mind. Virgil's masterwork "The Aenied" lies comfortably in this category and is likely just his version of a tale that had been passed down by oration for generations. It's probably the goriest work of that time I've read too: in the battles heads are lopped off, blood jets out of wounds, torsos and groins are skewered by spears, etc.

The basic premise is that Rome was founded by Trojans who'd fled their home city (Troy) while it was being razed and plundered by the victorious Greeks. But it wasn't exactly a quick journey to a new homeland. A few of the gods (Hera in particular) despised the Trojans and did their utmost to prevent these people from reaching Italy. This epic is about the adventures of the Trojan prince Aeneas and his followers as they attempt to achieve their destiny as founders of Rome, which ultimately became the capital of the Roman Empire.

The translation is wonderful, no complaints at all there from a readability standpoint. An exciting adventure that hasn't worn out over time; it's still as fresh as it ever was and deserves its reputation as a classic of all time. The only nitpick I have is that the ending is rather abrupt, without a real sense of closure. I would have liked to know, for example, what happened in Carthage following Aeneas' hasty departure.

I sing of a great story.......2005-06-11

Roman society was enamoured of Greek culture -- many of the best 'Roman' things were Greek; the major gods were derivative of the Greek pantheon; philosophy, literature, science, political ideals, architecture -- all this was adopted from the Greeks. It makes sense that, at the point of their ascendancy in the world, they would long for an epic history similar to the Homeric legends; the Iliad and the Odyssey, written some 500 years after the actual events they depict, tell of the heroism of the Greeks in their battle against Troy (Ilium). The Aeneid, written by Vergil 700 years after Homer, at the commission of Augustus (himself in the process of consolidating his authority over Rome), turns the heroic victory of the much-admired Greeks on its head by postulating a survivor from Troy, Aeneas, who undergoes as journey akin to the Odyssey, even further afield.

Vergil constructs Aeneas, a very minor character in the Iliad, as the princely survivor and pilgrim from Troy, on a journey through the Mediterranean in search of a new home. According to Fitzgerald, who wrote a brief postscript to the poem, Vergil created a Homeric hero set in a Homeric age, purposefully following the Iliad and Odyssey as if they were formula, in the way that many a Hollywood director follows the formulaic pattern of past successful films. Vergil did not create the Trojan legend of Roman origins, but his poem solidified the notion in popular and scholarly sentiment.

Vergil sets the seeds for future animosity between Carthage and Rome in the Aeneid, too -- the curse of queen Dido on the descendants of Aeneas of never-ending strife played into then-recent recollections of war in the Roman mind. Books I through VI are much more studied than VII through XII, but the whole of the Aeneid is a spectacular tale.

Books I through VI show Aeneas on the journey, and a failed love affair with Queen Dido. Aeneas is shipwrecked, and Dido (also an outcast from her homeland, setting out to found Carthage) gets Aeneas to tell her his story, in which he recasts the tale of the Trojan War and his own journey in terms that will lead to Rome. Gods and goddesses factor in here - Jupiter (the Roman Zeus) is protecting Aeneas, but Juno (the Roman Hera) favours Carthage, and is the one who caused the storm to shipwreck Aeneas near Dido so that he might be thwarted in his plan to found Rome. There is jealousy and rage because Aeneas eventually has to leave; Dido dies in a dramatic fashion, but not before her soul being given a blessed release by the favoured gods.

The most dramatic part of the story over, the reader settles into other action that, while interesting, is somewhat pale in comparison to the first half.

The Aeneid is a fascinating text, one of the greatest epics of the ancient world; it takes up the task of the Iliad/Odyssey cycle and 'updates', if you will, the story line into the Roman era. Pharr's book helps the reader to work with it in its original language, easily and methodically, with only a minimum of Latin training (one year is probably sufficient) required for engagement.

Vergil died before he could complete the story. He wished it to be burned; fortunately, Augustus had other ideas. Still, there are incomplete lines and thoughts, and occasional conflicts in the storyline that one assumes might have been worked out in the end, had more editing time been available. Despite these, the Aeneid remains a masterpiece.

"Fated to be an Exile...".......2002-04-07

[This review relates to the wondrous Penguin Classics
edition of THE AENEID, "Tranlated into English Prose with
an Introduction by W.F.Jackson Knight."]

If Virgil could lead the poet Dante through the wasteland
and Inferno at the end of the Middle Ages, perhaps the poet
Virgil, aided by the skill and inspiration of the translator
W.F.Jackson Knight, might perform the same needed function for
us, here at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st
centuries.
W.F.Jackson Knight, in his very interesting and insightful
"Introduction," makes the argument that "the AENEID of Virigl
is a gateway between the pagan and the Christian centuries."
That much, itself, might serve as the basis for some excellent
essays of analysis and interpretation. But Knight has his own
path to tread. So we should let him.
-------------
"In the beginning, Rome had been a tiny settlement
surrounded by enemies -- and it had needed a strong will:
proud,disciplined, and sustained -- to survive at all.
Rome did survive and was led on by successive hard-won
victories to world dominion.
The early history is obscure, but the process seems
to have taken at least five centuries of almost continuous
warfare, and during that period the Romans achieved
unparalleled success, apparently through unique merits
of their own, combined with a special share of divine
favor and good fortune [a nice touch of Pagan sentiment,
there, to counter-balance the perhaps over-emphasis on
the Christian tie at the beginning]. This spectacular rise
of Rome was a matter for wonder and a certain reverence
to the Romans themselves, especially when, in the
later years of the republican period, new chances of peace
and prosperity, AND A NEW ACCESS OF SKEPTICISM threatened
THE OLD HABITS OF LOYALTY, INTEGRITY, and SELF-SACRIFICE"
[capitals are mine].
---------
Knight continues with his excellent "Introduction" and talks
of Publius Vergilius Maro [usually denoted as "Virgil"], the
excellent, visionary poet and artist who created the epic
poem for Roman patriotic pride, values teaching, and national
identity -- THE AENEID.
I especially like Knight's discussion of the influences on
Virgil as he wrote the epic.
--------
"The AENEID is the third, last, and longest of Virgil's
poems. It is a legendary narrative, a story about the
imagined origin of the Roman nation in times long before the
foundation of Rome itself. * * * The AENEID, as any epic should
be, is an exciting story extremely well told and full of
incident; it can be read as a story and nothing more. However,
besides being a story, it is a kind of moving picture --
carrying allusive, and in a sense, symbolic meanings. * * *
In the poem [the gods and goddesses]communicate with mortal men
either directly or through dreams, visions, omens, and the
words of prophets and clairvoyants. Virgil had no doubt that
the affairs of the earthly world are subject to the powers of
another world, a world which is normally, but by no means
always, invisible, but no less real for that....
* * * The great poets have a way of making what is seen
reveal the unseen; and they seem to do this better if they
collect an enormous quantity of observations on life, their
own and other people's, and then condense it under strong
pressure so that even a few words have a great power of
suggestion and persuasion. No doubt they are all the time

choosing with precise accuracy what is most important. The
result is an allusive and partly symbolic kind of language
able to communicate not merely single happenings but the
universal truth behind them.
These greater poets also reach back across past time, and
represent a view of the world which belongs not to one man
or one generation of men but to the men of many succeeding
generations or even a whole civilization. The experience
which is distilled may be the experience of many centuries;
and it may be condensed and focused by a single genius in
a single poetic statement. That is what Virgil did to the
experience of the Greeks and Romans in the AENEID."
["Introduction." W.F. Jackson Knight. AENEID. Penguin
Classics.]
-----------------
In talking of the other literary influences which helped
inspire Virgil and which he distilled into his own poetic
process with the helps of the fires of creative energy
and intuition, Knight mentions (of course) the fact of Homer
and his two major epics, the ILIAD and the ODYSSEY.
He also mentions the influence of Lucretius. But he says:
"Virgil knew his [Lucretius] work well and made free use
of many hundreds of his phrases in the AENEID, and let them
suggest ideas. But since HE VIOLENTLY DISAGREED WITH
THE MATERIALISTIC PHILOSOPHY of LUCRETIUS, he could not
adopt his thought. Indeed, he apparently delighted in turning
it upside down, and expressing something far more like the

idealistic philosophy of PLATO, even when the phrases of
Lucretius were influencing him."
I very much prefer Knight's "prose" English version of the
AENEID over most of the other ones which I have encountered.
His English prose flows like poetry, and is eminently readable
as well as instantly understood. One encounters that famous
opening, translated so well into intuitive, inspired English
prose: "This is a tale of arms and of a man. Fated to be
an exile, he was the first to sail from the land of Troy
and reach Italy, at its Lavinian shore. He met many
tribulations on his way both by land and on the ocean; high
Heaven willed it, for Juno was ruthless and could not forget
her anger. And he had also to endure great suffering in
warfare."
Inspiring and instructive, for Romans, for Dante, and
for us!

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Loeb to the rescue

Virgil, Volume II : Aeneid Books 7-12, Appendix Vergiliana (Loeb Classical Library, No 64)
Virgil , and G. P. Goold
Manufacturer: Loeb Classical Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Virgil, I, Eclogues. Georgics. Aeneid: Books 1-6, Revised Edition (Loeb Classical Library)

The Iliad: Volume II, Books 13-24 (Loeb Classical Library No. 171)

The Odyssey: Books 1-12 (The Loeb Classical Library, No 104)

Ovid III: Metamorphoses, Books I-VIII (Loeb Classical Library #42)

The Odyssey: Books 13-24 (Loeb Classical Library, No 105)

ASIN: 0674995864

Book Description

Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) was born in 70 BCE near Mantua and was educated at Cremona, Milan and Rome. Slow in speech, shy in manner, thoughtful in mind, weak in health, he vent back north for a quiet life. Influenced by the group of poets there, he may have written some of the doubtful poems included in our Virgilian manuscripts. All his undoubted extant work is written in his perfect hexameters. Earliest comes the collection of ten pleasingly artificial bucolic poems, the Eclogues, which imitated freely Theocritus's idylls. They deal with pastoral life and love. Before 29 BCE came one of the best of all didactic works, the four hooks of Georgics on tillage, trees, cattle, and bees. Virgil's remaining years were spent in composing his great, not wholly finished, epic the Aeneid, on the traditional theme of Rome's origins through Aeneas of Troy. Inspired by the Emperor Augustus's rule, the poem is Homeric in metre and method but influenced also by later Greek and Roman literature, philosophy, and learning, and deeply Roman in spirit. Virgil died in 19 BCE at Brundisium on his way home from Greece, where he had intended to round off the Aeneid. He had left in Rome a request that all its twelve books should be destroyed if he were to die then, but they were published by the executors of his will.

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Virgil is in two volumes.

Customer Reviews:

Loeb to the rescue.......2005-07-29

Roman society was enamoured of Greek culture -- many of the best 'Roman' things were Greek; the major gods were derivative of the Greek pantheon; philosophy, literature, science, political ideals, architecture -- all this was adopted from the Greeks. It makes sense that, at the point of their ascendancy in the world, they would long for an epic history similar to the Homeric legends; the Iliad and the Odyssey, written some 500 years after the actual events they depict, tell of the heroism of the Greeks in their battle against Troy (Ilium). The Aeneid, written by Vergil 700 years after Homer, at the commission of Augustus (himself in the process of consolidating his authority over Rome), turns the heroic victory of the much-admired Greeks on its head by postulating a survivor from Troy, Aeneas, who undergoes as journey akin to the Odyssey, even further afield.

Vergil constructs Aeneas, a very minor character in the Iliad, as the princely survivor and pilgrim from Troy, on a journey through the Mediterranean in search of a new home. According to Fitzgerald, who wrote a brief postscript to the poem, Vergil created a Homeric hero set in a Homeric age, purposefully following the Iliad and Odyssey as if they were formula, in the way that many a Hollywood director follows the formulaic pattern of past successful films. Vergil did not create the Trojan legend of Roman origins, but his poem solidified the notion in popular and scholarly sentiment.
Vergil sets the seeds for future animosity between Carthage and Rome in the Aeneid, too -- the curse of queen Dido on the descendants of Aeneas of never-ending strife played into then-recent recollections of war in the Roman mind. Books I through VI are much more studied than VII through XII, but the whole of the Aeneid is a spectacular tale.

True to the Loeb translations generally, this offers the Latin text on one page and an English translation on the facing page; this translation is done by G.P. Goold, working from H.R. Fairclough's standard edition (which is also used for the first half of the Aeneid, in the first volume of the Loeb printing). The translations are careful and work more at being faithful to the text in literal without being choppy manner; poetic license (which can often wreak havoc on a comparison of original language to translation analyses) is kept to a minimum, but not entirely absent here.

Vergil died before he could complete the story. He wished it to be burned; fortunately, Augustus had other ideas. Still, there are incomplete lines and thoughts, and occasional conflicts in the storyline that one assumes might have been worked out in the end, had more editing time been available. Despite these, the Aeneid remains a masterpiece, and the Loeb editions will remain standards for academic scholarship for some time to come.

This volume includes several hundred pages of additional material beyond the second half of the Aeneid, the so-called minor poems of Vergil. These are similarly translated, and quite interesting, even if often overlooked in favour of the Aeneid in most classes.

Indeed, even the second half of the Aeneid is often overlooked, making this a very rare volume - it is hard to find a complete copy of the Aeneid in Latin, even in a two-volume edition. Loeb to the rescue!

Darkness Visible: A Study of Vergil's Aeneid

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Virgil made difficult
Brings out the depth of the Aeneid.

Darkness Visible: A Study of Vergil's Aeneid
W. R. Johnson
Manufacturer: Univ of California Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520038487

Customer Reviews:

Virgil made difficult.......2002-11-14

The most wonderful, insightful book on the Aeneid since Hardie's "Cosmos and Imperium". Johnson confronts the inherent (and much commented upon) melancholy of the poem, and gives us an interpretation as brilliant and as it is original. Classicists from Berkeley always seem a little mad, but Johnson only ever takes the reader as far as it is sensible to go, stopping short of anything too barmy... but just barmy enough to challenge our prejudices and conception of the poet/poem.

Brings out the depth of the Aeneid........2000-11-20

Another terrific book that has gone out of print!

On the surface, Virgil's Aeneid is a fairly unproblematic (and not too interesting) story of the founding of the Roman people by Aeneas after he and his comrades flee the fall of Troy. Johnson really helped me to see that the story is actually much more complex, and much "darker," than it seems.

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