The Aeneid

Format:

Book

Title:

The Aeneid

Uniform Title:

Aeneis. English

Author:

Virgil.

ISBN:

9780670038039

Publication Information:

New York : Viking, 2006.

Physical Description:

486 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Contents:

Introduction -- Map : the voyages of Aeneas -- The Aeneid / Virgil -- Translator's postscript -- Genealogy : the royal houses of Greece and Troy -- Suggestions for further reading -- Variants from the Oxford classical text -- Notes and the translation -- Pronouncing glossary.

Summary:

This book tells the story of an epic voyage in which Aeneas crosses stormy seas, becomes entangled in a tragic love affair with Dido of Carthage, descends to the world of the dead - all the way tormented by the vengeful Juno, Queen of the Gods - and finally reaches Italy, where he will fulfill his destiny: to found the Roman people.

Personal Subject:

Aeneas (Legendary character)

Subject(s):

Epic poetry, Latin -- Translations into English.

Geographic Term:

Genre:

legends (literary genre)

Added Author:

Knox, Bernard, 1914-2010,

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Woodburn Public Library	873 VIRGIL 2006	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Salem Main Library	873 Virgil 2006	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Silver Falls Library	873 VIRGIL	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

From the award-winning translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey comes a brilliant new translation of Virgil's great epic

Fleeing the ashes of Troy, Aeneas, Achilles' mighty foe in the Iliad , begins an incredible journey to fulfill his destiny as the founder of Rome. His voyage will take him through stormy seas, entangle him in a tragic love affair, and lure him into the world of the dead itself--all the way tormented by the vengeful Juno, Queen of the Gods. Ultimately, he reaches the promised land of Italy where, after bloody battles and with high hopes, he founds what will become the Roman empire. An unsparing portrait of a man caught between love, duty, and fate, the Aeneid redefines passion, nobility, and courage for our times. Robert Fagles, whose acclaimed translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were welcomed as major publishing events, brings the Aeneid to a new generation of readers, retaining all of the gravitas and humanity of the original Latin as well as its powerful blend of poetry and myth. Featuring an illuminating introduction to Virgil's world by esteemed scholar Bernard Knox, this volume lends a vibrant new voice to one of the seminal literary achievements of the ancient world.

Author Notes

Virgil was born on October 15, 70 B.C.E., in Northern Italy in a small village near Mantua. He attended school at Cremona and Mediolanum (Milan), then went to Rome, where he studied mathematics, medicine and rhetoric, and finally completed his studies in Naples. He entered literary circles as an "Alexandrian," the name given to a group of poets who sought inspiration in the sophisticated work of third-century Greek poets, also known as Alexandrians. In 49 BC Virgil became a Roman citizen.

After his studies in Rome, Vergil is believed to have lived with his father for about 10 years, engaged in farm work, study, and writing poetry. After the battle of Philippi in 42 B.C.E. Virgil¿s property in Cisalpine Gaul, was confiscated for veterans. In the following years Virgil spent most of his time in Campania and Sicily, but he also had a house in Rome. During the reign of emperor Augustus, Virgil became a member of his court circle and was advanced by a minister, Maecenas, patron of the arts and close friend to the poet Horace. He gave Virgil a house near Naples.

Between 42 and 37 B.C.E. Virgil composed pastoral poems known as Bucolic or Eclogues and spent years on the Georgics. The rest of his life, from 30 to 19 B.C., Virgil devoted to The Aeneid, the national epic of Rome, and the glory of the Empire. Although ambitious, Virgil was never really happy about the task.

Virgil died in 19 B. C.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

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. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

The founding of Rome and the maturation of a hero who has greatness thrust upon him are the subjects of Virgil's first-century (b.c.) epic, newly available in Princeton scholar Fagles's energetic verse translation. It succeeds Fagles's critically acclaimed and very popular English-language renderings of Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey, the touchstones that preceded and inspired Virgil (the Latin poet's hero Aeneas in fact makes a brief appearance in the Iliad). In 12 Books containing nearly 10,000 lines of unrhymed verse hexameters (i.e., six stresses per line), Virgil tells of the endangered voyages of Aeneas's fleet of ships following the devastation of the Trojan War; his dalliance with Queen Dido of Carthage, and the abandonment of her that adds the scorned monarch's lethal rage to that of (Aeneas's nemesis) the offended goddess Juno; the hero's journey to the underworld and reunion with the ghost of his father Anchises (one of classical literature's imperishable scenes); and a litany of the deeds and sufferings of noble Romans that expands into a prophetic vision of a glorious future. Veteran scholar Bernard Knox's replete introduction brilliantly summarizes the poem's provenance, meanings and influence. And a "Translator's Postscript" both emphasizes and illustrates "[Virgil's] unequaled blend of grandeur and accessibility . . . of eloquence and action, heroics and humanity." Fagles varies the hexameter pattern ingeniously, condensing to five stresses, or expanding to seven, depending on the desired rhetorical or emotional effect (e.g., "the dank night is sweeping down from the sky / and the setting stars incline our heads to sleep")--and demonstrates his talents smashingly in scenes set in "The Kingdom of the Dead" (where, amid sulphurous sound and fury, we hear ". . . a crescendo of wailing, / ghosts of infants weeping, robbed of their share / of this sweet life, at its very threshold too"). Homer's deserved primacy makes us often forget that Virgil is in many ways his equal. Fagles's triumphant new achievement makes us remember it. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

The legendary translator of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Robert Fagles now delivers another classic. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.