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With its epic models, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid ranks among the greatest poems, not only of classical antiquity, but of all time. It tells the story of Aeneas, who leads a band of survivors from fallen Troy through wandering and war to found the city that will become imperial Rome. Fully equal to Homer in narrative sweep, dramatic power, and lyric intensity, Virgil’s epic outshines its models in the passion and compassion with which its characters, even its hero’s formidable opponents, are delineated: Dido, the African queen and femme fatale who would hold him back from his mission; and Turnus, the proud Italian prince he must overcome-ultimately in single combat-to fulfill it. Even the gods above are all too human. A fairy-tale? Of course; but the grandest fairy-tale of western culture, whose later literature it has fundamentally shaped. Not surprisingly, few works have been so often-or so inadequately-translated. It’s not just a matter of classical Latin into modern English; in itself, that’s not so hard. It’s the ‘aura’ of the great original: its classical flavour, cultural significance, and stately poetic style have never been, perhaps never can be, captured. Yet that is what this translation sets out to do. It begins from our side of the classics, from the western literature the poem has so deeply influenced, and reflects the narrative fluency, dazzling lyricism, and distinctive dignity of Virgil’s poem in a fresh and unstilted blank verse resonant with English and American tradition. The result is the most readable version ever. The problems and principles such a project involves are aired in an introduction that illuminates Virgil’s great work as never before. Enjoy!
