Wonders of the World: The Aeneid: A New Prose Translation - Softcover

Virgil

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140448195 ISBN 13: 9780140448191

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2002

Synopsis

'I sing of arms and of the man, fated to be an exile .' THE AENEID of Virgil describes the legendary origin of the Roman nation. It tells of the Trojan prince Aeneas, who escaped with some followers after the fall of Troy and sailed to Italy. Here they settled and laid the foundations of Roman power. THE AENEID is a poet's picture of the world, where human affairs are controlled by human and superhuman influences. It is a great literary epic inspired by Virgil's love of his native Italy andhis sense of Rome's destiny as a civilised ruler of nationals.

About this title

About the Author

Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC) was born in the north of Italy and completed his education in Rome. He also wrote THE ECLOGUES, completed in 37 BC, and THE GEORGICS, which he finished in 29 BC. He then devoted the rest of his life to the composition of his greatest work, THE AENEID.

Since retiring from the Latin Chair at Newcastle University, David West has translated the Odes and Epodes of Horace and written commentaries on Odes I and on Odes II.

From the Back Cover

'I sing of arms and of the man fated to be an exile ...'

Part of the beautifully presented 'Wonders of the World' series. A prose translation with an introduction by David West.

'A poem for our time? The Aeneid is the story of a man who lived three thousand years ago in the city of Troy in the north-west tip of Asia. What has that to do with us?

Troy was besieged and sacked by the Greeks. After a series of disasters Aeneas met and loved a woman, Dido, queen of Carthage, but obeyed the call of duty to his people and his gods and left her to her death. Then, after long years of wandering, he reached Italy, fought a bitter war against the peoples of Latium and in the end formed an alliance with them which enabled him to found his city of Lavinium. From these beginnings, in 333 years, in 753BC, the city of Rome was to be founded. The Romans had arrived in Italy.' From the Introduction

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140448195
• ISBN 13: 9780140448191
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368