The Aeneid By Virgil (Paperback, 2003)

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Inspired by Homer & the inspiration for Dante & Milton Virgil's The Aeneid is an immortal epic poem of the ancient world that lies at the heart of Western life & culture translated from the Latin with an introduction by David West in Penguin Classics After a century of civil strife in Rome & Italy Virgil wrote The Aeneid to honour the emperor Augustus by praising Aeneas
- Augustus' legendary ancestor As a patriotic epic imitating Homer The Aeneid also set out to provide rome with a literature equal to that of ancient Greece It tells of Aeneas survivor of the sack of Troy & of his seven-year journey
- to Carthage where he tragically fell in love with Queen Dido; then to the underworld in the company of the Sybil of Cumae; & finally to Italy where he founded Rome It is a story of defeat & exile of love & war hailed by Tennyson as 'the stateliest measure ever moulded by the lips of man' David West's acclaimed prose translation is accompanied by an updated introduction Including a new discussion of each of the twelve books of The Aeneid Publius Virgilius Maro (70-19 BC) studied rhetoric & philosophy in Rome where he became a court poet As well as The Aeneid his Eclogues & Georgics earned him the reputation as the finest Latin poet If you enjoyed The Aeneid you might like Homer's The Iliad also available in Penguin Classics' The most truthful translation ever conveying as many nuances & whispers as are possible from the original' The Times' Sweet prose clear & clean & dancing like a mountain stream as here West opens the window & the winds bring life into Virgil's body' Wall Street Journal