Tells the story of an epic voyage in which Aeneas crosses stormy seas, becomes entangled in a tragic love affair with Dido of Cathage, 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 fulfil his destiny: to found the Roman people.
Robert Fagles's award-winning translations of Homer's twin works The Iliad and The Odyssey have sold more than a million copies and become classics in their own right. With this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles introduces Virgil's Aeneid to a whole new generation of readers and completes the classic triptych at the heart of Western civilisation. The Aeneid tells the story of an epic voyage in which Aeneas crosses stormy seas, becomes entangled in a tragic love affair with Dido of Cathage, 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 fulfil his destiny: to found the Roman people. A stirring tale of arms and heroism, dispossession and defeat, and an unsparing portrait of a man caught between love, duty, and fate, The Aeneid brings to life a whole world of human passion, nobility, and courage.
Fagles's new translation retains all of the gravitas and humanity of the original as well as its powerful blend of poetry and myth. Featuring an illuminating introduction to Virgil's world from noted scholar Bernard Knox, this new Aeneid lends a vibrant, contemporary voice to the literary achievement of the ancient world.
"A new and noble standard bearer . . . There's a capriciousness to Fagles's line well suited to this vast story's ebb and flow."
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The New York Times Book Review (front page review)
"Fagles's new version of Virgil's epic delicately melds the stately rhythms of the original to a contemporary cadence. . . . He illuminates the poem's Homeric echoes while remaining faithful to Virgil's distinctive voice."
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The New Yorker "Robert Fagles gives the full range of Virgil's drama, grandeur, and pathos in vigorous, supple modern English. It is fitting that one of the great translators of
The Iliad and
The Odyssey in our times should also emerge as a surpassing translator of
The Aeneid."
-J. M. Coetzee