The Aeneid

AuthorVirgil

TranslatorRobert Fagles

Foreword / AfterwordBernard Knox

LanguageEnglish

Year2008

Avg Rating3.0 ★

PublisherPenguin

CountryUnited Kingdom

Pages484

ISBN978-0143105138

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. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

— Google Books

Buy on Amazon

Reviews

★★★☆☆ 3/5

So reading Virgil right after reading Homer... I know they wrote in different languages and maybe Virgil's adaptation of Homeric verse was a revelation for Latin poetry, but reading them all in translation the Aenied does seem like a pale imitation of Homer. I think Leopardi agrees with me on this (he wrote that with the exception if Lucretius or someone all Roman poetry was derivative and inferior to the Greek). I read that Virgil read books 2, 4 and 6 aloud to the Emperor Augustus and his sister--honestly, just read those books. 2 has Virgil's account of the Fall of Troy (which Homer dances around but never really depicts), 4 has Queen Dido and 6 has Aeneus' voyage to the underworld (which is richer than Odysseus' and it's easy to see how it inspired the Inferno). Other than that, so many parts that imitate Homer: a far inferior equivalent of Od's tale of his adventures at sea, funeral games (as in that boring chapter of the Iliad that is cut out of abridged editions), an equivalent of the "catalogue of ships," a detailed description of a shield crafted by Vulcan. And so many more allusions to Homer great and small. As I said, maybe theres a significant distinction owing from the different languages, but in translation at least, Virgil seems like a latter-day Homer wannabe. Aeneus' story is also just less interesting IMO that Odysseus' or Achilles'.

3/1/2026