The Aeneid
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Aeneas--the son of a human and Venus, the goddess of love--escapes the siege of Troy with a boat full of other Trojans, and sails for Italy where he is destined to found the city of Rome. A storm diverts them to Carthage, where Aeneas meets Dido, the city's ruler and queen. He recounts the tale of his dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to her, and the two fall in love. After the gods remind Aeneas that it is his fate to start a new city, he sails for Italy, leaving a devastated Dido behind. The Italians are at first friendly, but when war breaks out, Aeneas must fight to fulfill his destiny. Virgil originally wrote his epic poem, The Aeneid, in Latin around 20 BCE. This is an unabridged version of the English translation by John Dryden, first published in 1697.
Virgil, Aeneid, 4. 1-299
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Acknowledgements -- 1. Preface -- 2. Latin Text -- 3. Study Questions -- 4. Commentary -- 5. Interpretative Essays -- 5.1. Content and Form -- 5.2. Historiographical Dido -- 5.3. Allusion -- 5.4. Religion -- 6. Bibliography"Love and tragedy dominate book four of Virgil's most powerful work, building on the violent emotions invoked by the storms, battles, warring gods, and monster-plagued wanderings of the epic's opening. Destined to be the founder of Roman culture, Aeneas, nudged by the gods, decides to leave his beloved Dido, causing her suicide in pursuit of his historical destiny. A dark plot, in which erotic passion culminates in sex, and sex leads to tragedy and death in the human realm, unfolds within the larger horizon of a supernatural sphere, dominated by power-conscious divinities. Dido is Aeneas' most significant other, and in their encounter Virgil explores timeless themes of love and loyalty, fate and fortune, the justice of the gods, imperial ambition and its victims, and ethnic differences. This course book offers a portion of the original Latin text, study questions, a commentary, and interpretative essays. Designed to stretch and stimulate readers, Ingo Gildenhard's incisive commentary will be of particular interest to students of Latin at both A2 and undergraduate level. It extends beyond detailed linguistic analysis to encourage critical engagement with Virgil's poetry and discussion of the most recent scholarly thought."--Publisher's website
Virgil, Aeneid 2
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Introduction, text and translation, detailed commentary and indices to Aeneid 2 are here offered on a scale not previously attempted and in keeping with the author's previous Virgil commentaries (Aeneid 3, 7 and 11); the volume is aimed primarily at scholars, rather than undergraduates.
Virgil, Aeneid 5
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Virgil's Aeneid 5 has long been among the more neglected sections of the poet's epic of Augustan Rome. Book 5 opens the second movement of the poem, the middle section of the Aeneid that sees the Trojans poised between the old world of Phrygia and the new destiny in Italy. The present volume fills a significant gap in Virgilian studies by offering the first full-scale commentary in any language on this key book in the explication of the poet's grand consideration of the meaning of Trojan versus Roman identity. A new critical text (based on first hand examination of the manuscripts) is accompanied by a prose translation and detailed commentary. The notes provide in depth analysis of literary, historical, and lexical matters; the introduction situates Book 5 both in the context of the epic and the larger tradition of heroic poetry.
Virgil, Aeneid 6
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Working "in the shadow of Eduard Norden" in the author's own words, Nicholas Horsfall has written his own monumental commentary on Aeneid 6. This is Horsfall's fifth large-scale commentary on the Aeneid, and as his earlier commentaries on books 7, 11, 3, and 2, this is not a commentary aimed at undergraduates. Horsfall is a commentators' commentator writing with encyclopedic command of Virgilian scholarship for the most demanding reader. Volume One includes the introduction, text and translation, and bibliography, Volume Two includes the commentary, appendices, and indices.
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