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Virgil, Vol 2: Aeneid Books 7-12, Appendix Vergiliana
Virgil, Volume Ii : Aeneid Books 7-12, Appendix Vergiliana (Loeb Classical Library, No 64) Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) was born in 70 BCE near Mantua and was educated at Cremona, Milan and Rome. Slow in speech, shy in manner, thoughtful in mind, weak in health, he went back north for a quiet life. Influenced by the group of poets there, he may have written some of the doubtful poems included in our Virgilian manuscripts. All his undoubted extant work is written in his perfect hexameters. Earliest comes the collection of ten pleasingly artificial bucolic poems, the Eclogues, which imitated freely Theocritus's idylls. They deal with pastoral life and love. Before 29 BCE came one of the best of all didactic works, the four books of Georgics on tillage, trees, cattle, and bees. Virgil's remaining years were spent in composing his great, not wholly finished, epic the Aeneid, on the traditional theme of Rome's origins through Aeneas of Troy. Inspired by the Emperor
590 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1513
About the author
Virgil
4,122 books2,116 followersborn 15 October 70 BC
died 21 September 19 BC
Roman poet Virgil, also Vergil, originally Publius Vergilius Maro, composed the Aeneid , an epic telling after the sack of Troy of the wanderings of Aeneas.
Work of Virgil greatly influenced on western literature; in most notably Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.
died 21 September 19 BC
Roman poet Virgil, also Vergil, originally Publius Vergilius Maro, composed the Aeneid , an epic telling after the sack of Troy of the wanderings of Aeneas.
Work of Virgil greatly influenced on western literature; in most notably Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 21, 2011
Gaius Octavius (63-14 BCE) or better known as Octavian was given the title Augustus when he ushered in a time of peace under the Pax Romana. So began the Roman Empire in 27 BCE. The Roman’s had conquered much of the Mediterranean basin, from North Africa, the Middle East, Germany, France and Spain. For a people “so great” they needed a story to tell.
Publius Vergilius Maro, better known as Virgil (70-21 BCE) was celebrated for his poetry. When he wrote an epic tale of the founding of Rome he had the ear of the Emperor. It also helps when you put that emperor in the poem. Some call this the first great piece of propaganda and it’s hard to dispute this after reading this tale.
It was written between 29 and 19 BCE, consisting of twelve books each containing around 850-1000 lines of poetry. At the time the epic sagas of the Iliad and the Odyssey written by Homer eight centuries earlier were well known. the Iliad tells the tale of the Greek hero Achilles and the destruction of Troy while the Odyssey tells the ten-year long journey of Odysseus returning home to Ithaca. Virgil blended the two stories: the first half is an Odyssey; the other half is an Iliad, Roman style.
The Romans believed in the Olympic gods and they are instrumental throughout the book. Juno, wife of Jupiter despises the Trojans; Venus, mother of Aeneas supports them. The arbiter is Jupiter. The story begins with Juno asking Aeolus the wind god to destroy the Trojan fleet of Libya. Only seven of the twenty ships survive and roll up on the beaches of Carthage, home of Dido.
This is the great set up for the tragic love story between Aeneas and Dido. It also foreshadows the three wars between Carthage and Rome from 264-146 BCE, known as the Punic Wars. The people of Carthage are Phoenicians. Dido herself had to flee after her brother killed her husband lusting after the Queen. Legend has it she founded the city using the thread of a cow’s skin. Aeneas’ mother Venus presents him with a dilemma. Found Rome or stay for love (and perhaps become a second-rate person in history?) What would any “hero” do? Easy choice with a bad outcome. Now do get the antagonism of the Carthaginians?
Yet it really starts with the Greeks taking over the city of Troy, after ten years of siege. Aeneas flees through the raging city with his family including his father elderly Anchises. His wife gets separated and in a chilling scene, reunites with Aeneas as a “shade” having died. “Flee the city!” she warns. For the Romans, family, the gods, honour and state are all important. He listened to his wife.
His clan leaves Troy, makes it to Carthage (Dido story) then Sicily (more bad stuff) before making up the river Tiber to the hills of what would become Rome. All seems well except there are people living there already. Who are they? They are the Latins, living under king Latinus and Queen Amata. They have a daughter Lavinia betrothed to handsome Turnus. All sounds fine until Aeneas and his ragged lot of Trojans show up. Aeneas makes friends with Evander and the Arcadians (one of those neighboring folks).
The king really likes the “new guy” Aeneas and the “old guy” Turnus is not a happy camper. Lavinia? She is just embarrassed. One day Auscanius, Aeneas’s son accidentally kills a sacred deer and the Latins and especially Turnus are really upset. They get the neighbouring Rutulians (mor3 folks living in the area) on board and it’s a fight to the death for just about everyone.
The gods are having a field day. Blood and gore with a lot of interventions on both sides. Battles, funerals, more battles, funerals, deceit, promises, broken promises. You get the gist of the latter half of the story. Virgil, who is a very talented poet makes full use of metaphors, symbolism and beautiful language. This is what holds our attention.
In the end and with no surprise, a compromise is made with the gods to get this damn Roman Empire under way. It may surprise you that the Trojan war happened around 1200 BCE. It took Aeneas and his crew seven years to get to Rome. Bickering and warring gods, queens and princesses, heroic warriors born of gods, heroic fighters both men and women, prophesies and warnings, and endless shipwrecks and toils beyond belief makes for a grand epic tale. We are talking about a story that happened 3200 years ago, written down 2000 years ago and to be honest, still is a worthy read.
Full 5 stars.
Read in original Latin with a lot of help on the bilingual side of the Loeb Classical Library edition. Unfortunately it spans two volumes but I am only adding the review to last volume. I read Vol 1 with Eclogues and Georgics along with the Robert Fitzgerald translation in the late 1990s.
**************
Original review: His Minor Poems are intriguing. 3 stars.
Publius Vergilius Maro, better known as Virgil (70-21 BCE) was celebrated for his poetry. When he wrote an epic tale of the founding of Rome he had the ear of the Emperor. It also helps when you put that emperor in the poem. Some call this the first great piece of propaganda and it’s hard to dispute this after reading this tale.
It was written between 29 and 19 BCE, consisting of twelve books each containing around 850-1000 lines of poetry. At the time the epic sagas of the Iliad and the Odyssey written by Homer eight centuries earlier were well known. the Iliad tells the tale of the Greek hero Achilles and the destruction of Troy while the Odyssey tells the ten-year long journey of Odysseus returning home to Ithaca. Virgil blended the two stories: the first half is an Odyssey; the other half is an Iliad, Roman style.
The Romans believed in the Olympic gods and they are instrumental throughout the book. Juno, wife of Jupiter despises the Trojans; Venus, mother of Aeneas supports them. The arbiter is Jupiter. The story begins with Juno asking Aeolus the wind god to destroy the Trojan fleet of Libya. Only seven of the twenty ships survive and roll up on the beaches of Carthage, home of Dido.
This is the great set up for the tragic love story between Aeneas and Dido. It also foreshadows the three wars between Carthage and Rome from 264-146 BCE, known as the Punic Wars. The people of Carthage are Phoenicians. Dido herself had to flee after her brother killed her husband lusting after the Queen. Legend has it she founded the city using the thread of a cow’s skin. Aeneas’ mother Venus presents him with a dilemma. Found Rome or stay for love (and perhaps become a second-rate person in history?) What would any “hero” do? Easy choice with a bad outcome. Now do get the antagonism of the Carthaginians?
Yet it really starts with the Greeks taking over the city of Troy, after ten years of siege. Aeneas flees through the raging city with his family including his father elderly Anchises. His wife gets separated and in a chilling scene, reunites with Aeneas as a “shade” having died. “Flee the city!” she warns. For the Romans, family, the gods, honour and state are all important. He listened to his wife.
His clan leaves Troy, makes it to Carthage (Dido story) then Sicily (more bad stuff) before making up the river Tiber to the hills of what would become Rome. All seems well except there are people living there already. Who are they? They are the Latins, living under king Latinus and Queen Amata. They have a daughter Lavinia betrothed to handsome Turnus. All sounds fine until Aeneas and his ragged lot of Trojans show up. Aeneas makes friends with Evander and the Arcadians (one of those neighboring folks).
The king really likes the “new guy” Aeneas and the “old guy” Turnus is not a happy camper. Lavinia? She is just embarrassed. One day Auscanius, Aeneas’s son accidentally kills a sacred deer and the Latins and especially Turnus are really upset. They get the neighbouring Rutulians (mor3 folks living in the area) on board and it’s a fight to the death for just about everyone.
The gods are having a field day. Blood and gore with a lot of interventions on both sides. Battles, funerals, more battles, funerals, deceit, promises, broken promises. You get the gist of the latter half of the story. Virgil, who is a very talented poet makes full use of metaphors, symbolism and beautiful language. This is what holds our attention.
In the end and with no surprise, a compromise is made with the gods to get this damn Roman Empire under way. It may surprise you that the Trojan war happened around 1200 BCE. It took Aeneas and his crew seven years to get to Rome. Bickering and warring gods, queens and princesses, heroic warriors born of gods, heroic fighters both men and women, prophesies and warnings, and endless shipwrecks and toils beyond belief makes for a grand epic tale. We are talking about a story that happened 3200 years ago, written down 2000 years ago and to be honest, still is a worthy read.
Full 5 stars.
Read in original Latin with a lot of help on the bilingual side of the Loeb Classical Library edition. Unfortunately it spans two volumes but I am only adding the review to last volume. I read Vol 1 with Eclogues and Georgics along with the Robert Fitzgerald translation in the late 1990s.
**************
Original review: His Minor Poems are intriguing. 3 stars.
August 9, 2025
Quina gran obra!
Tot i que la primera meitat m'ha agradat molt més que la segona (en especial, els cants IV i VI, que m'han semblat espectaculars), Virgili m'ha semblat un narrador i poeta meravellós. Els discursos d'Eneas són fantàstics, i sense dubte Itàlia es pot ventar del seu poema nacinal.
Menció especial a la traducció se Miquel Dolç ❤️
Tot i que la primera meitat m'ha agradat molt més que la segona (en especial, els cants IV i VI, que m'han semblat espectaculars), Virgili m'ha semblat un narrador i poeta meravellós. Els discursos d'Eneas són fantàstics, i sense dubte Itàlia es pot ventar del seu poema nacinal.
Menció especial a la traducció se Miquel Dolç ❤️
July 19, 2022
Finally. I have never really liked the last three books of the Aeneid. I have read 1-6 in Latin maybe seven or eight times, 7-8 maybe three. The rest twice. First time in a seminar on 7-12. And a few times in translations. 1-6 is great. 7-8 has the arrival in Italy with the attendant stories, Aeneas' tour of the site of Rome. 10-12 is just unremitting war. It may be what Vergil had in mind when he told Varius and Tucca to burn it
November 30, 2025
els 6 últims llibres no tan bons com els primers, ni de lluny. però per fi l’eneida llegida 🫡🫡
August 1, 2025
Després de la Ilíada i la Odisea, aquest any m'he atrevit a llegir l'obra insigne de Virgili: l'Eneida, de la mà de Bernat Metge. Tot i que cal reconèixer que son traduccions que, tot i la actualització de la colecció Bernat Metge Essencial, son una mica "arcaiques" és una èpica molt entretinguda per a llegir.
February 22, 2020
Temel aldığım edisyon. Ne denebilir ki, kutsal kitabım gibi bir şey.
November 10, 2020
This half seemed to be somewhat blander than the first, but that might be my own tiredness, tension and impatience.
If, for any weird reason, you have stumbled upon my review, reader, know that I value Williams very much, and the only thing I should add to my remarks on the quirks of his commentary as reviewed in the first half, is that some of those are explained by students having to read only one part or, say, 400 lines of the poem, and Williams gets repetitious for the sake of those poor souls, risking to annoy mildly obsessive-compulsive perfectionists who can't drop a story in the middle of an absolute ablative.
That said, utere fortunam tuam, reader.
If, for any weird reason, you have stumbled upon my review, reader, know that I value Williams very much, and the only thing I should add to my remarks on the quirks of his commentary as reviewed in the first half, is that some of those are explained by students having to read only one part or, say, 400 lines of the poem, and Williams gets repetitious for the sake of those poor souls, risking to annoy mildly obsessive-compulsive perfectionists who can't drop a story in the middle of an absolute ablative.
That said, utere fortunam tuam, reader.
June 15, 2026
Good. I think T.S. Eliot said, in not so many words, that we cannot craft a definition of “The Classics” that excludes Virgil. He was right. I only really take issue with two things:
1. The ad-reads. The narrative comes to a grinding halt to extol the virtues of Gens Julii and more than once proud Aeneas is driven to tears at the majesty of Augustus and Agrippa. I will say, though, that the bit where the opposing forces at Actium are rendered as Neptune and Anubis slugging it out was cool. This isn’t a real complaint. It’s indicative of the time and provides context, plus it’s funny.
2. There’s a bit of monotony in literary devices in the last few books, specifically, an over reliance on similes. There is very often a long sentence structured thus
“When, like a dove roused by the shriek of an eagle, she flees in haste and great terror, leaving behind her nest and giving no thought to what land her flight may take her…..”. I saw it a lot in Moby Dick too. This also isn’t really a complaint because it’s contingent on a million different things. It’s a specific translation of a Latin epic poem in quantitative meter. That is effectively impossible to translate “accurately” (if the pursuit of that false idol is your predilection). I won’t fault it. It’s as much as an artifact as it is a work of art to be consumed. The finals books that this is most common in were also sort of unfinished. Virgil wanted them destroyed after his death, like Kafka. But, also like Kafka, his friends lied to him and said they’d do it. It’s entirely possible that Virgil wanted to “clean up” these books and refine some of the similes. Or not. Who knows. He’s dead.
Beyond that I liked it. Some wonderful wordplay, imagery, and evocative emotions.
1. The ad-reads. The narrative comes to a grinding halt to extol the virtues of Gens Julii and more than once proud Aeneas is driven to tears at the majesty of Augustus and Agrippa. I will say, though, that the bit where the opposing forces at Actium are rendered as Neptune and Anubis slugging it out was cool. This isn’t a real complaint. It’s indicative of the time and provides context, plus it’s funny.
2. There’s a bit of monotony in literary devices in the last few books, specifically, an over reliance on similes. There is very often a long sentence structured thus
“When, like a dove roused by the shriek of an eagle, she flees in haste and great terror, leaving behind her nest and giving no thought to what land her flight may take her…..”. I saw it a lot in Moby Dick too. This also isn’t really a complaint because it’s contingent on a million different things. It’s a specific translation of a Latin epic poem in quantitative meter. That is effectively impossible to translate “accurately” (if the pursuit of that false idol is your predilection). I won’t fault it. It’s as much as an artifact as it is a work of art to be consumed. The finals books that this is most common in were also sort of unfinished. Virgil wanted them destroyed after his death, like Kafka. But, also like Kafka, his friends lied to him and said they’d do it. It’s entirely possible that Virgil wanted to “clean up” these books and refine some of the similes. Or not. Who knows. He’s dead.
Beyond that I liked it. Some wonderful wordplay, imagery, and evocative emotions.
January 4, 2024
Six stars!!
Honestly, after having read the first six books a few times, I was expecting to be a little disappointed and bored by this second half of the story. I was most happily mistaken: the second six books--which Vergil himself calls his "maius opus"--have, in my opinion, just as much to commend themselves as the first six, with many delightful and unexpected episodes, as well as some great character duos (e.g., Euryalus and Nisus, Evander and Pallas, and, of course, Aeneas and Turnus).
This is a work I'd definitely like to delve into with some of my students someday (*nudge-nudge* to any NSA students reading this!).
Honestly, after having read the first six books a few times, I was expecting to be a little disappointed and bored by this second half of the story. I was most happily mistaken: the second six books--which Vergil himself calls his "maius opus"--have, in my opinion, just as much to commend themselves as the first six, with many delightful and unexpected episodes, as well as some great character duos (e.g., Euryalus and Nisus, Evander and Pallas, and, of course, Aeneas and Turnus).
This is a work I'd definitely like to delve into with some of my students someday (*nudge-nudge* to any NSA students reading this!).
March 28, 2022
Liber VIII: Loved it. The book includes the arrival of Aeneas at Evander, the story of Hercules and Cacus and finally the description of the shield of Aeneas which foretells the glorious future of his descendants, the Romans. The part of the clipeus perfectly shows how Vergilius' work ideologically supported the regime of Augustus. Puzzling your way through the verses of one of Latin literature's all-time greats was incredibly fun. 5/5: no doubt.
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December 7, 2020Books 7-8
May 19, 2025
the illiad fanfic type of story
August 8, 2026
Probably a mistake not to read a verse translation on my first pass
June 30, 2026
Tot i que el llibre es interessant, les traduccions de la Bernat metge no son del meu estil.
August 23, 2012
How whiny can one grown many be? Read this to find out. I have no empathy for the main character and frankly his treatment of Dido should earn him scorn forever more if he had not already earned it by being a whiny loser. Nothing wrong is ever his fault, and he is frankly ungrateful to those who help him.
February 27, 2007
I like this edition because it's two volumes and therefore portable and the notes are helpful and concise. The OCT is nicer but it is good to have some decent notes occasionally.
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November 21, 2009None
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews