The Aeneid for Boys and Girls

by Alfred J. Church

Relates in vigorous prose the tale of Aeneas, the legendary ancestor of Romulus, who escaped from the burning city of Troy and wandered the Mediterranean for years before settling in Italy. Patterned after the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Aeneid was composed as an epic poem by Virgil, to glorify the imperial city of Rome.

Genres: History, Classics, Childrens, School, Adventure, Literature, Historical

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1908

About the author

Alfred John Church (1829-1912) was an English classical scholar. He was born in London and was educated at King's College London, and Lincoln College, Oxford, he took holy orders and was an assistant-master at Merchant Taylors' School for many years. From 1880 until 1888 he was professor of Latin at University College, London. While at University College in partnership with William Jackson Brodribb, he translated Tacitus and edited Pliny's Letters (Epistulae). Church also wrote a number of stories in English re-telling of classical tales and legends for young people (Stories from Virgil, Stories from Homer, etc. ). He also wrote much Latin and English verse, and in 1908 published his Memories of Men and Books. Other works include: Stories of the Magicians (1887), The Count of the Saxon Shore; or, The Villa in Vectis (with Ruth Putnam) (1888), Heroes of Chivalry and Romance (1898), Stories of Charlemagne (1902), The Crown of Pine (1906) and With the King at Oxford (1909).

Reviews

[Michelle Fournier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read aloud to all kids ages 9-15. Brilliant story. So exciting and gave me a desire to read an original (translation in English) someday. I had never read any form of this story before.
We had not read any of Alfred Church’s retellings before and I will definitely be looking for more.

Note from the very back of the book
You must remember that all this is legend, not history. But we human beings are so made that we need both legend and history to fill our minds with a deep rich sense of the past. This particular legend, of Aeneas and the early beginnings of the city that once dominated the western world, is one that men have treasured for 2000 years .

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read 'The Aeneid For Boys and Girls' aloud to my son so that he could be in on the conversations between my daughter and I. She and I read 'The Aeneid' as translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Although the children's version is considerably shorter, I was much impressed with the content. It keeps the important parts of the story-line. And experience has shown that reading a children's version makes the prospect of tackling an adult version later on less of a daunting task. I am going to share a passage from each. The first is from The Aeneid for Boys and Girls and the last from the translation by Robert Fitzgerald. In these passages Turnus is about to be slain by Aeneas. He is pleading for his life.

" I have deserved my fate: take what you have won. And yet have mercy on me. Pity the old man, my father. You had such a one for your own father.....
And Aeneas stood in doubt. He might have spared him, but that his eye fell on the belt of Pallas. Then he cried with a dreadful voice: "Shall I spare you when you wear the spoils of my friend? Not so; take this; it is Pallas slays you." And he drove his spear into his breast. So the spirit of Turnus passed into the darkness."

(And now the other)

"Cleary I earned this, and I ask no quarter.
Make the most of your good fortune here.
If you can feel a father's grief--and you, too,
Had such a father in Anchises--then
Let be bespeak your mercy for old age..."

Fierce under arms, Aeneas
Looked to and fro, and towered, and stayed his hand
Upon the sword hilt. Moment by moment now
What Turnus said began to bring him round
From indecision. Then to his glance appeared
The accurst sword belt surmounting Turnus' shoulder,
Shining with its familiar studs--the strap
Young Pallas wore when Turnus wounded him
And left him dead upon the field; now Turnus
Bore that enemy token on his shoulder--
Enemy still. For when the sight came home to him,
Aeneas raged at the relic of his anguish
Worn by this man as a trophy. Blazing up
And terrible in his anger, he called out:

"You in your plunder, torn from one of mine,
Shall I be robbed of you? This wound will come
From Pallas: Pallas makes this offering
And from your criminal blood exacts his due."

He sank his blade in fury in Turnus' chest.
Then all the body slackened in death's chill,
And with a groan for that indignity
His spirit fled into the gloom below.

[Elysia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This abridged telling was perfect for reading aloud to my 6th and 3rd graders. It left out heavier things but there was still plenty of war and death to give a decent intro to the Aeneid. This particular edition had at least one classic painting per chapter (it’s broken up into 22 chapters), and that gave us opportunities to discuss how later artists portrayed classic stories. Church’s language was largely easy to follow, there were only a few older usages that I stumbled over in reading aloud.
The only downsides were that this edition was an odd size (not a showstopper), and the pages/printing weren’t very high quality. But for my purposes, I’d buy it again, read it again, and recommend it.

[Daniel Nelms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Used for a junior high humanities course. Well written, maintains the tone of the original Homeric similes. Great retelling.

[Rubystocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I loved Aeneas because I thought he was a good leader for the Trojans.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Renders the story in straightforward prose which retains much formal beauty given its age. Some of it is literally Biblical, as Church uses phrases like "he who gives his life will save it", "your people shall be as my people", "put away childish things", and "pondered it in his heart". The afterward, which connects Aeneas and the formal founding of of Rome, is addressed to British schoolchildren who are informed that the Romans' greatest gift was law and order, and this they shall learn more about when they are older.

Read to prepare myself for reading a more elaborate verse translations.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, there was certainly a lot of battles, setbacks, heroics, and death in this tale! I've never read the original epic poem, but I enjoyed this narrative version. I imagine the poem would be a lot harder to understand, but this version tells is in a very straightforward way, yet still with a lot of great metaphorical imagery. The kids enjoyed it as well. I'd really give it a 3.5 since I don't think I liked it as much as my other 4-star ratings. There just seemed to be a lot of needless war, but then again, that's what the Romans did...

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book aloud to my class of 2nd-4th graders. It was a challenging book, of rich vocabulary and many characters with difficult names. It took a few chapters for the students to begin to listen attentively, but then they loved it. It was their favorite book of the school year and many of them asked often if we could read it again.

[Candace Whiting · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read aloud for our children (ages 9-12). The story is exciting and kept them interested. We followed some books about the Trojans and Greek and Roman gods with this story to help them see a full picture. Really recommend this with an adult aloud unless you have a gifted reader! (Our 12 year old was able to read this story alone)

[Private Account · Rating 4 out of 5]

My six year old loved this book. We read it in less than a week. Fantastic vocabulary (not dumbed down) just told in story form rather than poem form.

[Austin Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great interpretation of the Aeneid with some nice language. 3 stars because it’s not the Aeneid.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read to my kids, ages 7,9,11,13. Everyone followed the story well. The writing was clear and conveyed the heart of the story, tho it might have been fun to include Aeneas’s trip to the underworld.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ages: 10+

Very well done! Excellent retelling of the story of Aeneas.

[Rachel N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with my grammar/middle-school aged kids - a perfect introduction to The Aeneid (which I am also reading out loud with my high schooler).

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gentle introduction to the classic poem by Virgil.

[Kiley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overly simplified to the point that it felt dry and boring. I don't think boys and girls would be inspired to read the original after reading this.

I much prefer In Search of a Homeland by Penelope Lively for a retelling that is simplified but doesn't feel dumbed down. It retains the feeling of poetry and grandness that you get reading Virgil.

[Lisa Rosenow · Rating 3 out of 5]

We listened to this story for book club. We found it very confusing and hard to follow

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was written in 1962 and so its prose was old enough that I had to pay much more attention than I wanted to. However, I probably paid much less attention then if I had been reading Virgil's masterpiece. To tell the truth, I was looking for an Action Comics version of the tale, but this was as easy as the library got.

I read this as a comparison to Livina, which I read last month for the library book club. I found some striking differences between the two, namely that in LeGuin's telling of the story the gods are not involved at all. This makes sense as the book was from the main character's perspective and most of us don't have sense of the string pulling various gods do on a daily basis. It would have been fun if LeGuin and I could sit down and discuss her choices as to what to include in the book, but I think I would want to wade through an official version first. Given LeGuin's lamentation of the death of Latin and how we are as a culture seeing the actual death of the great "dead language"--statements I agree with and feel sad about--I can't imagine the withering look I would get if it came out I couldn't be bothered to read even a translation.

Interesting differences between books written "for boys and girls" in 1962 and today: there was a forward and an afterward. When was the last time you have seen that in a children's book? The scattering of drawings almost never matched with the text on the page, something that I think has to do with printing layouts. Also, I'm pretty sure when the publisher says, "boys and girls" they were aiming the book at the 11-14 age group. Today the title would be The Aeneid for Tweens and Teens.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, my kids loved this book about ancient history.

[Cortney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this with my five year old son, who really enjoyed it as well. Church really makes the story accessible without dumbing it down at all.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice retelling of Virgil's Aeneid for young children.

[Mrs]

“...we human beings are so made that, to fill our minds with a deep, rich sense of the past, we need both legend and history. This particular legend... is one that men have treasured in their imaginations for two thousand years,” writes Clifton Fadiman in his afterword.

Here is the wonderful world of heroes, godesses and supernatural adventures—a world found only in the myths of classical antiquity. In simple flowing style, Alfred J. Church retells Virgil's story of Aeneas' flight from fallen Troy to his final settlement in Latium. You will follow the noble Aeneas through magical waters and strange ports to Carthage where he meets the enchanting Dido; then descend with him and his benevolent guid Sibyl to the land of the dead, and finally learn how the oracle was fulfilled and the high destiny of the Roman state founded.”
from the front fly-leaf of “The Aeneid”

“Children have just as much right of access to genius as to swimming pools and hot lunches. More. Infinitely more. Let the child read above himself... Let him travel farther in the realms of gold than in the realms of lead.”
In his afterword, Mr. Fadiman talks with personal feeling about The Aeneid, the poet Virgil and the history of this ancient time. Speaking directly to the reader, he brings out the enduring value of this beloved classic.”
from the back fly-leaf

An Afterword by Clifton Fadiman
You now know the story of Virgil's Aeneid. It is one of the three great epics of the ancient world. The other two are the Iliad and the Odyssey, both by Homer. Once familiar with these three stories, you will, for the rest of your life, know who or what is meant when you read or hear a reference to Troy or Circe or the Wooden Horse or Venus or Hades or Dido. And you'll find that such references will turn up again and again, for our own civilization, different as it may seem from that of ancient times, is deeply dyed in the colors of classical Greece and Rome.
The book you have just read is a retelling in easy prose of Virgil's epic poem, which is far longer, more complicated—and also more beautiful. Some day I hope you will read this poem in a good translation or even (if you learn Latin) in the original. Meanwhile this version is a good introduction to the story of the Aeneid.
Virgil (70 B.C.-19 B.C.) lived the latter part of his life in the reign of the Emperor Augustus, under whom Rome reached the height of its power. These years were renowned for the literature that was produced, particularly poetry. Virgil, a great favorite of the Emperor, wanted in his poem to celebrate the greatness of the Empire. The Aenied had a purpose: to remind his fellow-Romans of their (probably legendary) link with ancient Troy; of their humble beginnings, and of the greatness they had achieved in the course of the centuries. He made Aeneas the symbol of Roman virtue, the heroic founder of Roman supremacy. So in a sense the Aeneid is a kind of patriotic poem, like our own Star-Spangled Banner—but much longer.
It is said that Virgil worked on his masterpiece for over ten years. On his deathbed, still dissatisfied with it, he asked that it be buried. Fortunately his request was disobeyed. If it had been granted, you would not now have inside your head a gallery of vivid pictures: the sack of Troy, Aeneas bearing Anchises on his shoulders, the suicide of poor, abandoned Dido, Aeneas among the dead, battles between the Latins and the Trojans, the death of fiery Turnus.
You must remember that this is legend, not history. But we human beings are so made that we need both legend and history to fill our minds with a deep, rich sense of the past. This particular legend, of Aeneas and the early beginnings of the city that once dominated the Western world, is one that men have treasured for two thousand years.”