Virgil was referred to in his own time simply as “The Poet.” He was born “Publius Vergilius Maro” in 70 BC near Mantua, in what is now Northern Italy. His parents were landowners and as such had enough money to give him a good education. In 41 BC, the emperor Octavian confiscated his family’s property and he went to Rome to negotiate for it’s return. Not only was he successful in that endeavor, he also so impressed the emperor’s right-hand man, Maecenas, that the latter made Virgil his protégé for the rest of his life. The Aeneid is Virgil’s great masterwork. It took him 11 years to complete, although it remained unpublished at his death. In his will, Virgil requested that it be destroyed, but the emperor intervened, and commissioned two of Virgil’s friends, Varius and Tucca to prepare it for publishing without making any substantial alterations to the text. The result is the masterpiece we have today. Such poets through history as Alfred Lord Tennyson and Dante have sung Virgil’s praises. His work influenced nearly all other poets in the western world to come after him. What is it about? It’s an epic poem dealing with gods, demi-gods and mortals that takes place at the time of the destruction of the city-state of Troy. As the city is burning, a citizen by the name of Aeneas escapes, and travels to what is now Northern Italy, where he founds a new city on what become known as the River. It is the story of the founding of Rome, and it is a sweeping epic of arms and heroism, the portrait of a man caught between love and duty. It is filled with drama and passion that set a precedent for future masterworks. The translation I had was done by Adam Mandelbaum, first published by Bantam Books in 1961. Mandelbaum, of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, was able to do a translation that maintains the rhyme and meter of the original. Anyone who has ever done any translating, realizes that to do this is not easy, and cannot be accomplished simply with a word-for-word translation. All that being said, I found it difficult to keep interested in reading it. The characters were difficult to relate to, probably because they are always not portrayed as typical humans. However, you have to respect an author who can invent more than 1000 new characters and places (all described in a 50-page glossary at the end of Mandelbaum's tranlation) It consisted of more than 300 pages divided into twelve books, all written in poetic form.
The Aeneid is Virgil’s great masterwork. It took him 11 years to complete, although it remained unpublished at his death. In his will, Virgil requested that it be destroyed, but the emperor intervened, and commissioned two of Virgil’s friends, Varius and Tucca to prepare it for publishing without making any substantial alterations to the text. The result is the masterpiece we have today. Such poets through history as Alfred Lord Tennyson and Dante have sung Virgil’s praises. His work influenced nearly all other poets in the western world to come after him.
What is it about? It’s an epic poem dealing with gods, demi-gods and mortals that takes place at the time of the destruction of the city-state of Troy. As the city is burning, a citizen by the name of Aeneas escapes, and travels to what is now Northern Italy, where he founds a new city on what become known as the River. It is the story of the founding of Rome, and it is a sweeping epic of arms and heroism, the portrait of a man caught between love and duty. It is filled with drama and passion that set a precedent for future masterworks.
The translation I had was done by Adam Mandelbaum, first published by Bantam Books in 1961. Mandelbaum, of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, was able to do a translation that maintains the rhyme and meter of the original. Anyone who has ever done any translating, realizes that to do this is not easy, and cannot be accomplished simply with a word-for-word translation.
All that being said, I found it difficult to keep interested in reading it. The characters were difficult to relate to, probably because they are always not portrayed as typical humans. However, you have to respect an author who can invent more than 1000 new characters and places (all described in a 50-page glossary at the end of Mandelbaum's tranlation) It consisted of more than 300 pages divided into twelve books, all written in poetic form.