The Aeneid (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Book arrived in good condition, no complaints!

This is the second time I’ve read this book by two different translators, and I must say, even though I loved both, this translation by Robert Fagles is my favorite of the two. Definitely a masterpiece written by Virgil in its original Latin. This is a very good English translation and if you are into Greek and Roman literature and ancient scriptures and studies, definitely get this translation for yourself.

Allen Mandelbaum's translation of Virgil's Aeneid won the National Book Award in 1973. Of that translation Robert Fagles wrote: it "has a wonderful, detailed liveliness in every line."That's true. I love the Mandelbaum Aeneid and have taught undergrads from it for nearly a quarter-century.But into this year of stock depressions and women not being worthy of the Oval Office comes a ray of pure joy. (Yes, OK, Obama is a ray of hope, yes he is. But I don't teach him twice or three times a year.)The Robert Fagles translation is beyond lively: it's lyrical. It's compelling, like the poem itself. I think it may move even the least-motivated undergrad to feel . . . . something.Of the death of Dido:Mandelbaum:For as she diedA death that was not merited or fated,but miserable and before her timeand spurred by sudden frenzy, Proserpinahad not yet cut a gold lock from her crown,not yet assigned her life to Stygian Orcus.Fagles:Since she was dying a death not merited or deserved,no, tormented, before her day, in a blaze of passion -While I miss the reiteration of "fate" (arguably Virgil's favorite noun) -- nam quia nec fato merita nec morte peribat,'sed misera ante diem subitoque accensa furore, -- I still find the Fagles lines more liquid and agonizing, more urgently pulling the reader along to an awful consequence.There's a similar comparison even in the best of Mandelbaum, the speech Aeneas makes to Dido, when the reader realizes how much he hates his life and how he longs to have been allowed to stay in Troy.And the text itself is a thousand time more helpful. Here is a longer glossary than in Mandelbaum's and maps and a genealogy and the best thing: digressive notes on the translation with sound-bites from other translations. Check out the info on the pictures on the temple doors in Book I. The best is the discussion - complete with quotes from Dryden writing about his own translation - on Mercury's line to Aeneas in 4.710-11. Anyone who doubts the inherent misogyny of Rome need read no further.Mandelbaum probably didn't get any control over the textual apparatus in the Bantam edition, but for a teacher - and I would think, a reader - that's really beside the point. What the Fagles' translation offers is much more helpful. Much.For this I may have to do that least-favorite thing: copy all my notes into a new edition. Sigh.

This is the second translation to Virgil's "The Aeneid" I've read and so far it's the one to beat. I think Fangles does a great job making this poem accessible and easy to understand.My one knock against it, and this is just a nerdy critique, is that the poem is not arranged in hexameters like the original Latin, so references specific lines isn't the easiest. But overall, I would recommend this translation hands down

Virgil was arguably the best epic poet the Romans had to offer. As such, this epic poem is the result of a commission by Augustus Caesar to write something rivaling the oral history of Homer. Does it live up to the task ? yes. Is it epic? oh, yes. But.... does it successfully emulate Homer? This is a tricky question, and potentially unanswerable. But in the end, does it matter if it emulated Homer? I posit no. The poem traces the path of Aeneas from the Trojan war to his assignment from the gods to found Rome. His path is littered with tragedy, both from the choices Aeneas makes to the choices other characters in the poem make, including the gods themselves.I found this poem to be less majestic than Homer's Odyssey and Iliad, but due to the tragic overtones, much more human and thought provoking. The main questions that linger for me are what is one's duty to one's family v. nation, and what does self-denial buy? Dido certainly pursued her passion but to no end. Aeneas fulfills his pietas to Rome but to what end for him?The dactylic hexameter falters in several places in the poem which makes me wonder how many drafts of the poem Virgil worked through. Certainly, the poem as it stands is missing some final pieces but regardless, it is an absorbing literary adventure filled with mythical and godly characters, as well as humans.The Fagles version of this poem reads easily and deliberately inserts extra words and repeats phrases to help the modern reader get the gist of the poem. I favored the Fitzgerald translation.