The Aeneid (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
by Virgil
List Price:
Our Price: $7.90
You Save: $8.10 (51%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.77 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: VirgilTranslator: Robert Fagles
Introduction: Bernard Knox
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01-29
ISBN: 0143105132
Number of pages: 484
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780143105138
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Aeneid (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
Book Review: A sonnet review (from All-Consuming Books)
Summary: 5 Stars
"In medias res, the middle of the story,
Aeneas, son of Venus' tale begins.
At Carthage he reveals his former glory
and sadness as he fled from Troy, he spins
a tale of Hector's loss, that "last, best hope of Troy,"
and recounts his own misfortunes out at sea
where Juno, queen of all the gods, toyed
with his ships to keep him from his destiny
of founding Rome. Queen Dido falls for him,
and in doing so condemns herself,
since he is driven on by the divine whim,
and Rome isn't going to found itself.
Gods' plans aren't something mortals can disrupt
in this unfinished work that ends abrupt--"
The Aeneid has been jokingly called a spinoff or even fanfiction of The Iliad--it takes a side character from The Iliad and makes him a central character. It's also a propaganda piece and a foundation myth in praise of Rome, commissioned by Caesar Augustus himself. It was written by the Roman poet Virgil and ends unfinished, with only 12 books out of a promised 24 completed, because Virgil died before getting any further. It draws on characters and ideas from Homer, but while the epic subjects of Homer's works were wrath (menis) and homecoming (nostos), The Aeneid's subject is pietas: duty and devotion. Aeneas is a reverential man who consistently serves and honors the gods, and in doing so he's setting an example of Roman virtues. His patriotism, authority, and dedication to a noble cause make him the ultimate Roman, even before the city exists. After Troy's fall and several misadventures at sea, Aeneas' battered fleet of ships lands at Carthage, a great city being built by Dido. Aeneas and Dido fall in love with a little help from Venus, but he has to leave her and continue on to Italy, and she kills herself out of grief. Later books of The Aeneid deal with the war that breaks out when Aeneas finally reaches Italy, but most college courses on the epic focus on the earlier chapters at Carthage.
I used to consider The Aeneid more difficult to identify with than Homer's work. The Iliad is about rage, something most people can understand even if they've never been involved in combat, and The Odyssey is about struggling to get home, another almost universal experience, but The Aeneid is about establishing a city and setting up a dynasty, and that sense of grand imperial destiny isn't, perhaps, the most common feeling. Aeneas himself can seem almost otherworldly in his goodness, and there's a famous story about W.B. Yeats giving a copy of The Aeneid to a sailor who read it and concluded that Aeneas was a priest, not a hero. But Aeneas has to be this paragon of dutiful behavior because the intended audience for the epic needed to see a character who was 100% devoted to the empire, even before it formally existed.
Some elements and characters:
Empires: Seats of power aren't destroyed, just relocated. Troy was wrongfully torn down, so the Trojans will simply move their kingdom to Italy and re-establish its magnificence--Jupiter himself predicts that Rome's rule will be everlasting. The Trojans are tragic heroes and their new dynasty is a continuation of the old dynasty, which is a common claim of empires because it adds an air of legitimacy to any rulership. Carthage is opposed to Rome in the future (or in the present that the original readers would have been experiencing), so while Juno plots to have Carthage dominate the world, the Fates decree that it won't happen. The Carthage/Rome enmity is also emphasized by Rome's founder driving Carthage's founder to suicide in this epic.
Forward motion: Aeneas has to keep travelling onward, usually against his will. He seems to be the settling-down type, and tries to start a city with his fellow Trojan refugees in Crete. The city is coming along nicely when the gods send down a plague to make him leave again. When he lands on Carthage, Aeneas is so weary from his travels and so impressed by Carthaginian civilization, he actually thinks he can stay in that country longterm, all prophecies to the contrary. Mercury, the messenger of the gods, has to make a personal visit to tell Aeneas to move on. But though he's bound by duty, Aeneas' homebody tendencies crop up in his dialogue now and then, and he misses Troy so badly, he mentions a few times that it would have been ideal to die there, defending his home. For Aeneas, land-founding is a wearisome business.
Heroism: Priestly attributes aside, Aeneas is still a warrior. Even while bone-weary from surviving a storm, Aeneas comes ashore and climbs a small cliff, from which he spies and shoots seven deer--all this before breakfast. After shooting the deer, he thoughtfully gives his men a pep talk and says that some god will help them in their misfortune. He's heroic about protecting his family, too; as Troy is burning, he carries his father Anchises on his shoulders and holds his son Anscanius' hand to lead them out of the burning city.With all his skill and his devotion to his people, he could be an amazing hero if he weren't being frogmarched to Italy by the gods, though that's essentially the whole point of the epic.
Dido: Her whole story is heartbreaking. She loved her ex-husband, but he was killed by her evil brother, and her husband's ghost warned her to flee the country. With her riches, she founds Carthage and her glorious city is still being built when Aeneas shows up. She's as pious as Aeneas, and is building a tremendous temple for Juno, and she displays even more personal virtue when she offers the Trojans hospitality and a home among her people. She's a superheroine of empathy, and feels for Aeneas because they've both suffered terribly. Dido would probably have fallen for Aeneas on her own, but Venus is so nervous for her son's wellbeing in a strange city, she makes Dido fall magically, insanely in love with him. Aeneas and Dido get together, but the big question the epic poses is, "are they married?" Several characters examine their relationship and the answer is: Maybe. Dido says they are married, Aeneas says they're not, Juno, Venus, and Mercury think they are, but Aeneas leaves Dido suddenly, implying an ended affair instead of a formal divorce. When he leaves, she suffers a complete character derailment and her erratic behavior culminates in suicide, but when Aeneas tries to speak to her shade in the underworld, she snubs him and won't speak, so Aeneas experiences some retribution.
Over time, I've come to see The Aeneid as a bit more of a humanized epic. The hero always does what he's told, but it's at the expense of personal happiness, so there's kind of a struggle to his decisions and an added emotional dimension to the story. The translation is extraordinarily beautiful and poetic--I highly recommend it.
Summary of The Aeneid (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
From the award-winning translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey comes a brilliant new translation of Virgil's great epic
With his translations of Homer's classic poems, Robert Fagles gave new life to seminal works of the Western canon and became one of the preeminent translators of our time. His latest achievement completes the magnificent triptych of Western epics. A sweeping story of arms and heroism, The Aeneid follows the adventures of Aeneas, who flees the ashes of Troy to embark upon a tortuous course that brings him to Italy and fulfills his destiny as founder of the Roman people. Retaining all of the gravitas and humanity of the original, this powerful blend of poetry and myth remains as relevant today as when it was first written.
With his translations of Homer's classic poems, Robert Fagles gave new life to seminal works of the Western canon and became one of the preeminent translators of our time. His latest achievement completes the magnificent triptych of Western epics. A sweeping story of arms and heroism, The Aeneid follows the adventures of Aeneas, who flees the ashes of Troy to embark upon a tortuous course that brings him to Italy and fulfills his destiny as founder of the Roman people. Retaining all of the gravitas and humanity of the original, this powerful blend of poetry and myth remains as relevant today as when it was first written.
Classics Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Classics Books
Native sonby Richard Wright
Perennial Library; Published: 1987; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.75
Native Son: And How Bigger Was Bornby Richard Wright
Perennial; Published: 1993-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $26.84
Raphael and the Noble Taskby Catherine Salton
Harper; Published: 2000-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.49
Price in other shops:
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.73
Price in other shops:
The Great Divorce CDby C. S. Lewis
HarperAudio; Published: 2003-11-25; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $12.65
Price in other shops:
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Black Coffee (Poirot)by Agatha Christie
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2002-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $68.32
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1960s)by Joan Didion
Flamingo; Published: 2001-04-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $22.25
Similar Books and other products
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition)W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2001-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.25
Price in other shops:
Republicby Plato
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 2004-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Euripides V: Electra, The Phoenician Women, The Bacchae (The Complete Greek Tragedies) (Vol 5)by Euripides
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1969-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.38
Price in other shops:
Gilgamesh: A New English Versionby Stephen Mitchell
Free Press; Published: 2006-01-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops:
Iliadby Homer, Stanley Lombardo
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 1997-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops:
The Oresteia: Agamemnon; The Libation Bearers; The Eumenidesby Aeschylus
Penguin Classics; Published: 1984-02-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops:
The Metamorphoses of Ovidby Ovid, Allen Mandelbaum
Mariner Books; Published: 1995-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.20
Price in other shops:
Metamorphoses: A New Translation by Charles Martinby Ovid
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2005-01-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
The Odysseyby Homer
Penguin Classics; Published: 1999-11-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
The Iliad (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)by Homer
Penguin Classics; Published: 1998-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops: