Aeneid Book 1

These books are intended to make Virgil's Latin accessible even to those with a fairly rudimentary knowledge of the language. There is a departure here from the format of the electronic books, with short sections generally being presented on single, or double, pages and endnotes entirely avoided. A limited number of additional footnotes is included, but only what is felt necessary for a basic understanding of the story and the grammar. Some more detailed footnotes have been taken from Conington's edition of the Aeneid.

Aeneas appears in The Illiad in vague snatches and starts as a traveling warrior of great piety who was loosely connected to the foundation of Rome. Virgil weaves these fragments into a powerful myth about the founding of Rome in The Aeneid. Aeneas travels from his native Troy to Italy then wages victorious war upon the Latins.

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The first of a two-volume edition of Vergil's Aeneid, Aeneid 1–6 is part of a new series of Vergil commentaries from Focus, designed specifically for college students and informed by the most up-to-date scholarship. The editors, who are scholars of Roman epic, not only provide grammatical and syntantical aid in translating and navigating the complexities of Vergil's Latin, but also elucidate the stylistic and interpretive issues that enhance and sustain readers' appreciation of the Aeneid. Editions of individual Aeneid books with expanded comments and general vocabulary of each book are also being made available by Focus. FEATURES: The complete Books 1–6 in Latin with the most up-to-date notes and commentary by today’s leading scholars of Roman epic; A general introduction to the entire volume that sets forth the literary, cultural, political, and historical background necessary to interpret and understand Vergil; Book commentaries that include: an introduction to each book, as well as shorter introductions to major sections to help frame salient passages for students; line-by-line notes providing grammatical and syntactical help in translating, discussion of the most up-to-date scholarship, and explanations of literary references that help students make connections between Vergil and Homer; Appendix on meter clearly and helpfully demonstrating the metrical concepts employed in the Aeneid with actual examples from the text, giving students the framework for understanding Vergil’s poetic artistry; Glossary on rhetorical, syntactic, and grammatical terms that aids students in identifying and discussing the characteristic elements of Vergil's style.

In a momentous publication, Seamus Heaney's translation of Book VI of the Aeneid, Virgil's epic poem composed sometime between 29 and 19 BC, follows the hero, Aeneas, on his descent into the underworld. In Stepping Stones, a book of interviews conducted by Dennis O'Driscoll, Heaney acknowledged the importance of the poem to his writing, noting that 'there's one Virgilian journey that has indeed been a constant presence, and that is Aeneas's venture into the underworld. The motifs in Book VI have been in my head for years - the golden bough, Charon's barge, the quest to meet the shade of the father.' In this new translation, Heaney employs the same deft handling of the original combined with the immediacy of language and flawless poetic voice as was on show in his translation of Beowulf, a reimagining which, in the words of Bernard O'Donoghue, brought the ancient poem back to life in 'a miraculous mix of the poem's original spirit and Heaney's voice'.

Arms and the man I sing of Troy ... 'So begins one of the greatest works of literature in any language. Written by the Roman poet Virgil more than two thousand years ago, the story of Aeneas' seven-year journey from the ruins of Troy to Italy, where he becomes the founding ancestor of Rome, is a narrative on an epic scale: Aeneas and his companions contend not only with human enemies but with the whim of the gods. His destiny preordained by Jupiter, Aeneas is nevertheless assailed by dangers invoked by the goddess Juno, and by thetorments of love, loyalty, and despair. Virgil's supreme achieveme.