The Aeneid: A New Translation

Description

On his deathbed in 19 BCE, Vergil asked that his epic, The Aeneid, be burned and not published. If his wishes had been obeyed, western literature - and maybe even western civilisation - might have taken a different course. The Aeneid has remained a key text of university courses since the rise of universities, and has been invoked at key points of human history - whether by Saint Augustine to illustrate the fallen nature of the soul, by settlers to justify manifest destiny in North America, or by Mussolini in support of his Fascist regime. In this fresh and fast-paced translation of the Aeneid, Shadi Bartsch brings the poem to the modern reader. Along with the translation, her introduction will guide the reader to a deeper understanding of the epic's enduring influence.

Shadi Bartsch is the Regenstein Professor of Classics at the University of Chicago. She is the author or editor of fourteen books on the ancient world and imperial roman literature, the most recent of which is Persius: A Study in Food, Philosophy, and the Figural, which won the 2016 Goodwin Award of Merit

Terrific (and a gorgeous physical book, too) - fresh and pacy. Bartsch walks the tightrope between maintaining the grandeur of the original and making the poem accessible to modern readers and makes it look easy. The Aeneid is the great refugee narrative of its own time, and it should be for our time too -- Natalie Haynes * The Observer Books of the Year * Gripping ... That Bartsch manages to keep pace with Virgil's verse, capturing the "dense, lapidate language" of the Latin, and the energy of the narrative, without unduly flattening its meaning, and all of this in lines of verse comparable in length as well as number to Virgil's, is a remarkable achievement ... As Bartsch hopes it will, this translation reads like Virgil -- Llewelyn Morgan * TLS * A lively translation, which captures the power and drama of Virgil's poem ... an enjoyable read * Minerva * This ambitious and successful translation is probably the best version of the Aeneid in modern English ... this is not a translation just for scholars: Bartsch writes clear, vivid, concise lines that read well and read rapidly ... Readers, teachers, and students will find the kind of translation they need for private reading or a classroom encounter with the poem -- Professor Jim O'Hara, George L. Paddison Professor of Latin University of North Carolina This translation is alive. Very readable, a great boon to students, and, of course, it feels a lot more like hexameter than the usual too-long line. And devoid of translationese, which is so wonderful. Plain and strong. What a feat! -- Amy Richlin A tight, readable translation with a welcome feminist outlook and savvy engagement with the poem's political and imperial themes and imperialist legacy. Its natural iambic voice, clear language, and faithfulness to the tight, fast-moving pace of Virgil's original make it a refreshing way for modern audiences to access the Aeneid's power. -- Ada Palmer, award-winning author of 'Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance' and the 'Terra Ignota' series