Written by eminent scholar David O. Ross, this guide helps readers to engage with the poetry, thought, and background of Virgil’s great epic, suggesting both the depth and the beauty of Virgil’s poetic images and the mental images with which the Romans lived.
- Guides readers through the complexity of Virgil’s poetic style and imagery
- All extracts are translated, with original Latin given when necessary
- Provides useful historical and social context in which to understand the poem as it was viewed in its time
- Includes short introductions to important topics such as Roman religion and the Roman concept of ‘character’
- Features a helpful appendix which clarifies how to read and hear the poem's Latin hexameter
Preface vii
Introduction 1
1 Virgil’s Hero 11
Three Scenes of Crisis 12
The Hero and Personal Loss 18
The Hero as Warrior (10.510–605) 24
Some Observations on Character 26
2 The Victims 32
Dido 32
Nisus and Euryalus 35
Pallas and Lausus 38
Some Aspects of Turnus 43
Camilla 52
Italy 54
3 Fate and the Gods 61
The Roman Gods 62
The Gods in the Aeneid 67
Fate in the Aeneid 74
4 Virgil’s Troy 77
The Roman Troy 77
The Destruction of Troy (Aeneid, Book II) 82
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