I sing of arms and of a man (The Aeneid - Virgil)

Member Name: low_rider

Product:	The Aeneid - Virgil
Date:	17/03/09 (176 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cornerstone of western culture, a beautiful, incredible poem

Disadvantages: People are put off by the fact it is a classical text - don't be!

It is impossible to state the importance of this book to Western culture and society. The Aeneid is Virgil's epic tale of Aeneas, a Trojan prince who flees Troy when it is burned by the Greeks and goes on to found the dynasty of Rome in Italy, complete with an ill-fated romance between Aeneas and Dido, Queen of Carthage, a full chorus of gods and a descent into the underworld.

Background:

The Aeneid was composed some time between 29BC-19BC by the Roman poet, Virgil. Rome had recently suffered the civil war that resulted in Ceasar's death, and his nephew, Octavian, at last victorious, had taken the name Augustus and was in the process of recreating Rome. The poem, then, is in part a homage to Augustus and also a form of advice. Aeneas is named as a predecessor of Augustus and in many cases serves as an example of leadership to Augustus, both good and bad. The Aeneid takes as its starting point the legend of the Trojan war, rather than the legend of Romulus, but seeks to reinvent this Greek tradition and translate it into the Roman cultural hegemony. It was slightly unfinished at the time of Virgil's death (some of the original lines in latin are half finished and it is assumed that Virgil intended to come back to them and complete them; we know from a later latin author, Donatus, that Virgil composed the Aeneid at the rate of 3 lines a day, so intense was the effort that he put into it), but remains one of the greatest pieces of literature the western world has ever known and has had a huge effect upon western culture.

Form:

The Aeneid takes the form of 12 books, roughly separated into two halves (1-6 and 7-12).The Aeneid starts as was standard in classical texts, in medias res (in the middle of things), with a depiction of the storm-beset Trojans as they flee Troy. The first six books of the tale deal with the outcome of the Trojan war, Aeneas' time in Carthage and his journey to Italy. Books 7-12 deal with the war in Italy; the king of Latium, Turnus, and his attempts to drive the newcomers from his lands. These two halves are separated by Aeneas's journey to the underworld, where he meets many of his dead companions, and is shown a parade of his glorious progeny to come: the great Romans of history. If you study latin then you might be interested to know that the poem takes the form of dactylic hexameter, and the schemes and tropes Virgil employs make it, quite simply, sublime.

Themes:

One of the most important themes of the text is that of nationhood. Virgil is, in part, creating a Roman national identity as the poem is an example of ethnogenisis, a tale depicting how a race began. Aeneas has been dispossessed of his homeland and must find a new, promised land - a land given to him by the gods. Virgil takes a Greek myth and manages to Romanise it by making the natural outcome of the Trojan war the rise of Rome. The Greeks are portrayed as cunning (a very negative and pejorative term for the Romans); Odysseus (or Ulixes as he is known in latin) is no longer "Wily Odysseus" as he approvingly called in the Iliad and the Odyssey, but becomes the "son of Aelous" (Bk 6), the treacherous and untrustworthy ruler of the winds. Possibly the most famous anti-Greek line is spoken by Laocoon, the priest who counsels the Trojans against bringing the wooden horse into Troy, shouting, "timeo Danaos, etiam quam dona ferentis": I fear the Greeks, even when bringing gifts.
(N.b. I was quoting the latin from memory so it may be incorrect!)
By making explicit the kinds of behaviours that are and are not acceptable, Virgil creates a paradigm of Roman identity.

Pietas is also an important theme: the need to do what must be done, to do one's duties. Aeneas is not a mover/causer of action; rather, he is always catalysed into action. Fire is very important in setting him into motion; Troy burns down, he has a dream of his ships burning if he doesn't move on from Carthage, and Turnus' wife, with mad fire in her blood, creates war between Turnus and Aeneas. The gods also play an active role in keeping the action moving whenever Aeneas begins to stall (such as when he is in Carthage), forcing him to leave. The plight of the Trojans is made all the worse by the hostility of Juno, Queen of the gods, towards Aeneas - this is because the people of Latium are her chosen people, and she knows that the Trojans will destroy them. Morality, and what is meant to be a good leader, is debated constantly throughout the text.

The theme of fate, prophecy and destiny plays a particular role in this dialectic; no man can escape his fate, and he must live with the consequences of his actions: see Aeneas' tearful reunion with Dido in the Underworld in Book 6, where he realises that his actions have killed her; his abandonment forced her to take her own life. Prophecy is important due to the allegorical nature of the text: the events which occur in the poem will be repeated in Roman history up until the point of Virgil writing the Aeneid. Ffor example, the hostility of Dido towards Aeneas when he abandons her becomes a metaphor between the coming war between Carthage and Rome - Carthage was defeated twice, firstly by Scipio Africanus Maior and secondly by Scipio Africanus Minor, who then razed it to the ground. The figural nature of the text clearly informs its readers that these events did happen in the text, have happened in history and will happen again - it becomes, in effect, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Translation:

The edition that is actually being reviewed here (see cover illustration picture) is David West's translation, first published in 1991 and republished in its current form by Penguin Classics. He chose to translate it into prose, rather than poetry, a move that I absolutely applaud. Latin is an inflected language, so prepositions and pronouns are for the most part redundant as all the information is coded in the morphology, and as a result the syntax is far looser and freer, resulting in lines that are beautiful in latin but impossible to reproduce with any faithfulness to the latin word order in English. West wrote a translation that he wanted to be read, and I feel that not only is his translation faithful (I have translated a fair amount of the Aeneid myself, so I know what I am talking about), but that his prose is both clear to understand and hugely enjoyable, as he really does bring out the beauty of the text. It is not perfect - no translation would be - but for anyone unfamiliar with latin I would recommend it, as he also provides footnotes to explain difficult sections of language as well as brief histories of historical characters mentioned so that unfamiliarity with the classical period is no excuse not to read this.

As I said at the beginning of this review, it is impossible to overstate just how important this text is to western culture, along with the Iliad and the Odyssey. So much of our culture is predicated upon these stories and the Aeneid's tale is truly timeless. This is a poem that has shaped and informed the creation of the west into what it is today, echoing throughout our history, so if there is any book that should go straight to the top of your books to read before you die list, this is most assuredly it.

Summary: A sublime text that needs to be read.