Virgil's masterpiece and one of the greatest works in all of literature now in a beautiful
clothbound edition designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith A Penguin Classic Hardcover Virgil's
Aeneid inspired by Homer and the inspiration for Dante and Milton is an immortal poem that
sits at the heart of Western life and culture. Virgil took as his hero Aeneas legendary
survivor of the fall of Troy and father of the Roman race. After a century of civil strife in
Rome and Italy Virgil wrote the Aeneid to honor the emperor Augustus by praising his legendary
ancestor Aeneas. As a patriotic epic imitating Homer the Aeneid also set out to provide Rome
with a literature equal to that of Greece. It tells of Aeneas survivor of the sack of Troy
and of his seven-year journey: to Carthage where he falls tragically in love with Queen Dido
then to the underworld and finally to Italy where he founds Rome. In telling a story of
dispossession and defeat love and war he portrayed human life in all its nobility and
suffering in its physicality and its mystery. Translated with an introduction by David West.
