A fresh and faithful translation of Vergil s Aeneid restores the epic s spare language and fast
pace and sheds new light on one of the cornerstone narratives of Western culture. Vivid and
haunting . . . a model of how to render Latin poetry in English. Tom Holland New Statesman For
two thousand years the epic tale of Aeneas s dramatic flight from Troy his doomed love affair
with Dido his descent into the underworld and the bloody story behind the establishment of
Rome has electrified audiences around the world. In Vergil s telling Aeneas s heroic journey
not only gave Romans and Italians a thrilling origin story it established many of the
fundamental themes of Western life and literature the role of duty and self-sacrifice the
place of love and passion in human life the relationship between art and violence the tension
between immigrant and indigenous people and the way new foundations are so often built upon
the wreckage of those who came before. Throughout the course of Western history the Aeneid has
affirmed our best and worst intentions and forced us to confront our deepest contradictions.
Shadi Bartsch Guggenheim Laureate award-winning translator and chaired professor at the
University of Chicago confronts the contradictions inherent in the text itself illuminating
the epic s subversive approach to storytelling. Even as Vergil writes the foundation myth for
Rome he seems to comment on this tendency to mythologize our heroes and societies and to
gesture to the stories that get lost in the mythmaking. Bartsch s groundbreaking translation
brilliantly maintaining the brisk pace of Vergil s Latin even as it offers readers a metrical
line-by-line translation provides a literary and historical context to make the Aeneid
resonant for a new generation of readers.
