βI sing of arms and the man . . . β
So begins theAeneid, greatest of Western epic poems. Virgilβs story of the journey of Aeneas has been a part of our cultural heritage for so many centuries that itβs all too easy to lose sight of the poem itselfβof its brilliantly cinematic depiction of the sack of Troy; the monstrous hunger of the harpies; the intensity of Didoβs love for the hero, and the blackness of her despair; and the violence that Aeneas and his men must endure before they can settle in Italy and build the civilization whose roots we still claim as our own.
This new translation brings Virgilβs masterpiece newly to life for English-language readers. Itβs the first in centuries crafted by a translator who is first and foremost a poet, and it is a glorious thing. David Ferry has long been known as perhaps our greatest contemporary translator of Latin poetry, his translations of VirgilβsEcloguesandGeorgicshaving established themselves as much-admired standards. He brings to theAeneidthe same genius, rendering Virgilβs formal metrical lines into an English that is familiar and alive. Yet in doing so, he surrenders none of the feel of the ancient world that resonates throughout the poem, and gives it the power that has drawn readers to it for centuries. In Ferryβs hands, theAeneidbecomes once more a lively, dramatic poem of daring and adventure, of love and loss, of devotion and death. Never before have Virgilβs twin gifts of poetic language and urgent, compelling storytelling been presented so powerfully for English-language readers. FerryβsAeneidwill be a landmark, a gift to longtime lovers of Virgil, and the perfect entry point for new readers.
βAurora rose, spreading her pitying light,
And with it bringing back to sight the labors
Of sad mortality, what men have done,
And what has been done to them; and what they must do
To mourn.β
The ships are ready to sail. The journey, from the fall of Troy to the birth of Rome, is about to begin. Join us.