Customer Reviews

The Aeneid of Virgil

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a very good English verse rendering of Virgil's classic. If you like epic poetry but can't read classical languages this translation is probably the next best thing. Though nothing compares to the original this is a faithful translation, and the verse makes for a more interesting presentation than prose.

This is a "no frills" volume (hence the price), so it is best for readers who already know the basic premise of The Aeneid and the main characters. It has a basic glossary that may be a useful refresher for knowledge already acquired, but it lacks the translator's introduction that typically sets the stage (both for the plot and the poem's place in history) and triples the price in other volumes.

With Robert Fagles's version of 'The Aeneid' just released, I thought that would be the version I would be reading. I tried Robert Fitzgerald's version some years ago, but I gave up after the 5th or 6th "book".
After reading the numerous glowing reviews for Allen Mandelbaum's translation, I thought I would give it a shot.... plus it cost a lot less than Fagles's! I was not disappointed.
Mr. Mandelbaum's take on Virgil's epic is eminently accessible, very easy to understand (but not dumbed down at all). The glossary at the end is a huge help in identifying characters and places (as many of them go by more than one name).
This is a thrilling tale full of adventure, romance, war, friendship and loyalty. If you buy only one version, this is the one to get.

Roman society was enamoured of Greek culture -- many of the best 'Roman' things were Greek; the major gods were derivative of the Greek pantheon; philosophy, literature, science, political ideals, architecture -- all this was adopted from the Greeks. It makes sense that, at the point of their ascendancy in the world, they would long for an epic history similar to the Homeric legends; the Iliad and the Odyssey, written some 500 years after the actual events they depict, tell of the heroism of the Greeks in their battle against Troy (Ilium). The Aeneid, written by Vergil 700 years after Homer, at the commission of Augustus (himself in the process of consolidating his authority over Rome), turns the heroic victory of the much-admired Greeks on its head by postulating a survivor from Troy, Aeneas, who undergoes as journey akin to the Odyssey, even further afield.

Vergil constructs Aeneas, a very minor character in the Iliad, as the princely survivor and pilgrim from Troy, on a journey through the Mediterranean in search of a new home. According to Fitzgerald, who wrote a brief postscript to the poem, Vergil created a Homeric hero set in a Homeric age, purposefully following the Iliad and Odyssey as if they were formula, in the way that many a Hollywood director follows the formulaic pattern of past successful films. Vergil did not create the Trojan legend of Roman origins, but his poem solidified the notion in popular and scholarly sentiment.

Vergil sets the seeds for future animosity between Carthage and Rome in the Aeneid, too -- the curse of queen Dido on the descendants of Aeneas of never-ending strife played into then-recent recollections of war in the Roman mind. Books I through VI are much more studied than VII through XII, but the whole of the Aeneid is a spectacular tale.

Mandelbaum's translation is poetic and stately, giving grace and life to the epic poem. Sometimes long-form poetry can become overblown in self-indulgence; Mandelbaum's translation avoids this by writing in free verse for the most part. There are no forced rhymes and schemes that detract from the story line. Word choice is contemporary and engaging.

Vergil died before he could complete the story. He wished it to be burned; fortunately, Augustus had other ideas. Still, there are incomplete lines and thoughts, and occasional conflicts in the storyline that one assumes might have been worked out in the end, had more editing time been available. Despite these, the Aeneid remains a masterpiece, and Mandelbaum's translation will likely be a companion for students and other readers for a long time to come.

This is a translation of the Aeneid into English by J W MacKail, M.A., Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford around 1885.

The text follows Conngton and Nettleship and uses the commentary by Servius.

This translation uses Juno instead of Hera, Jupiter instead of Zeus, Neptune instead of Poseidon, etc.

Like many of the free Kindle downloads of classic books, this book is not navigable at the table of contents. You are left to start at the beginning and go to the end.

I find it very readable:

"Hardly out of sight of the land of Sicily did they set their sails to sea, and merrily upturned the salt foam with brazen prow, when Juno, the undying wound still deep in her heart, thus broke out alone..."

Allen Mandelbaum has given us the greatest English verse translation of the greatest Latin epic, the Aeneid. Mandelbaum manages to tune the Latin lyre to the beats of English verse without befouling it with the tediousness of the rhyming couplet. One truly hears the ancient voice of Virgil resounding in the contemporary pages of Mandelbaum's work. Aeneas on quest for homeland, Juno's savage rage, the burning passion of Dido, the two hero's struggle for the hand of Lavinia--all these themes and more will be realized almost fully in the original light upon which the master Virgil cast them.

Decades ago I found the Aeneid in Latin easy to respect but not something I could feel that enthusiastic about whereas Homer (specifically the Illiad) in Greek made me think that that experience would have been worth building an entire education around.

I have in the years since then had occasion to think about 'culture shock' and seen first hand some of the misunderstandings that can happen cross culturally even with people who think that they are able to understand the language associated with other cultures, at least on a word by word basis.

Just thinking that one 'knows what the words/ symbols mean' in some artificial isolation does not mean that one understands a statement or a text. I have even had occasion in class to emphasise this to students in the context of a modern language. Of course, there, one can suggest the experiment of testing one's reaction against the reaction of native speakers of the language (in my response to the language, do I smile when they smile, am I moved when they are moved, do I feel a 'twist' in the statement at the same point they do, can I say something and predict correctly the kind of response I will get - and I do not mean of course simply bafflement or embarrassment or an attempt to suppress laughter at a mispronunciation or mischoice of words that is particularly bizarre sounding). In short, if I were allowed to adlib something in a play, in that language, could I succeed in choosing what I said and how I said it so that the native speaker audience member would respond as I had predicted to myself they would respond, not even thinking I was an 'outsider' trying to speak their language?

Yet with Vergil (or Virgil) and especially the Aeneid, I think I was always on the wrong side of a refractive cross cultural distortion, so to speak, like the most culture shock blinded 'but I looked up the words in the dictionary' student one could imagine - despite all the Latin I knew and what had once been a competition winning ability at Latin translation.

What has awed me about this brilliant translation by professor and poet Allen Mandelbaum is that it and his notes have helped me realise how deformed my past lack of appreciation had been.

He has given me not only this wonderful English translation but an ability to better find the Latin Vergil - a treasure that despite my background I had not had before. I must regard him, through this translation, as one of my great teachers. Before him in all seriousness, in gratitude, I bow my head to the floor.

Anyone wishing to try wading in the Aeneid in Latin might be interested in experimenting with the on-line Perseus project's digital library [based in the classics department at Tufts University but supported by grants from all over] texts for P. Vergilius Maro where hypertext links facilitate looking up any Latin words not recognised. But I first advise, look at this translation!

I have read 4 different translations of the Aeneid. This is the best by far. It is not a literal, line for line translation, which often comes off the wrong way. It is a more free translation, to convey the meaning, not the same structure as the original latin work. Allen Mandelbaum does an amazing job and his writing is very beautiful. Even from the very first page this book jumps out at you.
The reason why Virgil wanted this book destroyed after his death was because he felt it was unfinished. But there is very little that should be added. There are a couple of very minor plot holes (such as how did the Trojans built their fortress in Italy so quickly?) that Virgil had not fully polished yet, but who cares? The story is amazing, and unlike the Iliad or the Odyssey, the gods don't interfere in each and every small thing that happens, which was annoying in those books.
If you liked the Iliad and Odyssey, you will love the Aeneid. Consider it like a sequel. You find out what happened to certain characters like Andromache, Helenus or Diomedes after the Trojan war. I just can't recommend this book enough, and it's impossible to put its greatness into a few words. Why a movie version has never been made, I will never know, but maybe that's a blessing, because I shudder to think of the damage a Hollywood version would do to the image of the book.

Mandelbaum's handsome translation of Virgil has become the standard edition used in Classical Literature courses in college. I can see why: his verse translation is competent and faithful to the original, and I found it inspired and vibrant, a translation which captures the rusticity and ruggedness of the Italian frontier, the belligerent natives dressed in wool caps and wolfskins; the rag-tag Trojans led by Aeneas resplendent in Vulcan's golden armor. It's such a delight for all the senses.

Inspired by Mandelbaum's translation, I have decided to read the Aeneid in the original Latin; I did the same with Catullus a few months ago, when I bought Daniel Garrison's wonderful text and commentary (The Student's Catullus). I also like to check around to find just the right text (Clyde Pharr's [Bolchazy-Carducci] is on the top of my list). The Loeb Classical Library's texts are always a safe choice.

This translation, affordable and accessible to everyone, is truly a gift. And anyone who at least considers himself/herself a poet must read this NOW!

I purchased this particular translation of the Aeneid to help me read the original Latin text, and it has done a good job of helping me understand complicated grammatical phrases filled with patronymics and Greek constructions.

Mandlebaum's translation, however, is not the most enjoyable to read. He translates literally many of the Latin verb tenses, which make more sense in the original language, making the reader feel slightly disoriented.

Furthermore, part of the beauty of the Aeneid is its mood of antiquity. Mandlebaum modernizes the language, creating such ridiculous lines as, "It was so hard to found the race of Rome" (I.50). A translation that stays closer to the original Latin, and sounds less colloquial in English, would be something like "What a burden it was to found the Roman race."

There are several annoying but simple typos, such as "though" for "through" which make the reader feel that the text was not thoroughly edited.

Although it is to be expected with Bantam Classics books, the margins leave very little space for notes, and the text runs to the middle of the page, meaning that you can't easily hold the book open with just one hand.

So, all things considered, this is a great book for Latin students looking for a literal translation of the Aeneid, but those looking for an enjoyable English read should look elsewhere (try The Aeneid (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition), for instance).

First, I'm not qualified to opine on whether Mandelbaum's translation is true to the Latin. I struggled with Virgil's complex poetry as a 4th year Latin student and have no idea if Mandelbaum gets it right. But this translation is eminently readable, retaining the feel of epic poetry. I have the feeling that any flaws in Mandelbaum's rendering reflect shortcomings in Virgil's original text.

Second, this is a very handy edition, especially for the price. Even if you already own the Aeneid in other form, you might want to pick this one up. It is a pocket-sized paperback, yet the print is not tiny and is very readable. This is a better edition to bring with you on the plane than one of the bulkier versions. Plus, this edition provides an excellent glossary, which is an absolute must given the torrent of names that flow through this work.

Finally, the Aeneid itself: Virgil is a literary titan, if only for his Georgics. The Aeneid is also a towering work, but troubling and flawed. Virgil himself was troubled by this work, which he left unfinished with instructions for it to be destroyed. In his effort to give Rome its own epic, combining features of both the Odyssey and Iliad to create the Aeneid, Virgil adopted some of the less interesting mannerisms of those older works. In particular, the battle scenes are violent, soaked in blood, long on smashed brains and decapitations and dripping entrails, short on exploring the pathos of life cut short for the sake of pointless conflict. It reads much like the Iliad, with seemingly endless lines of "A slew B and C slew D and E slew F." Maybe this was good stuff to an ancient Roman but to a modern reader it is boring in the same way as all the "begats" in some books of the Bible. Even more disturbing than the over-the-top, repetitive violence of the work is the sense of underlying pessimism, as every time reason and peace seem about to prevail, some god or goddess shakes things up and -- all too easily -- the killing starts anew. Maybe this reflected Virgil's own disgust with the times that he had lived through, with civil war erupting every few years until Octavian had finally killed off every other rival. But the rivers of blood that are spilled in the second half of the Aeneid do not make for as ennobling a foundation myth as perhaps Virgil was looking for. While Rome is destined for greatness, it is so because Jupiter has said so, has decided to favor Aeneas above his enemies, not because of anything inherently great about the proto-Romans. Maybe, had Virgil lived longer, he might have found a way to tweak this work to have Aeneas end up as more than just an executioner for Fate.

And it is in the first half of the epic that Aeneas indeed is more than just a slayer. His romance with Dido is perhaps the most famous story within the poem and, although it is also marred by too much Olympian meddling, portrays Aeneas as possessing humanity and a capacity to love that is missing at the end. His descent into Hades, so that he can have one last conversation with his father, is also a compelling episode. In short, the Aeneid stands as a great work, a classic, for these beautiful passages, even if the last few books of the poem read a little like someone trying to narrate the events in a violent video game.