The Aeneid

Starred review from September 18, 2006
Princeton scholar Fagles follows up his celebrated Iliad
and Odyssey
with a new, fast-moving, readable rendition of the national epic of ancient Rome. Virgil's long-renowned narrative follows the Trojan warrior Aeneas as he carries his family from his besieged, fallen home, stops in Carthage for a doomed love affair, visits the underworld and founds in Italy, through difficult combat, the settlements that will become, first the Roman republic, and then the empire Virgil knew. Recent translators (such as Allen Mandelbaum) put Virgil's meters into English blank verse. Fagles chooses to forgo meter entirely, which lets him stay literal when he wishes, and grow eloquent when he wants: "Aeneas flies ahead, spurring his dark ranks on and storming/ over the open fields like a cloudburst wiping out the sun." A substantial preface from the eminent classicist Bernard Knox discusses Virgil's place in history, while Fagles himself appends a postscript and notes. Scholars still debate whether Virgil supported or critiqued the empire's expansion; Aeneas' story might prompt new reflection now, when Americans are already thinking about international conflict and the unexpected costs of war.

Charlton Griffin reads Rome's national epic, depicting Aeneas's wanderings from Troy to Italy and the beginnings of the Roman people, in his grand, orotund manner, befitting the poem, though with some characteristically odd pronunciations. He is both agile and sensitive enough, however, to clearly differentiate voices and moods. Each book starts with a helpful summary (though the general introduction is too long), sound effects, and music; the sound effects are dispensable, the music sometimes atmospheric, sometimes just odd. Close attention will reward the listener with a solid presentation of a classic. Despite Griffin's noble efforts, Virgil's catalogues of names, places, and Roman history may send listeners' minds wandering far from the Mediterranean. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine