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Summary: "The Greatest Translation of Perhaps the Greatest Epic"
Review: 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.
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Summary: Mandelbaum's Aeneid translation was an awakening for me
Review: 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!
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Summary: Absolutely the Best
Review: 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.
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Summary: Truly a Great Classic!
Review: I read this poem because I love the Iliad so much, and this one does not disappoint. It is an epic poem that covers the time immmediatlely after the Trojan War. This poem again reafirms why Virgil was the greatest poet ancient Rome ever produced. In it we see the ancient gods and are privy to all their inner strife and political aspirations. (It's not that much different from the present day). We get a description of the Great Trojan War as told by Aeneas. We also see the love that blossoms between Aeneas and Dido, but even with that Aeneas knows that his destiny will lead him elsewhere. He must go to the western coast of Italy. We see as he is inexorably drawn to this part of his life. It's difficult to do a review of great literature because one knows one can't improve on perfection. Those interested in the Trojan war and some great literature surrounding it should definitely include this epic on their reading list.
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Summary: Mandelbaum's translation a treasure
Review: I was never extremely taken with the Aeneid even though I had read it in Latin years ago. I also felt that translations I would sample out of curiosity only reinforced any negative feelings I had - adding the inadequacy of translation to what I felt was a lack in the original. I could admire Vergil's skill in various passages in Latin but to me, as in the tag line of Mark Van Doren that Mandelbaum quotes in his Introduction (and that his translation is a good antidote to), whereas 'Homer is a world; Virgil [only - my addition] a style'. Mandelbaum has helped free me from my prejudice. His translation moves me to go back to the Latin again but also is something I want to have in my library to read because it itself is interesting and helps remind me to open the 'combination lock' of my mind to the wonder of what the Aeneid is, instead of just resenting that it is not Homer. I have been so impressed that I have ordered his translation of the Inferno also. That, I think, is high praise about a translation, that it and the notes help me avoid the kind of biassed mindset, something like a somewhat toxic culture shock, that kept me from really being open to the power of this work. [In other words it is not enough just to 'know what the words mean' (dangerous illusion that) but to feel through to the nuance of how the spirit of the language flows through its words - something I certainly did not have for non theological/ philosophical Latin before]. Allen Mandelbaum, scholar and poet, is someone I acknowledge with awe as a benefactor in giving this translation. For anyone interested in looking at the Latin for this and other classics, I would suggest the website for the amazing Perseus project (the Latin words are hypertext pointers to dictionary entries) at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html
(as you go down the page this pointer gets you to, you will see all their classical authors listed by name under the heading 'texts' - clicking on the author's name will get you to their work) IN looking for Virgil in their list of Greco-Roman authors it is important to know he is listed by his Latin name, P. Vergilius Maro, but under 'V', just after the Greek historian Thucydides and before Vetruvius Pollio. That would be an interesting supplement to this magnificent translation, for those with enough Latin to try wading a bit in the original.
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Summary: Like the Aeneid, a Triumph
Review: 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!
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Summary: The Odyliad (Part II)
Review: Only when we look beyond the style and technique of the writing can we begin to give Virgil some of the credit he does actually deserve. In building his character, Aeneas, he seems to have been fairly original. Aeneas is different from any of the Greek heroes we have seen thus far in our readings. He is a compassionate character, but he is also whiny, wimpy, and even a little effeminate. In the beginning of the book Aeneas tells everyone he meets just how awful all the things he has gone through were. He meets a goddess in the woods (who, unbeknownst to him, is his mother), and spends the next twenty-five lines telling her or his sorrows, until she gets tired of it. Again, when he meets Dido, he tells of the sorrows he has had to experience. When he approaches the Sibyl to ask her to guide him into hell, he begins by telling of his troubles, and asks her to pity him as her reason to help. Certainly, these are not the qualities of a Homeric hero.
The whining Aeneas has no excuse for, but he is also full of compassion. His father and his son may go a long way to explain this, and in the process clear Virgil of some of the accusations of unoriginality. While Homeric heroes definitely had families, only one of them seemed overly concerned with them. That was Odysseus, and his concern was getting to his family. Aeneas, on the other hand, travels with his family. He is constantly aware of them. Although his father dies in the early stages of the journey, Aeneas continues to commune with his ghost. He places great care in looking after Ascanius, his son. Whenever we see an act of compassion in Aeneas it stems from his familial understanding. When Dido dies, he is saddened because he loved her like a wife. When Pallas falls in battle, Aeneas grieves first for Evander's loss, and then he grieves over for Pallas' death. Again, when he kills Lausus Aeneas' guilt comes when he realizes that Lausus and Mezentius have a relationship similar to his own relationship with his son.
Looking further into the plot, the reader can see a host of examples where Virgil borrowed directly from Homer. In fact, The Aeneid breaks down into two halves. The first half is The Odyssey, and the second is The Iliad. In the Odyssey half the plagiarism is shameful. I have mentioned the Scylla and the Cyclops that Aeneas ran into, but there are more. Aeneas' crew picks up a Greek sailor left behind from Odysseus' crew, who then proceeds to take them along exactly the route that Odysseus took. Then Aeneas lands in a far away land, where a beautiful and powerful woman tempts him to stay there and refuse his fate. Both Calypso and Circe did this to Odysseus. And let us not forget that when he comes to Dido, Aeneas comes in secret hoping to observe whether the people are friendly to him or not. A goddess disguises him so that he can approach unseen. This sounded a little familiar to me when I read it, and it turned out that it was familiar. That is just the way Odysseus came home.
Also, Odysseus went to Hell, so why not have Aeneas go there? It matters little that there is actually no point to his going there, and that the entire chapter about it could be taken out, and no one would know. If Homer wrote a part like that, then so can Virgil.
There is one copied part that, in my mind, is somewhat justified, because Virgil actually uses it to construct something original. The Odyssey contained a chapter full of Olympic-style gaming, which gave Odysseus a chance to tell his story, and which Homer used as a device in which to show growth in Odysseus. Virgil includes in his poem a chapter of games as well. He shows the competitors in these games to be what we would consider brutish and violent, but I don't believe that is what he had in mind. What interpret as violence and disregard for the safety of others I believe Virgil intended to be nobility. That is, putting honor in the eyes of the gods before any concern for self or others. Aeneas was not directly involved in any of the games, and while some would say that this is because he is compassionate and would not do that to another human being, I say that it is because he is not yet a "noble" man. He has yet to attain that.
The second half of the book, which mimics The Iliad rather closely, is where we see both Aeneas and Virgil grow. It is here that Aeneas achieves the nobility we see him suffering for lack of for in the first half. It is also here that Virgil begins to assert some originality.
We begin the second half right away with an innovative idea. Aeneas lands in Italy and is welcomed by the Latins, until the gods interfere. Why is this innovative? Because the gods are the only antagonists. The mortals do nothing wrong, on either side. It is simply that the gods (Juno, specifically) stir up hatred in their hearts, and war ensues.
Sadly from there the originality drops off for a while. Virgil places the Trojans inside a walled camp, being besieged by the enemy. They have heroes, who are fighting well, but their true hero (Aeneas) is missing, and they cannot win without him. This is nothing more than a combination of the situation Troy was originally in and the story of Achilles in The Iliad.
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Summary: The Spirit of Rome
Review: The point of this poem is to celebrate Roman qualities and to promote Roman patriotism. Roman civilization has a lot of strong and beneficial qualities that are still of use to us today. After all, about 70% of our language is Roman, and our culture even though Anglo-saxon based, is so highly influenced by Rome that the old Germanic elements are often paid little attention. In fact, the Germanic element of our English-speaking heritage has been mostly overlooked since the Norman Conquest in 1066. The Romans had many noble qualities and this story culls them all together in one man: Aeneas. Aeneas is very much like the Maximus character portrayed in the film 'Gladiator' and Artorius in 'King Arthur': enduring, brave, noble, honest, kind. These qualities are always refreshing to read about and well worth emulating in our own day to day lives even if we don't express them to each other at home and at work in highly polished Latin or English verses. Later generations of English felt there was more worth emulating in their old foe, Rome, than in their own inherited Germanic culture, which they looked down on as barbaric and crude. In fact, the British Empire modelled itself self-consciously on Rome. This poem has never stopped being read from the time it was first written and was as important a part of Medieval culture as it was of Imperial Roman. Many of our ideas of Knighthood owe their inspiration to this poem of Vergil's. Vergil writes in a highly compact and polite style reflecting the polished culture of his times. He celebrates Rome's divine mission as civilizer of the world. He weaves in what was the best of Roman culture into his tale to create an ideal portrait of the ideal Roman man. In this web is all the Greek lore and philosophical speculation side by side with the belief in a divine King inherited from the fusion of Greek and Eastern cultures known to us as the Hellenistic world. Rome here is an ideal society composed at once of Greek scientific and moral thought and Near-Eastern monarchy decorated with Greek art and native Italian legends. What the Greeks lacked in stability, the Italians in culture, and the East in learning, Rome would supply by combining them all into one global realm. Rome is to provide the shelter under which civilization can flourish: that is her mission. To lead this mission are required brave leaders and warriors, of which Aeneas and his followers are the ideal and the Emperor and Roman elite the reality. At the time of writing, Rome was seen as the greatest political unit that had ever existed, and none of this was lost on the author of this nation's greatest poem. Vergil was thus writing in his intent the greatest nation's greatest poem, and by logical deduction therefore the finest work of literature ever written. On his deathbed Vergil apparently felt he had overdone his theme and requested the book to be burned, but it was far too valuable a piece of praise for the 'divine' Emperor for it to be allowed to be destroyed. Far from being obliterated, its verses were recited all the way to the far corners of the Empire, and were still being sung without cease, the living words remaining long after the Empire itself collapsed. The ideal of Rome told in this story, of a Roman 'Camelot' of sorts, has inspired countless readers with cloudy dreams of nobility and glory ever since, and has made even those who can in no way call themselves Roman to want to identify with that culture: and not the least of these admirers would be the English-speaking world. This is a tale to inspire the legions and every Roman with a brave sense of duty and mission "to teach the ways of peace to the conquered, to spare the defeated, tame the proud". This tale of divine monarchy, Greek art and Roman spirit was to formulate what it means to be a Roman, and to delineate the basic principles of the Roman way of life. Vergil's tale is pure magic when understood in this light. This is not just another fictional novel, and should not be read as such; it is rather the very essence of Rome. We are of course not Romans, and our language, even if now containing a great many Roman words, is still in its essence Germanic (about 65% of written English is Anglo-Saxon): the language of the tribes that resisted Roman expansion and later invaded its provinces, such as Britannia, and drove the Romans before them. The English language inevitably therefore lends an English mindset to the poem when translated. Mandelbaum's poem therefore is a poem for us, for our times, for our temperament and likely for posterity. Here is Rome's national epic, proudly presented, in the language of her conquerors.
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Summary: Arms, the man, and the poet.
Review: This is another one of the books that I had to read for Fall quarter 2000. Like the rest of that group, "The Aeneid" was just extraordinary. My teacher's smart choice of the Mandelbaum translation was good to my pocket and to my mind, since it is accessible and clear. I actually prefer parts of the Fitzgerald version (especially the unusual beginning "I sing of warfare and a man at war..."), but I read the Mandelbaum because it was easier to follow the lectures using the same book everyone else had. Mandelbaum does a great job of translating meaning and feeling from Latin to English, and from the world of Virgil 2000 years ago to our world. The Glossary helps a lot, and the Introduction is instructive and very candid: not every day a major scholar tells us he had intentionally neglected a major work of literature simply based on the biased opinion of others. After reading "The Aeneid" I am convinced that Augustus did the right thing in ignoring Virgil's wishes, even if in his treatment of Ovid he was too harsh. This version of the poem should introduce a fascinating literary work to those who have never read it (like me before Fall 2000), and hopefully interest many readers in other works of Classical Literature. The destruction of Troy, Queen Dido and her tragic fate, the clash of cultures in Italy between the invading Trojans and the native Latins, the descent into the netherworld, the gods playing with humankind, the mythical foundation of Rome, the controversial progression of Aeneas from man to ruler to symbol who sacrifices part of his humanity in order to achieve the mission that has been determined for him, all this forms part of one of the greatest epic poems of all time. "The Aeneid" is war, and men, and a poet who believed that Rome, in spite of all her faults, was a prize worth saving and preserving. Augustus thought the same of Virgil's poem.
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Summary: The Forbidden Fruit
Review: This translation of Virgil's masterpiece is the perfect choice for a reader who wishes to experience the original form of this Augustine work of art. It is written in easy flowing and accessible blank verse, unlike the rather cloggy and unattractive prose translations. After all The Aeneid was written to be read as an epic poem: not the post Renaissance format of a novel, and Lewis's translation is as close to capturing the originally intended delivery as you can get without the lengthy process of learning Latin . This classic epic poem was commissioned by Augustus Caesar in 31BC, a task which was reluctantly accepted by Virgil. Ten years of writing followed, and unfortunately the poet died, by contracting a disease, whilst returning from a trip to Athens. The epic was not fully revised by then, yet the contents of all twelve books are complete except for a rather abrupt ending. However, just before his death Virgil left strict instructions for The Aeneid to be burnt: lost to the world for all time. Yet this commanded was counteracted by Caesar. Why was this? Why didn't Virgil want the greatest poem in Latin to be discovered for its prominence? These are questions which will truly interest any reader. When you hold this book in your hands you cannot help thinking that Virgil did not want you to read this - if it had not been for the Imperial arm of Caesar we would be forever lacking this great Latin work. Thus a guilty feeling pervades when reading The Aeneid, moreover, those of you already well versed in Greek mythology will know that Actaeon paid very highly for his antlers, a lesson hard to forget whilst perusing prohibited splendour. When commissioned to write an epic with the sole purpose of portraying an almighty Augustus in 31 BC it is difficult to capture the magic of Homeric Hymns. To have the inclusion of gods and mystical powers in ordered Roman society would have been simply laughed at. Therefore Virgil chose the legendary founder of Rome - Aeneas of Troy - as the protagonist of his epic. This poem documents the various adventures of Aphrodite's son: whose quest is to find his destined homeland - Italy. Jupiter has ordained that Aeneas's ancestors will become the great masters of Rome, and it is here that Virgil can cleverly celebrate Augustus's magnificent achievements. But what is the underlying meaning to Virgil's epic? What you can witness in The Aeneid is Homer's similar appreciation of acts of bravery; yet what you will observe for the first time is the dreadful price that Imperialism exacts. Aeneas is forced to reject his passionate love, experience the death of his father, and kill the noble sons of people he is destined to rule. Therefore a fundamental enigma in Virgil's work must be to endeavour whether this is a work that supports Imperialism or refutes it. Did Virgil advocate Augustus's omnipotence? If yes, why did the poet wish the epic to be destroyed? The price of blood for the fellowship of freedom is one continual theme that pervades not only archaic history, but also that of the modern day; and in Virgil's masterpiece it is portrayed no less effectively than in all great works of literature.
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