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The Aeneid (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) Paperback – January 29, 2008

by Virgil (Author), Robert Fagles (Translator), Bernard Knox (Introduction)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 869 ratings
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From the award-winning translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey comes a brilliant new translation of Virgil's great epic

Fleeing the ashes of Troy, Aeneas, Achilles’ mighty foe in the Iliad, begins an incredible journey to fulfill his destiny as the founder of Rome. His voyage will take him through stormy seas, entangle him in a tragic love affair, and lure him into the world of the dead itself--all the way tormented by the vengeful Juno, Queen of the Gods. Ultimately, he reaches the promised land of Italy where, after bloody battles and with high hopes, he founds what will become the Roman empire. An unsparing portrait of a man caught between love, duty, and fate, the Aeneid redefines passion, nobility, and courage for our times. Robert Fagles, whose acclaimed translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were welcomed as major publishing events, brings the Aeneid to a new generation of readers, retaining all of the gravitas and humanity of the original Latin as well as its powerful blend of poetry and myth. Featuring an illuminating introduction to Virgil’s world by esteemed scholar Bernard Knox, this volume lends a vibrant new voice to one of the seminal literary achievements of the ancient world.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    484 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin Classics
  4. Publication date
    January 29, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    8.35 x 5.67 x 1.17 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0143105132
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0143105138
  8. Lexile measure
    NP0L
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A new and noble standard bearer . . . There's a capriciousness to Fagles's line well suited to this vast story's ebb and flow."
-The New York Times Book Review (front page review)

"Fagles's new version of Virgil's epic delicately melds the stately rhythms of the original to a contemporary cadence. . . . He illuminates the poem's Homeric echoes while remaining faithful to Virgil's distinctive voice."
-The New Yorker

"Robert Fagles gives the full range of Virgil's drama, grandeur, and pathos in vigorous, supple modern English. It is fitting that one of the great translators of The Iliad and The Odyssey in our times should also emerge as a surpassing translator of The Aeneid."
-J. M. Coetzee

About the Author

Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 B.C.), known as Virgil, was born near Mantua in the last days of the Roman Republic. In his comparatively short life he became the supreme poet of his age, whose Aeneid gave the Romans a great national epic equal to the Greeks’, celebrating their city’s origins and the creation of their empire. Virgil is also credited  with authoring two other major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues and the Georgics. 

Robert Fagles (1933-2008) was Arthur W. Marks ’19 Professor of Comparative Literature, Emeritus, at Princeton University. He was the recipient of the 1997 PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His translations include Sophocles’s Three Theban Plays, Aeschylus’s Oresteia (nominated for a National Book Award), Homer’s Iliad (winner of the 1991 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award by The Academy of American Poets), Homer’s Odyssey, and Virgil's Aeneid.

Bernard Knox (1914-2010) was Director Emeritus of Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. He taught at Yale University for many years. Among his numerous honors are awards from the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His works include The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy, Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles’ Tragic Hero and His Time and Essays Ancient and Modern (awarded the 1989 PEN/Spielvogel-Diamonstein Award).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics; Illustrated edition (January 29, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 484 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143105132
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143105138
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ NP0L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.35 x 5.67 x 1.17 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 869 ratings

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Virgil

Virgil

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Publius Vergilius Maro (Classical Latin: [ˈpuː.blɪ.ʊs wɛrˈɡɪ.lɪ.ʊs ˈma.roː]; October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil /ˈvɜːrdʒᵻl/ in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, are sometimes attributed to him.

Virgil is traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. His Aeneid has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome from the time of its composition to the present day. Modeled after Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the Aeneid follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny and arrive on the shores of Italy—in Roman mythology the founding act of Rome. Virgil's work has had wide and deep influence on Western literature, most notably Dante's Divine Comedy, in which Virgil appears as Dante's guide through hell and purgatory.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by unknown author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Top reviews from the United States

Julia Walker
5.0 out of 5 stars epic undertaking
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2009
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Allen Mandelbaum's translation of Virgil's Aeneid won the National Book Award in 1973. Of that translation Robert Fagles wrote: it "has a wonderful, detailed liveliness in every line."

That's true. I love the Mandelbaum Aeneid and have taught undergrads from it for nearly a quarter-century.

But into this year of stock depressions and women not being worthy of the Oval Office comes a ray of pure joy. (Yes, OK, Obama is a ray of hope, yes he is. But I don't teach him twice or three times a year.)

The Robert Fagles translation is beyond lively: it's lyrical. It's compelling, like the poem itself. I think it may move even the least-motivated undergrad to feel . . . . something.

Of the death of Dido:

Mandelbaum:

For as she died
A death that was not merited or fated,
but miserable and before her time
and spurred by sudden frenzy, Proserpina
had not yet cut a gold lock from her crown,
not yet assigned her life to Stygian Orcus.

Fagles:
Since she was dying a death not merited or deserved,
no, tormented, before her day, in a blaze of passion -

While I miss the reiteration of "fate" (arguably Virgil's favorite noun) -- nam quia nec fato merita nec morte peribat,'sed misera ante diem subitoque accensa furore, -- I still find the Fagles lines more liquid and agonizing, more urgently pulling the reader along to an awful consequence.

There's a similar comparison even in the best of Mandelbaum, the speech Aeneas makes to Dido, when the reader realizes how much he hates his life and how he longs to have been allowed to stay in Troy.

And the text itself is a thousand time more helpful. Here is a longer glossary than in Mandelbaum's and maps and a genealogy and the best thing: digressive notes on the translation with sound-bites from other translations. Check out the info on the pictures on the temple doors in Book I. The best is the discussion - complete with quotes from Dryden writing about his own translation - on Mercury's line to Aeneas in 4.710-11. Anyone who doubts the inherent misogyny of Rome need read no further.

Mandelbaum probably didn't get any control over the textual apparatus in the Bantam edition, but for a teacher - and I would think, a reader - that's really beside the point. What the Fagles' translation offers is much more helpful. Much.

For this I may have to do that least-favorite thing: copy all my notes into a new edition. Sigh.
61 people found this helpful
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James V. Stoecker
5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2021
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It does seem a little absurd to be giving a star rating to such a work as the Aeneid. But this is the 21st century. And to me it is remarkable that Virgil’s epic stands up even now as a truly exciting narrative. I don’t really have anything to say about the accuracy of the translation, but whether due to Virgil or Fagles or the combination, this is a great read. And if you haven’t read the Iliad and the Odyssey, I suggest doing so before plunging into the Aeneid. It will all make more sense. My only negative is the character of Aeneas, who pales in comparison to the epic heroes of Achilles, Hector and Odysseus in the Homer epics. But the loves scenes in Carthage rival anything in the Odyssey and the battles against the Latins are as bloody as anything in the Iliad.
7 people found this helpful
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Mondo
5.0 out of 5 stars Trojan foundation of Rome
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2009
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'The Aeneid', of course, is one of history's great epics and rates a full five star rating. Fagle's translation is good, as are his introduction and comments. As an epic poem, it doesn't live up to Homer's grandeur. But, then again, whereas the Iliad and Odyssey were the product of many lyricists who 'sang' the tales centuries before Homer, 'The Aeneid' is the product of a single author, Virgil, and as a work by a single author the work has to be greatly respected.

As an amateur historian I'm interested the history that may be behind the epics. In the case of the Odyssey and especially the Iliad, there is reason to believe that the account [excluding the Gods and Goddesses] is firmly based in the truth. 'omer 'smote 'is bloomin' lyre' approximately 600 years [Iron Age] following Bronze Age events but his poems still record the almost exclusive use of bronze implements and weaponry. Iron in Homer's songs is a rare and valuable metal.

'The Aeneid' clearly doesn't have this claim to authenticity. The tale, theoretically at least, still a Bronze Age world but Virgil, clearly not recognizing his error, puts iron weapons and implements in the hands of his protangonists many times, discrediting the overall veracity of the story.

Then again, 'The Aeneid' has a different purpose than Homer's tales. Homer recited for entertainment but Virgil wrote to butter up Augustus and to provide the basis for a Roman foundation myth. Such myths were important. Alexander of Macedon, for example, claimed lineage from the remarkable Achilles.

The question remains, however, did Virgil base his story on a previous tradition...a tradition which may have had some slight detail of fact? Fagles mentions that there were Roman myths regarding a Trojan beginning by 500 BC, which would be close to the time frame given Homer. Apparently, however, this wasn't just a Roman insider story because, as Fagles mentions, the destructive Pyrrhus came to Italy to conquer Rome. Pyrrhus claimed that he was a descendant of Achilles and that was his birthright as a Trojan-hater to finish the Trojan/Romans off.

What do I think? I'd like to think that Trojan heroes made it to Italy where they helped to found the future Rome....but...I seriously doubt it.

Ron Braithwaite, author of novels--'Skull Rack' and 'Hummingbird God'--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico
11 people found this helpful
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John Sloan
5.0 out of 5 stars The 'real story' on the foundation of Rome??
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2021
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Well, it is of course myth - But a great read - Virgil poetry is well translated in this Fagles version - but so is Edward McCrorie's - take your pick - I am reading it again as a supplement to Dante's Divine Comedy Both Virgil and Dante need glossaries and large footnoting to enable understanding of the allusions - names - events the authors correctly presume their readers know.
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Top reviews from other countries

Henrique Steffens
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended
Reviewed in Brazil on January 5, 2024
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Jill
5.0 out of 5 stars Honoring Rome
Reviewed in Italy on April 19, 2022
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The Aeneid is an incomplete epic poem written by the poet and philosopher Virgil, who after ten years of work he unfortunately gets ill and indicates that the poem must be destroyed but the emperor Augustus published it anyway, considering the poem a celebration of Rome's glories.

The story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero, son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus (Aphrodite) who has been chosen by the Gods to find Italy, becoming the precursor of the Roman people. Consisting of twelve books, narrate of the conflict between life and destiny, the meaning of our actions and the suffering of human being. It's full of Homeric references, indeed books I-VI tell about Aeneas travels, similar to Odysseus's adventures, meanwhile books VII-XII narrate of war's events similar to the Iliad. As a hero Aeneas is different from the Homeric models of Achilles and Ulysses, described as a valiant and mature leader famous for his pietas, the Latin term which the Romans used to express the greatest virtues and moral ideas (those that Augustus was trying to restore).

There are books I enjoyed more than others; I enjoyed reading about a female warrior character like Camilla in the novel, never read nothing like this in epic poems before, and of course about the two lovers' tragedy of Nisus and Euryalus serving under Aeneas.
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Ian McKillop
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic
Reviewed in Canada on November 12, 2018
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Another classic story that has "stood the test of time"
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Sreekant Sreedharan
5.0 out of 5 stars I already have a kindle version. But with some ...
Reviewed in India on May 5, 2016
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I already have a kindle version. But with some classics, need to be read many times and annotated over time to refine one's understanding of it. This is one such classic.
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HFM
5.0 out of 5 stars Energised, high octane drama! Fagles' translation is superb, and the packaging is sumptuous.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2014
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PLEASE BE AWARE ~ This review is for the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition only. Amazon have replicated my review on the Oxford Classics edition webpage which is inaccurate.

If I'd gone on the strength of the pitiful reviews on here, I'd never have bought this version and would, instead, have opted for perhaps the Oxford Classics version. However, a personal twist of fate (American partner bought this, and I wanted to keep abreast) meant me purchasing this over another. I can't speak highly enough, especially given the trepidation I felt before receiving it. Fagles' translation is superb, and for anyone new to Aeneid, you're in for a serious treat. If the Aeneid was a film, it would be something high octane, probably directed by Ridley Scott or James Cameron (the good ones!). The language is powerful, luxurious, surging forward off the pages. Fagles' use of present tense does not damage the experience for me whatsoever. If anything, it brings the experience of this adventure to the fore. In short, a page-turner. It's exciting.

Take, for example, this wonderful early description of King Aeolus' Winds that he keeps locked up:

"With such anger seething inside her fiery heart
the goddess reached Aeolia, breeding-ground of storms,
their home swarming with raging gusts from the South.
Here in a vast cave King Aeolus rules the winds,
brawling to break free, howling in full gale force
as he chains them down in their dungeon, shackled fast.
They bluster in protest, roaring round their prison bars
with a mountain above them all, booming with their rage.
But high in his stronghold Aeolus wields his scepter,
soothing their passions, tempering their fury.
Should he fail, surely they'd blow the world away,
hurling the land and sea and deep sky through space.
Fearing this, the almighty Father banished the winds
to that black cavern, piled above them a mountain mass
and imposed on all a king empowered, by binding pact,
to rein them back on command or let them gallop free."

Stunning.
I have to say, Penguin have done a lovely job with the deluxe classic editions they're printing. Mine has a different, golden cover, and the page edges are milled. I'm not sure what this edition is like, but it is also a deluxe edition so I imagine it's pretty sumptuous. (Edit ~ the stock photo now shows the same version I have).

Incidentally, the reviews on amazon.com are far more balanced and informing and if you're deliberating over which edition might suit you best, you could do worse than taking stock of what folks the other side of the pond are saying about this.
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