PENGUIN The Aeneid

A subject I loved...

Book received in excellent condition.

Even though Virgil's The Aeneid (c. 29 BCE-19 BCE) was written c. 700 years after The Iliad c. (725 BCE), Virgil picks up the story of Aeneas after the fall of Troy as if it just happened. Aeneas leaves with his father, son, and a small contingent of Trojans after the Greeks slaughtered everyone in Troy and destroyed the city, and they sail away. The gods give Aeneas a mission to find a land which he can call home. That land with eventually be Rome. Virgil's The Aeneid, while a well written story with a lot of action and wars, was actually a piece of propaganda commissioned by the first emperor Augustus to glorify his reign and to promote the values of Rome after Julius Caesar. It is a good read, though. Aeneas shows the embodiment of piety, duty, and honor, all of which would become Rome's ideals. He make mistakes by falling in love with Dido and breaking her heart by leaving. He travels to the Underworld and tries to apologize to her by saying it was his fate and the god's will. She turns away. Calypso, however, give him good advice on how to avoid mistakes while sailing. Eventually, he makes it Latium, which will become Rome, where he fights several battles. It shows that Rome has a long history that starts with Aeneas.

Great for studies

Sublime eloquence