Virgil: Aeneid 10

This is the first major commentary on the tenth book of Vergil's Aeneid, the national epic of Rome and one of the great poems of world literature. Vergil's text, with a facing translation, is explained for the modern reader and its literary qualities are fully assessed.

Vergil''s Aeneid was written in twelve books in the last years of the poet''s life (29-19 BC). It was designed as a national epic of Rome and is one of the greatest poems of world literature. The tenth book, which contains some of the poem''s most dramatic war-narrative, has been unjustly neglected by Vergilian scholars, and this is the first major commentary to deal exclusively with it. Its aim is to explain Vergil''s text for the modern reader. A full introduction examines the literary aspects of Aeneid 10; the scholarly commentary assesses Vergil''s skill as a Latin poet and his careful and original use of literary models (especially the Iliad of Homer). There is also some discussion of the major interpretational problems of the Aeneid raised in Book 10. The Latin text is reproduced from R.A.B. Mynors''s edition in the Oxford Classical Texts series. A facing English translation makes the text accessible to those with no knowledge of Latin.