★★★★☆ - my main issue with this was definitely some of the choices made by the translator, not the tale itself. I buddy read this with my lovely friend Lorna over at Unexpectedlearningjourney which was such a wonderful experience, especially since she brought her Latin expertise to the table and did some amazing translations throughout our read along - some of which I will be including in this review! You should also check out her article on Moaninc all about learning Latin!
What is the Aeneid?
Before we get into my thoughts, lets introduce the text, it’s historical context and purpose in the ancient world. The Aeneid was written by the Roman poet Virgil who lived in the Early Roman Empire between 70-19BCE. As a sponsor of the first emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus, The Aeneid tells the founding story of Rome with the Trojan hero Aeneas travelling through the Mediterranean to finally establish the lineage of Romulus and Remus and the Roman Empire. Aeneas, a Trojan and son of the goddess Venus, escaped from the sack of Troy and was told his destiny was to found a grand city in Italy. After some time on the sea, not unlike Odysseus on his long journey home after the Trojan War, Aeneas finds himself in Carthage and falls in love with the Queen, Dido. After spending six years on Carthage, Mercury reminds Aeneas of his purpose and departs Carthage, leaving a grief-stricken Dido who ends up throwing herself on a burning pyre.
Her phantom sifting through my fingers, light as wind, quick as a dream in flight. (102)
Once again reminiscent of Odysseus, Aeneas takes a journey to the underworld where he sees the shade of Dido, many a deceased Trojan and his father. Aeneas eventually makes it to Latium where war ensues led by Aeneas on the Trojan side and Turnus of the Rutuli - especially since the hand in marriage of the Princess Lavinia is at stake as well. In the final lines of the poem, Turnus is killed and Aeneas’ descendants Romulus and Remus would eventually establish the city of Rome. Virgil died without finishing the tale and asked his friend Lucius Varius Rufus to destroy it - and thankfully for us he didn’t! Although Virgil wasn’t too happy with the work before his death, Augustus was pleased and despite Virgil’s desire to have it destroyed, the emperor had it published instead. Why did Virgil compose the poem? The main reasons were to honour Augustus and praise him by highlighting his ancestors, and to show parallels between the protagonist, Aeneas and Augustus. At the time it was written, Rome was in a bit of political instability with the ending of the Roman Republic after the assassination of Julius Caesar and the dawn of the Roman Empire, and so the Aeneid was something of a parallel between the events that Aeneas lived through and the unsteady beginnings of Rome, and the instability the early Roman Empire was facing at the time.
The Aeneid not only alludes to The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer, many facets of the tale is reminiscent of it. Plus, The Aeneid is actually where we get the tale of the Trojan horse which wasn’t mentioned in the Iliad and only referred to in the Odyssey, since much of the Epic Cycle now only survives to us in fragments. Sections such as the death of Pallas is reminiscent of the death of Patroclus, and the funeral games for Anchises is comparable to the funeral games of Patroclus. Of course there is also divine intervention with the gods and goddesses influencing the mortals like game pieces, although not to the same extent as in Homers tales. The epic poem covers themes of renewal and conflict, and unlike the Iliad and the Odyssey, it references and alludes to the historical past of Rome like the Punic Wars which can be summed up as Rome vs. Carthage and the destruction of Carthage.
Thoughts and Opinions
Overall, I really enjoyed reading this poem. Some books were slower than others, but some were so gripping that I didn't want to put the book down. Throughout the book I really enjoyed finding snippets that felt Homeric, especially the use of Homeric simile which occurred all throughout the story. I think that made it feel more cohesive, as if it wasn’t written down 800 years after Homer’s tales.
Most of my thoughts about this book will be focussed on translation and word choice - mainly because I truly think it let the story down. Buddy reading with Lorna who was reading a different translation (prose E.V. Riu) really illuminated some questionable choices in my edition, and therefore translations as a whole. It is such a personal thing, translation, and having learnt some Ancient Greek basics and talking to Lorna about the Latin throughout reading this book, the choices made by translators can really alter a passage, it’s the meaning and emphasis. There were little things like the choice of ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ rather than ‘Olympus’ and ‘Hades’ or ‘Tartarus,’ they were definitely questionable choices, especially when looking back at the Latin and seeing the use of Tartarus in the original which happened a couple of times, for example:
“…crying out to Hecate, mighty Queen of Heaven and Hell.” (Fagles 6.183)
“…Hecate, mighty in the sky and mighty in Erebus.” (E.V.Riu)
“Hecaten caeloque Ereboque potentem” - Lorna’s literal translation “... Hecate, powerful in the sky and powerful in Erebus.”
There was the use of Persephone instead of Proserpina which was interesting, and the most frustrating thing was the consistent use of the word ‘awesome.’ Here’s an example-
“… the goddess in all her glory, just as the gods behold her build, her awesome beauty.” (Fagles 2.732-733).
“She revealed herself as a goddess as the gods in heaven see her, in all her majesty of form and stature.” (E.V.Riu pg. 42)
“... deam qualisque videri caelicolis et quanta solet'.” - Lorna’s translation “I beheld the goddess, just as the gods are accustomed to her, in her quantity of form and stature.”
Why you’d choose to use the word awesome is beyond me, and it happens all throughout the book. Of course sometimes it works, but other times, I felt like there were more appropriate words to use (like above). But in saying that, there were other lines that were so beautiful, some that were incredibly sad and some that were super gory. Overall it’s an interesting tale that documents the early ideology of the Roman Empire, and although I probably didn’t get as much out of it in terms of historical importance (I’m more of an Ancient Greek history gal), I still truly enjoyed delving into this. I loved that we got some strong female figures like Dido and Camilla, even though they both literally ended up dying which was disappointing. You can really understand the way women were seen from the Roman male’s perspective, with Dido committing suicide after Aeneas left her, Camilla the incredible warrior woman on par with the Amazons being killed after only 400 lines in the poem because she saw a shiny gold brooch and had to go for the plunder, and even Lavinia who was completely without agency throughout the tale and was simply a pawn used to incite war. It’s truly fascinating, especially with the continued theme from Homer’s poems of the gods using humans as their pawns to get their way - and one really interesting comparison was that of Aeneas, Lavinia and Turnus in the final few books to Paris, Helen and Menelaus. As if their battle over Lavinia’s hand in marriage was to the same degree as the Trojan War. It was so interesting having the figures in this story compare themselves to the Trojan war, and the way in which Aeneas was the link between Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. There are truly so many things I could comment on but it’s just impossible, so I should probably end my meaningless rambles here. HAH!
I’d love to learn more about this epic poem, to hear about your thoughts about The Aeneid and the things I brought up in this review! Make sure to comment below or find me over on Instagram. I am planning on re-reading this again at some point (as with The Iliad and The Odyssey), and I would love suggestions for different translations. Now that I’ve read the Fagles edition of this, I am not really interested in picking up The Iliad or The Odyssey in his translation because of the issues I had with The Aeneid, so any suggestions for any translations of any of these texts would be most welcome!✨
