0196 The Aeneid
0196 The Aeneid
AENEID POETRY
UNABRIDGED
VIRGIL
Read by David Collins
1 1-1 Book I 7:51 28 3-6 Distraught, she witlessly wandered about… 7:47
2 1-2 Even as he cried out thus, a howling gust… 6:49 29 3-7 Whereupon the Trojans redoubled… 8:18
3 1-3 Aeneas, where he stood, snatched up… 6:25 30 3-8 So Dido spoke, and fell silent… 6:50
4 1-4 Here for three hundred years shall rule… 7:45 31 3-9 And now was Aurora, leaving the saffron… 5:09
5 1-5 I am true-hearted Aeneas… 7:32 32 3-10 Then, after eyeing the clothes he had left … 5:29
6 1-6 Another scene was of Troilus in flight… 6:51 33 3-11 Book V 5:22
7 1-7 We Carthaginians are not so insensitive… 6:54 34 4-1 Now silence, all, for the rites… 8:16
8 1-8 My son, my only strength… 6:50 35 4-2 The Trojans laughed at the sight of him… 7:47
9 1-9 Book II 6:22 36 4-3 This event being decided, true-hearted… 8:40
10 1-10 Some talk has come to your ears… 6:56 37 4-4 Dares himself, above all, stood aghast… 7:21
11 1-11 Straightaway, Calchas pronounced… 6:56 38 4-5 The son of Hyrtacus shot the first arrow… 8:19
12 2-1 It was the hour when worn-out men begin… 8:41 39 4-6 Alas, such a wearisome waste of water… 7:52
13 2-2 So saying, he put on Androgeos’ plumed… 6:32 40 4-7 Aeneas was much disturbed by the words… 6:16
14 2-3 Now he had hewed out a panel… 6:41 41 4-8 Then spoke Saturn’s son, the emperor… 5:59
15 2-4 But just then, Hugging close to the threshold… 6:45 42 4-9 Book VI 6:39
16 2-5 Once again I am moved to fight… 5:37 43 4-10 Wars, dreadful wars I see… 5:34
17 2-6 Well, I panicked. My wits were fuddled… 5:40 44 4-11 She spoke, then closed her lips. 6:26
18 2-7 Book III 7:09 45 5-1 Wherefore the Greeks called it Avernus… 8:06
19 2-8 We prostrated ourselves on the earth. 7:14 46 5-2 Three stormy nights did the South wind… 8:32
20 2-9 When we were well away, in deep water… 6:48 47 5-3 Thus did Aeneas speak… 8:07
21 2-10 A rounded shield of bronze… 8:38 48 5-4 Do you see the sentry, who she is… 7:00
22 2-11 This ceremonial you and your friends… 8:31 49 5-5 Now the Sibyl addressed the company… 5:44
23 3-1 And now, the stars dispersed… 8:01 50 5-6 Therefore the dead are disciplined… 6:03
24 3-2 A house of blood and bloody feasts… 8:21 51 5-7 Would you see the Tarquin kings… 6:38
25 3-3 Book IV 7:50 52 5-8 BOOK VII 7:03
26 3-4 A praiseworthy feat, I must say… 8:03 53 5-9 After the ritual sacrifice of a hundred… 7:29
27 3-5 He, the son of Ammon by a ravished African… 7:58 54 5-10 Such was the holy shrine, the ancestral hall… 7:08
55 5-11 To the absent Aeneas he sent a chariot… 7:19 82 8-7 So saying, he moved out onto the field. 7:08
56 6-1 Now Turnus, if we go back to the origin… 8:32 83 8-8 Magus had spoken. Aeneas gave him… 7:37
57 6-2 There was a stag, a most noble creature… 8:17 84 8-9 To her, the lord of Olympus on high… 7:06
58 6-3 About the reefs and the foaming rocks… 8:11 85 8-10 Now, like a boar which the hounds… 7:07
59 6-4 Evenly dressed they marched… 8:35 86 8-11 Lausus, seeing this happen, groaned deeply… 7:45
60 6-5 Book VIII 7:57 87 9-1 So saying, Mezentius hurled a spear at his foe… 2:23
61 6-6 Quickly the Trojans steered to the bank… 7:27 88 9-2 Book XI 6:56
62 6-7 This ogre was the son of Vulcan… 7:36 89 9-3 There were chariots in the cortege… 7:10
63 6-8 You daunted the river Styx… 6:41 90 9-4 They bear great trophies, symbols of those… 7:39
64 6-9 Now, at the will of Jove, he has set foot… 6:51 91 9-5 After that war, driven to wide-apart coasts… 6:43
65 6-10 The king began… 7:51 92 9-6 Your gracious Majesty, the issue you ask… 7:25
66 7-1 The man I was then would not have been… 7:48 93 9-7 If such is your will, and otherwise I’m ruinous… 8:19
67 7-2 Vulcan had also embossed the dancing Salii… 5:54 94 9-8 Carrying her against his breast, he made for… 7:30
68 7-3 Book IX 7:55 95 9-9 Orsilochus dared not meet Remulus… 6:50
69 7-4 Her son, who turns the heavenly… 7:23 96 9-10 With the same ease will a falcon, prophetic… 7:31
70 7-5 One gate was held by Nisus… 7:53 97 9-11 Camilla, dying, tugged at the spear… 8:21
71 7-6 Now, Euryalus, for you… 7:03 98 10-1 Book XII 8:21
72 7-7 They were presents, originally… 8:17 99 10-2 He was wildly wrought up, so burning… 7:54
73 7-8 Each captain mustered for battle… 8:34 100 10-3 I touch the altar, I call on the fire… 7:17
74 7-9 On the whole front the din crescendoed… 8:48 101 10-4 The Italians ran to the spot and despoiled… 7:13
75 7-10 Pandarus and Bitias, sprung from Alcanor… 8:40 102 10-5 At this point Iapis, the son of Iasus… 7:01
76 8-1 So Mnestheus shouted; Where do you think… 3:18 103 10-6 Aeneas, for all that, followed their mazy trail… 7:58
77 8-2 Book X 8:11 104 10-7 So, when a shepherd has traced a swarm… 7:28
78 8-3 Such was Juno’s plea; it got a mixed reception… 7:33 105 10-8 Even as a boulder that rolls straight down… 7:14
79 8-4 I must not pass over Cinyras… 7:11 106 10-9 Here, in the stump, was sticking Aeneas’… 8:49
80 8-5 The peak of Aeneas’ helmet was blazing… 7:21 107 10-10 Oh, Turnus, what can your sister do for you… 8:25
81 8-6 Just so did the ranks of Troy and Latium clash… 7:25
––––THE––––
AENEID
VIRGIL
Read by David Collins
Of Virgil’s life we do not know much for certain. He writes little about Exactly when Virgil made the decision to embark upon what was
himself in his surviving poetry, and contemporary records are scarce. to be his final work, the epic Aeneid, is not known. The beginning of
We are told that he was born in 70 BC in Andes, a village near Mantua the third book of the Georgics announces his plan to write an epic
in what is now Northern Italy – but at the time of Virgil’s birth this area for Octavian, but the Aeneid as published is very different from the
was called Gallia Cisalpina (‘Gaul on this side of the Alps’). He is said poem there imagined. At any rate, the poem must have taken up much
to have been educated in Cremona and Mediolanum (Milan); but we of his time during the 20s; eagerly anticipated during its composition
have no sure information about his life until the publication of his first (‘make way, Roman writers, make way, you Greeks! – something
collection of poems, the pastoral Eclogues, in (probably) the early 30s greater than the Iliad is coming to birth’, said Propertius), the Aeneid
BC. Around this time he seems to have entered the circle of Maecenas, confirmed Virgil’s reputation as Rome’s greatest poet – and is said
the aristocratic literary patron close to Octavian (the future emperor to have made him a very rich man. The poem seems to have been
Augustus, who was the adopted son and heir of Julius Caesar and at substantially complete when the poet died in 19 BC, but the presence
this point one of the key figures on the Roman political scene). of incomplete lines clearly indicates that the finishing touches had not
Of Virgil’s activities in the turbulent period of the 30s, we again yet been applied. Indeed, there is a story that Virgil ordered the poem
know very little – although a vignette survives in the poetry of his to be burned, but that this was forbidden by the emperor Augustus –
contemporary and friend Horace (Satires I.5). He seems to have lived the poem was instead handed over to Virgil’s friends Varius Rufus and
near modern Naples (see Georgics IV.563-4). Some of this time will Plotius Tucca to be edited for publication.
have been spent on the composition of his next poem, the four-book Virgil lived through one of the most tumultuous periods of Roman
Georgics: this masterpiece (for Dryden, simply ‘the best poem by the and indeed world history: when the Republican system, which had
best poet’) is ostensibly a work on agriculture and farming couched seen the city rise from humble beginnings in central Italy to a position
in didactic terms, but the poem also offers sustained reflection on of dominance in the Mediterranean world, finally collapsed amidst
contemporary history as well as on timeless themes of love and sex, a series of brutal civil wars. Hundreds of thousands died as Roman
rural life and the relationship between man and the earth. Dedicated armies fought each other from Spain to Asia, from Greece to Egypt;
to Maecenas, and finally published in 29 BC, the Georgics established furthermore, the cherished libertas (freedom) of the old Republic was
Virgil as the foremost Latin poet of an exceptional generation (his rough lost in the process, as firstly Julius Caesar, and later his adopted son and
contemporaries included Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, Varius Rufus heir Octavian, established positions of dominance in the state. It was
and Gallus). the latter (who took the name Augustus in 27 BC) who encouraged
Virgil to compose the Aeneid.
The relationship of the poem to contemporary history and to the But, Romans, never forget that government is your medium!
Augustan régime is not straightforward. As we have seen, Georgics
III offers an ‘advance notice’ of an epic praising Octavian’s military Be this your art: to practise men in the habit of peace,
exploits – but Virgil seems to have reconsidered this idea (if it was Generosity to the conquered, and firmness against aggressors.
ever seriously entertained). His eventual choice of a distant mythical (VI.851-3)
past as the setting for his poem solved a number of problems: firstly, it
enabled him to avoid sustained direct engagement with recent history The Roman imperial destiny, with all its glory and all its difficulties
(the dangers of which were very real, being compared by Horace to and dilemmas, looms into view in these lines – and is subjected to a
walking upon ashes beneath which the fire was still smouldering); searching analysis as we follow Aeneas’ own (sometimes imperfect)
and secondly, it offered considerably greater prospects for Virgil’s attempts to follow his father’s advice throughout the second half of
literary ambitions. For although epic poems on historical events or the poem. In such ways as this, Virgil’s great epic moves beyond its
figures were not unknown in the ancient world (indeed, some were immediate historical context to consider great human themes – and
very popular), they had not gained the prestige which mythological takes its place in the pantheon of the world’s great classics.
epics held. By setting his epic for Augustus in the mythical past, Virgil
was able to invite comparison with the great early Greek epics, the
Iliad and Odyssey attributed to Homer. These two poems formed
the cornerstone of Greek and Roman literary culture. Although THE TRANSLATION
any attempt to rival them was therefore fraught with danger – the
danger of seeming derivative, or merely a Homeric pastiche – it also The translation recorded here is that of Cecil Day-Lewis, which was
represented the height of literary ambition, the greatest achievement made with spoken performance in mind (it was commissioned for
possible for a poet. And Virgil announces his rivalry in the opening broadcast on BBC Radio); it was first published in 1952. Born in 1904 in
words of the Aeneid: ‘arma virumque cano’ – ‘I tell about war and Ireland, Day-Lewis moved to England with his family shortly afterwards;
the hero’ (Dryden’s famous ‘Arms and the man I sing’). ‘Arms’ looks he was educated at Sherborne and Wadham College, Oxford, where he
back to the martial epic exemplified in the Iliad; ‘the man’ alludes to became associated with a group of young left-wing poets led by W.H.
the first word of the Odyssey (‘andra’ in Greek, meaning ‘man’). Virgil Auden. His first collection of verse, Beechen Virgil, was published in
attempts to bring the two epics together in his Aeneid, the first half 1925. Day-Lewis enjoyed success in a variety of genres throughout his
of which is dominated by an Odyssean-style wandering, the second literary career – including detective fiction, which he wrote under the
half by an ‘Iliadic’ concentration on the war in Italy. And his success pseudonym of Nicholas Blake – but it was as a poet that his reputation
in this creative imitation is perhaps his most important contribution to was highest, his achievements being recognised by his appointments
European literature – as one of the first and quite possibly the greatest firstly as professor of poetry at Oxford from 1951–56, and later as Poet
of all sustained creative responses to earlier literary traditions, the Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. His Aeneid was preceded
Aeneid inspired poets centuries later, from Dante to Milton to Eliot. by a version of the Georgics in 1940; he later completed his Virgil with
The story of the Aeneid centres on the fortunes of Aeneas, a a translation of the Eclogues published in 1963.
refugee from the city of Troy, which was sacked by the Greeks after
the famous ten-year siege. Having escaped from Troy, Aeneas and the
Trojans who have followed him wander the Mediterranean in search of
a new home. A series of warnings and prophecies tell Aeneas to head FURTHER READING
for Italy in the West, where he is destined to found a mighty empire.
But his attempts to reach Italy are continually frustrated, not least by A complete text of Cecil Day-Lewis’s translation of the Aeneid is
the goddess Juno, who engineers a particularly lengthy delay in the city available, published by Oxford World’s Classics (with an introduction
of Carthage on the North African coast. When Aeneas finally reaches and notes by Jasper Griffin). Day-Lewis’s translations of Virgil’s other
Italy, he is forced to fight against fierce native resistance in order to poems the Eclogues and Georgics are printed together in one volume,
establish a settlement – and only after a prolonged struggle, concluded again in Oxford World’s Classics (with an introduction and notes
by his killing of the Italian leader Turnus, is he able to fulfil his destiny. by R.O.A.M. Lyne). There is a helpful Companion to Day-Lewis’s
These are the bare bones of the plot (a more detailed book-by- translation of the Aeneid by R.D. Williams, published by Bristol Classical
book account follows this introduction) around which Virgil builds his Press. The standard Latin text of Virgil is that edited by R.A.B. Mynors,
epic. To the Homeric themes of wandering and fighting are added in the Oxford Classical Texts series; those who wish to have Latin and
elements inspired by later poetry – for example Aeneas’ extended love English side-by-side might consult the edition of Virgil in two volumes
affair with Dido, the queen of Carthage, the presentation of which in the Loeb Classical Library (translated by H.R. Fairclough, revised by
draws on the tragic heroines of Greek theatre and of Apollonius’ G.P. Goold).
Hellenistic epic on the Argonauts. Elsewhere, Virgil expands the range The most important aid to understanding the Aeneid is a
of epic even further, above all in the magnificent account of Aeneas’ familiarity with the epics of Homer: both the Iliad and Odyssey are
journey to the underworld in Aeneid VI; this finds a superficial model available on Naxos AudioBooks, translated by Ian Johnston. The age in
in Odyssey XI where Odysseus consults the shade of the seer Teiresias which Virgil lived forms the subject of Ronald Syme’s classic The Roman
at the entrance of Hades, but Virgil develops this idea far beyond the Revolution (Oxford, 1939); some of the atmosphere of the 40s and 30s
Homeric conception, creating an atmosphere profoundly different BC is evoked in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.
from anything in surviving Greek heroic epic – a creation which was to A sensitive introduction to Virgil’s achievement may be found in Jasper
inspire Dante’s The Divine Comedy and many lesser imitations. Griffin’s short book Virgil (Oxford, 1986); an excellent guide to further
Perhaps the most striking feature of the Aeneid is its juxtaposition reading is available in Philip Hardie’s Virgil volume in the Greece and
of mythical material with celebration of the achievements of Augustus. Rome ‘New Surveys in the Classics’ series (Oxford, 1998).
For Virgil takes the claim of Julius Caesar’s family – the Iulii – that
they were descended from Iulus, the son of Aeneas, and is thus able
to establish a direct link between the mythical founder of the Roman
state and its current head Augustus. This facilitates the inclusion of PLOT SUMMARY
much encomiastic material – particularly in Jupiter’s reply to Venus
after Aeneas’ shipwreck in Book I, and later in the parade of Roman Book I
heroes in the underworld in Aeneid VI. But the Aeneid is not only Introduction. Aeneas, at the head of a group of Trojan refugees, had
about Augustus: it is about Rome, and Roman history. Aeneas is not set sail from Sicily for Italy; the angry goddess Juno bribed the wind-god
only the ancestor of Augustus: as a refugee, and then an imperialist Aeolus to rouse a storm to drive them off course. The storm was calmed
conqueror, he is a prototype of the Roman people themselves. In the by Neptune, but not before it had driven the Trojans onto the North
most famous lines of the poem, Aeneas is told by the shade of his African coast, where they spent the night. Aeneas’ mother, the goddess
father Anchises: Venus, asked Jupiter why he was allowing this to happen, contrary to
his promises; he told her not to worry, and gave a resounding prophecy averted by a sudden thunderstorm in response to Aeneas’ prayers, but
of the future achievements of Aeneas and his descendants. The the Trojan leader was forced to acknowledge the grievances of some of
following day Aeneas set out to reconnoitre the surrounding territory; his followers. He therefore decided to leave behind those who had lost
after encountering his mother (in disguise) in the woods, he came to heart, establishing a settlement called Acesta. Then, having repaired
the new city of Carthage. While he marvelled at its appearance, the the ships, the Trojans sailed for Italy.
queen Dido came to Juno’s temple – followed shortly afterwards by
Aeneas’ missing companions. Aeneas himself was welcomed by the Book VI
queen, who invited the Trojans to a banquet at the royal palace. Venus They first came to Cumae on the Italian coast; Aeneas visited the Sibyl,
hatched a plot with Cupid to make Dido fall in love with Aeneas; this who prophesied that the Trojans would come to power in Lavinium, but
was put into action at the banquet. Dido asked Aeneas to tell his story. that there would be dreadful wars. The Sibyl agreed to guide Aeneas
into the underworld to see his dead father – but firstly Aeneas had to
Book II find the golden bough. When this was accomplished, they descended
Aeneas began by telling of the fall of Troy. ‘We thought the Greeks into the underworld together. Terrifying monsters appeared, then they
had gone, when we saw the wooden horse on the shore. If we had came to the river Styx; Charon ferried them across when he saw the
followed Laocoön’s advice, we would have been safe – but Sinon’s lies, golden bough. Passing Cerberus and the place of judgement, they
and Laocoön’s grisly death, convinced us to take the horse within our came to the vale of mourning – the place of tormented lovers. Here
walls. Then, when we were asleep, the Greeks hidden within the horse Aeneas encountered the ghost of Dido, who refused to speak to him.
burst forth, killing the sentries and opening the city’s gates. Hector He passed on to the region where those famous in war dwelt. Then the
appeared to me in a dream, telling me to take Troy’s holy things and to Sibyl explained that nearby lay Tartarus, where the great sinners were
escape. But instead a group of us headed for the fight which was now punished. Now they headed on, depositing the golden bough in order
going on – we would not leave our city to the Greeks – and made our to gain entry to the land of the blessed spirits. Here they saw crowds
way to Priam’s palace. From the roof, I saw Priam murdered at the altar. of the virtuous, exercising, singing and feasting; Aeneas sought out his
Then my mother appeared to me, and revealed that Troy was doomed; father. Anchises was deep in a green valley, surveying the spirits yet to
she reminded me of my duty to my family. I rushed home to save my go up to the world above; after an emotional reunion with his son, he
father and my wife and son; as we tried to escape, Creusa my wife was explained about these spirits – and pointed out to Aeneas the souls of
lost – in all the city’s ruin, what bitterer thing did I see? I headed back his descendants, the greatest of the Romans. Aeneas’ heart was fired
to find her, only to meet her ghost, who told me that my destiny lay in at these sights. His father escorted him and the Sibyl to the ivory gate
Italy. So I rejoined the others, and we departed. leading from the underworld; and Aeneas returned to his ships.
CD catalogue no.: NA0196 Digital catalogue no.: NA0196D CD ISBN: 978-1-84379-886-6 Digital ISBN: 978-1-84379-887-3