Transcriber's Note:
Numbers in the left margin refer to line numbers inVirgil's Aeneid. These numbers appeared at the top of each page of textand have been retained for reference.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A complete listfollows the text.
There is something grotesque in the idea of a prose translation of apoet, though the practice is become so common that it has ceased toprovoke a smile or demand an apology. The language of poetry is languagein fusion; that of prose is language fixed and crystallised; and anattempt to copy the one material in the other must always count onfailure to convey what is, after all, one of the most essential thingsin poetry,—its poetical quality. And this is so with Virgil more,perhaps, than with any other poet; for more, perhaps, than any otherpoet Virgil depends on his poetical quality from first to last. Such atranslation can only have the value of a copy of some great paintingexecuted in mosaic, if indeed a copy in Berlin wool is not a closeranalogy; and even at the best all it can have to say for itself will bein Virgil's own words, Experiar sensus; nihil hic nisi carmina desunt.
In this translation I have in the main followed the text of Coningtonand Nettleship. The more important deviations from this text arementioned in the notes; but I have not thought it necessary [Pg vi]to give acomplete list of various readings, or to mention any change except whereit might lead to misapprehension. Their notes have also been used by methroughout.
Beyond this I have made constant use of the mass of ancient commentarygoing under the name of Servius; the most valuable, perhaps, of all, asit is in many ways the nearest to the poet himself. The explanationgiven in it has sometimes been followed against those of the moderneditors. To other commentaries only occasional reference has been made.The sense that Virgil is his own best interpreter becomes stronger asone studies him more.
My thanks are due to Mr. Evelyn Abbott, Fellow and Tutor of Balliol, andto the Rev. H. C. Beeching, for much valuable suggestion and criticism.
| PREFACE | |
| BOOK FIRST | The Coming of Aeneas to Carthage |
| BOOK SECOND | The Story of the Sack of Troy |
| BOOK THIRD | The Story of the Seven Years' Wandering |
| BOOK FOURTH | The Love of Dido, and Her End |