Picture Credits - Frisbee
In 19 B.C Roman poet Virgil was traveling from Greece to Rome, with the Roman emperor Augustus. On the way, he stopped to go sightseeing in Megara, a town in Greece, where he suffered a heat stroke and died on his journey back to Italy.
On his deathbed, Virgil thought about the manuscript he had been working on for over 10 years, and, unsatisfied with the final edit, he asked his friends to burn it. But Augustus and his friend refused which gave us one of the greatest critique and insights into the history of that time
Introduction
Book’s Name - Aeneid
Author’s Name - Virgil
Genre - Epic poem, History
Language - Latin, English
Synopsis - Spoiler Alert!
‘The Aeneid’ begins after the fall of Troy. The Trojan fleet carrying the surviving warriors is being battered by a storm in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sicily. The storm has been sent by Juno, queen of the gods.
She holds a grudge against the Trojans and their leader, Aeneas, over past injustices done to her by Trojans and because in the future, the descendants of Aeneas will destroy her favorite city, Carthage. Just as it seems the Trojans will be destroyed, the sea god Neptune guides their ships to shore.
They discover they are near the city of Carthage, ruled by Queen Dido, who welcomes them warmly. The Trojans have been traveling since Troy was destroyed, trying to find a new home. Worried that Aeneas, her son, will have no place to rest, the goddess Venus makes Dido fall passionately in love with him.
About the Author
Virgil was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period who was born around 70 B.C. Virgil is traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. His ‘Aeneid’ has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome since the time of its composition.
Modeled after Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the ‘Aeneid’ follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny and reach Italy, where his descendants Romulus and Remus were to found the city of Rome.
Virgil's work has had a wide and deep influence on Western literature most notably Dante’s Divine Comedy, in which Virgil appears as the author's guide through Hell and Purgatory. Virgil died of fever and heatstroke in 19 B.C.
About the Book
The Aeneid, a 9896 line poem spans over twelve separate sections, or books, the first six of which mirror the structure of ‘Odyssey’, and the last six echo the ‘Iliad’.
The very reason this book was not burnt was that Romans had very few transitions of writing serious literature, hence Virgil wanted to create the poem that rivaled both Odyssey and Iliad.
The Aeneid is written entirely in dactylic hexameter. In this meter, each line has six-syllable groups called feet which are made of dactyls that go long and short as per. And thus came the result of the famous opening line in the original Latin that starts “Arma Virvmqve Cano”.
Theme Involved
To understand Aeneid, it is necessary to understand the unsettled nature of Roman Politics in the second half of 1st century B.C. . In 49 B.CJulius Caesar, Augustus’s great uncle, triggered nearly 20 years of Civil War when he led his army against the Roman Republic.
After introducing a dictatorship, he was assassinated. Only after Augustus’s victory over Marc Antony and Cleopatra in 31 B.C. did peace return to Rome and Augustus became the emperor.
Virgil aimed to capture this sense of a new era and of great sacrifice Romans had endured and to give them a fresh sense of origin, of their past and their potential. He also linked mythological stories of Rome to Augustus and had a vision of how we would like to see Augustus and the future of Rome.
Famous Quotes
1. “The gates of Hell are open night and day; smooth the descent and easy is the way."
2. “Do the gods light this fire in our hearts or does each man's mad desire become his god?”
3. “Mind moves Matter”
The Bottom Line
Aeneid is literature that is literally a masterpiece, beyond time. Virgil really captures all elements and you enjoy the different emotions of each character in the story. So, you should definitely read it and see, for once, what conventional literature looks like.
My ratings for the book - 4 on 5
You can get a copy of this book - Aeneid
Written By - Ashish Joshi
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