The Aeneid

To have the Classics so close at hand we moderns must thank AMAZON and others. This Edition of the Aeneid takes us back to the time of John Dryden, the great English writer. He gives us a very polished translation of the Latin. Impossible to give us all the beauties and subtleties of the Latin yet it is a wonderful introduction to Virgil. An impelling story about the "Pius Aeneus"- a basic story to out European Culture. The founding of Rome!! The Introduction to this Edition is a real gem. Read it- again and again if necessary. It is an education in itself. My first reading of the AENEID was many years ago but I still feel its influence. It is time for the modern world to again learn the wisdom, the ideals, the morals handed down from the Masters. A final appeal: for heavens sake don't pass through life without having read this Classic. It would be a disaster, Monet and Price no excuse- the KINDLE price is a give-away. Happy reading. Ignotus.

Several instances where it sounds like there are skips and a word is doubled up when spoken but the discs appear to be free of any scratches. Not sure if its a problem with the disc or the publication but I bought it used so can't complain.So glad I bought this, the reading is phenomenal and adds so much more to the story. Very gripping. Have already listened a few times while driving. Just ordered the Feagles translation of the Illyiad from Penguon audio and it has a different reader so I'm excited about that.

Great story teller Virgil

Without a doubt this timeless classic is always a challenge for translators since Virgil's meter never changes but each new generation's does.At best, a translation hints at the flavor and spirit of a work. This modern translation seems to do the trick and with the exceptions of an interlinear translation or a academic study is as close as you will get.

I think that Robert Fagles is one of the best translator of Greek and Latin in the past 50 years. I thought that the Odyssey, read by Ian McKellen, was superb, although Homer's Epic was meant to be heard. Virgil's was meant to be read, but, with the enjoyment I had listening to the Odyssey, I thought that I would give the Aeneid a try. What a horrible, horrible mistake! Simon Callow makes the Aeneid virtually intolerable. He reads Virgil's Epic as if he is mocking over-acting. In fact, if this were offered as a parody of bad reading, then most would believe it was simply too hyperbolic even to be funny. No professional reader should ever over-act this badly nor should Penguin Audio Books allow such a travesty to actually be recorded! Honestly, a high school drama student could have rendered a finer job.The book is wonderful. The audio book is worse than I can describe!

A classic. Read it to understand the Roman mind. Written at a time when Rome's growing Empire needed consolidation, both in terms of a unified foundation story and a pattern of a Roman ideal. Fagels is excellent to read but I am no expert on comparative modern translations.

This is a superb translation by John Dryden (17th century English poet). It conveys the meaning of the story while retaining the rhythm and rhyme of the poetry. Skip over the long-winded dedication.

5 stars for the translation: The meaning and context is clearly understandable and easily readable. Mandelbaum's translation was very good. The Fitzgerald translation was passable. I always felt that Fitzgerald "rewrote" the Aeneid in a style HE thought should have been written. Fagles' translation does justice to Virgil in that Fagles has translated it in a style and manner more closely to what Virgil orginally wrote.MINUS 2 stars: voicing and voice characterizationThis is the most annoying aspect of this reading. Simon Callow is no George Guidall or Frank Muller as fans of recordedbooks will quickly notice.Callow's voice characterization can only be described as high screechy/wailing and raspy for female reading parts. This includes all harpies, sibyls and most disappointing of all Dido. He just seems to use the same characterization for all of them and it gets rather tiresome quickly. And to top it off, sometimes he starts in this high screeching raspy voice and then reverts to his stentorian Shakespearean voice for the rest of the part.Most disappointing considering that Simon Callow does have a very forceful dramatic voice when he reads in his own style. I just wish he had used it for the entire read.MINUS 1 star: Voice dynamicsHis voice dynamics is uneven...sometimes his voice is booming and at other times it is almost at an inaudible whisper. I listen to this in my car and I find that I have to rewind numerous times to hear what he said.Summary: Until there is a better audio - read the poem instead and let your imagination take you to a time and place long gone but whose hero's travails are somehow relevant to this time and place. I guess that's why this poem is still being read today.

Translator: John Dryden (1697). No publisher information is given, other that the name “Classic” appearing on the cover. The live table of contents works well. There is a short introduction followed by Dryden’s lengthy dedication and the work is followed by his postscript, a few pages long. Any Latin here goes untranslated. The dedication and postscript are both very eloquent and learned, and add to the presentation, which is well organized and accessible.This version is valuable not just for the original work here, but also for the literary artfulness of this translation which was something of a landmark, a work of literature in itself. So there’s really two things here, two levels of interest. Virgil’s original story and Dryden’s translation. Without the latter obscuring the former. Dryden’s version is rendered in rhyming couplets, whilst the Latin original was unrhymed. Hopefully the reader can appreciate both, since it is a fascinating story, one of the cornerstones of early European literature.

[Review of audiobook only.] As I went through the 10 CDS, I warmed to this, but only thanks to Virgil and Robert Fagles. The problem is the reading by Simon Callow. Firstly, and most importantly, his sentences frequently trail off into a whisper, and if you are listening in the car, as I was, then you will continually miss words and have to keep going back over sections while fiddling around with the volume. Secondly, this performance knows absolutely no restraint; forget Anton Lesser's reading of Homer, because this is more like Robert Newton doing Long John Silver. At times it is fun - as I said, I did warm to it - but since it is almost impossible to keep a straight face when Callow does monster-voices, or starts screaming, spluttering, or crying, you may find that this is not the experience of Virgil you were looking for. When I was deciding which unabridged Aeneid to buy, I read a review of this set which said pretty much what I am saying now, but I thought the reviewer was probably exaggerating, and I bought it anyway because the translation seemed good. It is good, but I wish I'd gone for one of the others instead.

Be VERY careful when purchasing The Aeneid on Kindle or Audible. There are different versions, translated by different people and Amazon does not seem to differentiate well between them. I was looking for Robert Fagles’ translation and when I purchased the Kindle version, it was not the Fagles version that I received. Indeed the version I received was only Books 1 to 7 - just half of the Aeneid! I would certainly not recommend the version I purchased (images attached) because it is not the full book.

Agree with previous reviews - should have taken heed of them. The voice just trails off with each sentence...was he eating an orange at the time? who knows.Find a better version - it shouldn't be hard .... even with an American accent it would be better than this.

The Kindle version is actually a totally different edition. I wanted the translation by Fairclough and was offered a 49p Kindle version, which I duly bought, only to find it was the much less accessible Dryden translation, with no original text and no line breaks.The Kindle version surely should be the same translation as the paperback, or else very clearly flagged as something different.