Aeneid

Publius Vergilius Maro, known as Virgil, was born in 70 BC and died in 19 BC. He wrote the Aeneid in the last decade of his life, under the patronage of the emperor Augustus, and it quickly became the national poem of Rome. Its twelve books tell how Aeneas travels from burning Troy to Italy; the first half recalls the wanderings of the Odyssey, while the second half echoes the battles of the Iliad. For centuries it was a cornerstone of education across Europe, and it left a deep imprint on Dante, Milton and countless others.

The translation read here was made by the English poet John Dryden and published in 1697. Dryden worked in rhymed couplets, aiming to give English readers a poem that was as stately and powerful as the Latin. His version was admired for generations and is still enjoyed for its energy and its grand, ringing cadences.

The recording divides the poem into twenty-four sections, with the twelve books each split into two parts, and runs for about thirteen and a half hours. The reading is shared among several LibriVox volunteers, which gives the long epic a pleasing variety of voices. It is a work that rewards patient listening: stories of fate, loyalty and loss that have been told and retold for two thousand years, and that still speak to anyone who has had to leave home.

A few words of advice for first-time listeners: do not worry about remembering every name. The poem is carried by its great scenes, such as the fall of Troy, the farewell at Carthage and the visit to the underworld, and they are easy to follow by ear. Dryden’s rolling couplets seem made for being read aloud.