The Æneid: 'I sing of arms, I sing of him''

Virgil’s ‘The Æneid’ is one of the world’s great classics.

It was written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, and recites the story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is almost 10,000 lines in length.

The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas's wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the second six books tell of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to become part of.

The Æneid was written by Virgil at a time of immense political and social change in Rome and its empire as the Republic fell and the Imperial might of the empire was restored under Augustus.

Accounts suggest that Virgil traveled to Greece in about 19 BC to revise the Aeneid. In Athens he met Emperor Augustus and decided to return home. Whilst visiting a town near Megara he caught a fever while visiting a town near Megara. After crossing by ship to Italy, weakened with disease, Virgil died in Brundisium harbor on 21st September, 19 BC.

Augustus ordered Virgil's literary executors to disregard Virgil's wish that the work be burned and instead ordered it be published with as few editorial changes as possible.

© 2019 Portable Poetry (Ebook): 9781787804005

Translators: William Morris

Release date

Ebook: January 20, 2019