Robert Fagles translation of the Aeneid

Posted on April 2nd, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Reading, Poems, Books.

I’m reading Robert Fagles translation of the Aeneid and can’t help wanting to tell people how great it is.  Whenever I do though, people raise an eyebrow and nod politely.  “Yes,” they seem to say, “I’m sure it is - if you’re in school.”  This is too bad because it’s a really good story and Fagles makes it easy and exciting to read.

People seem to forget that the classics got to be classics because they’ve been read and enjoyed by people for hundreds - or in this case, thousands - of years.  Unfortunately, what we’re usually presented with are outdated translations that make the texts not only inaccessible but also, in some cases, laughable.

Here’s a passage - the opening of Book Two - from the Aeneid taken from MIT’s Internet Classics Archive, as translated by John Dryden:

All were attentive to the godlike man,

When from his lofty couch he thus began:

“Great queen, what you command me to relate

Renews the sad remembrance of our fate:

An empire from its old foundations rent,

And ev’ry woe the Trojans underwent;

A peopled city made a desart place;

All that I saw, and part of which I was:

Not ev’n the hardest of our foes could hear,

Nor stern Ulysses tell without a tear.

And now the latter watch of wasting night,

And setting stars, to kindly rest invite;

But, since you take such int’rest in our woe,

And Troy’s disastrous end desire to know,

I will restrain my tears, and briefly tell

What in our last and fatal night befell.

The Internet Classics Archive | The Aeneid by Virgil

Now here’s the same passage from the Fagles translation:

Silence, All fell hushed, their eyes fixed on Aeneas now

as the founder of his people, high on a seat of honor,

set out on his story: “Sorrow, unspeakable sorrow,

my queen, you ask me to bring to life once more,

how the Greeks uprooted Troy in all her powers,

our kingdom mourned forever.  What horrors I saw,

a tragedy where I played a leading role myself.

Who could tell such things - not even a Myrmidon,

a Dolopian, or a comrade of iron-hearted Ulysses -

and still refrain from tears? And now, too

the dank night is sweeping down from the sky

and the setting stars incline our heads to sleep.

But if you long so deeply to know what we went through,

to hear, in brief, the last great agony of Troy,

much as I shudder at the memory of it all -

I shrank back in grief - I’ll try to tell it now . . .

The pace and prose of the Fagles version draws me in.  I’m constantly amazed by the story - its twists, its strength, its excitement.  What a pity it is that more people aren’t reading it.  Part of the problem, of course, is that sub par versions are forced on kids when they are young.  This can act as a vaccine, immunizing people against the wonder of these stories.

Do your self a favor and get a copy of this translation of the Aeneid.  At least sit in a bookstore and read Book Two (The Last Hours of Troy) and see if you don’t find yourself wanting to read more.

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Reading

Posted on January 2nd, 2007 by GregPC.
Categories: Reading.

Reading is one of my favorite activities.  Eighteen years ago, on my honeymoon, I set for myself the arbitrary goal of reading 10,000 pages that year.  I kept careful track of everything I read but came up way short that first year.  Even though I know it is silly, I can’t stop myself from keeping track of how much I’ve read in a given year.  The good thing is that I can sit back and review, in chronological order, every book I’ve read since 1989.

I started by keeping a simple notebook but have tried to apply technology to my mania.  Frankly, the paper and pen still works best for me.  Because I realize that taking a quantitative view of reading is crazy, I’ve started to think of taking a more qualitative approach as well.  So I’m going to start to write something about everything I read this year.  Who knows, if it catches on with me I might not be able to stop myself. . .

At the moment, I am about three quarters of the way through Starship Troopers, but I’m not really enjoying it so much.  I’ll reserve judgment until I am done.  I decided to read it after seeing Joe Haldeman speak at the MIT Communications Forum.  It’s been a while since I read any science fiction and I went and bought myself three just after Christmas - Starship Troopers, The Forever War and Ender’s Game.   My queue is  pretty long this year so  I’m looking forward to getting through this first one.

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