A ten-page ‘Translator’s Note’ follows, in which B. There is a 34-page ‘Introduction to the Poem’, which includes useful comments on the plot, the nature of the Augustan epic, Aeneas’s character and story, and thoughts on memory and empire. quattuor a stabulis praestanti corpore tauros (8.207) become ‘seven perfect bulls’.ī.’s Aeneid begins with a helpful ‘Map of Aeneas’ Wanderings’, but the journey past Palinurus, where Virgil’s story is an apologia for Octavian’s naval defeat of 36 BC, is omitted. Generally, B.’s translation is accurate, but there are lapses, e.g. Here, motusque excepit prima futuros surely means ‘she was the first to get wind of his future movements’ armari is omitted, as is the English ‘that’, which elegance demands be inserted after ‘queen’. Rumor told the desperate queen the fleet prepared ‘But Dido sensed the trick (who can deceiveĪ lover?) and the launch they planned.
Praesensit, motusque excepit prima futuros Such preferences give this result as Dido’s story reaches its climax (4.296-300):Īt regina dolos (quis fallere possit amantem?) Here, there’d been Dolopians and cruel Achilles’ The final possessive apostrophe before enjambment reoccurs in: hic Dolopum manus, hic saevus tendebat Achilles (2.29), which becomes:
The Latin instar montis and divina are lost. The apostrophe after Pallas does not help to elucidate poetry intended for recital. ‘They built a giant horse with the help of Pallas’ The reader is left to determine whether the last two words are nouns or verbs. iamque faces et saxa volant, furor arma ministrat (1.149-50), translated by Ruden as ‘Torches and stones fly, frenzy finds its weapons’, becomes in B.:įirebrands fly, the weapons rage supplies.’ reduces Virgil’s four lines to three and a half before her text merges mid-line into a new period.Įnjambment and compression pervade B’s translation. Nor does B.’s ‘falling prostrate on the ground’ do justice to sternitur et toto proiectus corpore terrae. It distorts Virgil’s architecture and leads to the unidiomatic two-syllable expression ‘with fists’. The enjambment of ‘led / along’ is jarring. He beat his chest with fists and clawed his face,įalling prostrate on the ground. ‘Wretched Acoetes, weak with age, was ledĪlong. Rutulian chariots filed by, soaked in blood.’ī., eschewing initial upper-case letters, translates: He clawed his face and bruised his chest with poundingĪnd then fell forward, sprawling, on the earth. ‘Men led along Acoetes, wrecked by old age. She reverses the sequence of the second line to achieve a stronger rhythm, while maintaining the pathos of the Latin throughout: Ruden faithfully reflects Virgil’s architecture, meaning and musicality. They also led, a-glisten with Rutulian blood.’ His cheeks torn by his nails at times he fell,įull-length, flinging himself to earth. Fitzgerald illuminates the Latin with rhetorical grandeur, but needs five lines to Virgil’s four and sacrifices architectural precision:Īnd misery, his breast stung by his blows, Each line is self-contained and paints a compelling picture.
Virgil’s writing is rhythmical and precise. Sternitur et toto proiectus corpore terrae.ĭucunt et Rutulo perfusos sanguine currus. Pectora nunc foedans pugnis, nunc unguibus ora, A passage in 11.85-88 illustrates the differing treatments: Pacy and often colloquial, with occasional italics for emphasis, much of it reads like prose. Ruden’s poetry is ‘more spare and muscular with the same number of lines as the original Latin’.ī.’s new translation has been praised by an American professor as ‘probably the best version of the Aeneid in modern English’. Fitzgerald draws out the nuances of the Latin at greater length. She particularly praised Robert Fitzgerald (1981) and Sarah Ruden (2008), who both use a modernised iambic pentameter with heightened language. In our review of Virgil and his Translators (14 March 2019), we noted Susanna Braund’s assessment of recent translations of the Aeneid. Above all, they require a poetic instinct. Successful translations of poetry need more than linguistic accuracy and metrical proficiency.
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