Aeneid by Virgil Is Currently

¶ … Aeneid by Virgil is currently the text that has impressed and moved me the most for its splendid lyricism and historical import. We are currently translating the Aeneid in my Latin class, and reading the text in its original Latin brings Virgil's epic to life and makes me feel like I am touching history.

The text will continue to fascinate me as I unfold it in Latin for two main reasons: first because translating the story helps me understand the context of the Trojan war and second because the story itself is exciting. As a translator what I have found most fascinating about the Aeneid is how a thousand-year old tale can apply to modern times. The Aeneid is about romance, war, and human suffering and is therefore a universal tale.

Even though the Aeneid is thousands of years old, Vergil's depiction of human nature still holds true for people of today. The universal motifs of love, jealousy, grief, anger, friendship, and fear all appear in Aeneas and his countless adventures. For instance, Dido kills herself because Aeneas left her. Aeneas pushes onward in his journey in spite of setbacks. Just like today, different groups of people are willing to fight to the death to defend their principles.

Perhaps more amazing than its content, the entire Aeneid is one long epic poem, with each line set in perfect meter and embellished with literary devices. Elements of the story, including emotions or movement, are conveyed or emphasized in the scansion of the line or the word placement. Rhyming also conveys emotion in the Aeneid. The first four lines of the epic read: "Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc'd by fate, / and haughty Juno's unrelenting hate, / Expell'd and exil'd, left the Trojan shore.

/ Long labors, both by sea and land, he bore." This opening passages also show how regular the meter is in the Aeneid, as each line has ten "feet." The translators do a good job of converting the meter and rhyme but reading the poem in Latin is more amazing. Furthermore, some of Virgil's references to Rome act as small history lessons about the time period of the Emperor Augustus during which the book was written. Augustus reigned during the height of the Roman Empire. Virgil.