This prose retelling of Virgil’s epic captures the drama and flavor that make the original poem an enduring classic.

Virgil’s poem, from first century BCE, aims to legitimize Roman superiority and the rule of the Ceasars with a story of how Trojan prince Aeneas, fleeing the sack of Troy, establishes a line of new rulers in Italy after conquering the native Latins and marrying Lavinia. Virgil reworks the Greek epics the Iliad and Odyssey with episodes of meddling gods, the seduction and abandonment of Dido, Queen of Carthage, and long speeches, battles, lists of the slain, and detailed discussion of the spoils of war.

Davis preserves the structure and sense of Virgil’s 12 books but chooses a fluid prose style more accessible to modern readers. He keeps the earmarks of the original, for instance the epithet of “pious Aeneas,” while also retaining Virgil’s much-admired epic similes and prophecies of Roman glory and conquest.

However, Davis curiously also adds archaic stylistic elements, like capitalization of random nouns and language like “anon,” “fain,” “rent the heavens,” etc. He also employs heavy alliteration. It’s as if Davis is contriving—much as Virgil borrowed from Homer—to position his text in the shadow of John Dryden’s 1697 Aeneid translation or Alexander Pope’s Iliad translation, without their constraints of meter.

Latinists could quarrel that Davis’s version doesn’t seem a fresh translation but rather a retelling that balances the classical formalities with a breezy rhythm. His contribution is also the weaker for not being in conversation with other scholars, authors, or Latin enthusiasts, as evidenced by the lack of footnotes, textual discussion, acknowledgements, or any of the usual scholarly apparatus. He likewise fails to credit whoever edited and prepared the Latin text he’s working with.

Still, while this translation doesn’t offer anything new in understanding or appreciation of the original, readers who simply want a good grip on the story, with the savor of antique prose, will find it here.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.