In Aeneid II Aeneas relates to Dido his own experiences of the final sack of Troy, the treachery of Sinon, the awful fate of Laocoon and the mayhem that follows once the Greek warriors descend from the Wooden Horse. Aeneas loses campanions attempting to defend Cassandra, witnesses the death of Polites and Priam at the hands of Pyrrhus, and, restrained from killing Helen by the intervention of his divine mother Venus, makes his escape from Troy with his father and son. All the main elements of the Ilioupersis (sack of Troy) are included in vivid narrative. Book II contains some of the best Latin poetry ever written and thus makes an ideal introduction to the Aeneid. This edition aims to provide students with help in translation without overwhelming them with intricate details of grammar and syntax. At the same time it encourages them to consider the sound of the poetry and appreciate the emotional impact of the story as Virgil portrays it. The edition includes general introduction, select bibliography, notes and full vocabulary; appendices deal with metre and scansion.
Author
Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BCE – September 21, 19 BCE), usually called Virgil or Vergil /ˈvɜrdʒəl/ in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, are sometimes attributed to him. Virgil is traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. His Aeneid has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome from the time of its composition to the present day. Modeled after Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the Aeneid follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny and arrive on the shores of Italy—in Roman mythology the founding act of Rome. Virgil's work has had wide and deep influence on Western literature, most notably the Divine Comedy of Dante, in which Virgil appears as Dante's guide through hell and purgatory.
