Aeneas arrives back in time to turn the tide of battle against his enemies, the Rutulians, led by their chief, Turnus. Hear the passage in the original Latin and follow in English here.
Aeneas learns from his ships, which have been transformed into sea- nymphs by the Goddess Cybele, that his son, Ascanius, and his Trojan force are being hard-pressed by the Rutulian leader, Turnus. Hear the Latin and follow in John Dryden’s classic 17th-century translation here.
Pyrrhus is captivated by his new love, Nearchus, but has he underestimated the lion-lady that he has stolen him from? Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here. The “Nearchus” in the illustration is the Emperor Hadrian’s favourite, Antinous.
In paying a compliment to one of his patron, Maecenas’s, friends, Horace is describing a party. Live it with him, from the original idea to the finale in the small hours, in just 125 words. The party about to go with a swing in the illustration, by Anselm Feuerbach, is Greek; but then, so is almost everything about Horace’s little gem of a poem except for the language.
Hear Horace’s Latin and follow in English here.
In Book 9 of Virgil’s Aeneid, Turnus, Aeneas’s enemy and the leader of the Rutuli, is shut inside his enemy’s camp. At first, the battle goes his way – but then the Trojan leaders begin to rally their forces. Hear Virgil’s original Latin and follow in English here.
On a mission to find Aeneas, the lovers Euryalus and Nisus pause to take the enemy unawares in their camp. Success will be short-lived: hear their tragic end in Latin and follow in English here. the 16th century enamelled illustration is by the Master of the Aeneid Legend.
The Great Goddess, Cybele, rescues Aeneas’s ships from being burnt by his enemy, Turnus, and transforms them into goddesses of the sea. Hear the Latin and follow in English here.
Aeneas’s enemy and rival, King Turnus, rages like a desperate wolf as he looks for a way into the Trojans’ camp. Hear Virgil’s story in Latin and follow in English here.
As many nineteenth century European writers automatically would, the Swiss poet Keller turns to classical mythology to make a point about human nature. Hear his fine forest poem in the original German and follow in English here.