In the Aeneid, Jupiter promises Venus that her son, Aeneas, will found a dynasty that will produce Rome and culminate in Augustus.
Hear Virgil’s original Latin and follow in a new English translation here.
See the illustrated blog post here.
On deep consideration, King Latinus accedes to Aeneas’s request through his ambassadors for peaceful permission to settle, and is ready to offer him his daughter’s hand in marriage. The prospects for peace look bright, but they are fragile and Juno is ready to take a hand and sow discord.
Hear the extract in Latin and follow in English here.
As Aeneas continues his underworld journey, his father Anchises shows him the future Marcellus, tragic nephew and adopted son and heir of the Emperor Augustus, whose great promise will be cut short by death at the age of nineteen. The poetry rises to much more affecting heights than the tremendous hymn of praises to Augustus himself, from which it follows on. The illustration reflects the tradition that Marcellus’s mother, Octavia, was so moved at hearing Virgil recite this passage that she fainted dead away. Hear the extract in Latin and follow in English here.
Mercury gets into formal dress to bring a stern message to Aeneas, visiting his Grandfather, Atlas, on the way. No wonder Aeneas will be startled. Virgil closely echoes Homer, but adds touches from his own imagination which bring Mercury, the shepherd of the souls of the dead, to disturbingly vivid life. Hear the story here.
The loss of a loved one is hard, but it has inspired some very beautiful poetry. This selection begins with Catullus’s farewell to a beloved brother. In this poem, the Continue Reading