The Aeneid

The Aeneid of Virgil is one of the greatest works of Classical antiquity. This study by R. Deryck Williams, first published in 1987 and long since unavailable, sets the Aeneid in its historical literary background and shows how Virgil related his own world of the newly established Roman Empire to the experience of the past. The poetic qualities of epic are analysed and illustrated by frequent quotations from the Latin, always with prose translations. The book will be appreciated by students and teachers of literature, and by knowledgeable non-academic readers alike. James Morwood’s new Foreword for this edition contains an appreciation of R.D. Williams’ work and provides a select bibliography of later writing.

James Morwood is an Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. His numerous publications include translations of eleven of Euripides' plays in the Oxford World Classics Series and coauthored Writing Latin (Duckworth). His interests in drama extend beyond the ancient world: he has written "The Life and Works of Richard Brinsley Sheridan" and co-edited "Sheridan Studies."

The late R.D. WILLIAMS was Professor of Classics at Reading University and a leading Virgilian scholar.