| The Aeneid in English
| Joepye Latin Bookstore |
| Collins2006 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group
| Collins2007 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group |
The Aeneid, trans. Richard S. Caldwell, (Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing, R, Pullins & Company, Inc., 2004) is the version of Caldwell's translation that I have, and I believe it is the only published version at this point. It is in paperback (ISBN: 1585100773). It includes an introduction by the translator, several appendices, a glossary, and copious notes. It is readily available at online booksellers, including the Joepye Latin Bookstore (text-only version).
Richard S. Caldwell is Professor (Emeritus) of Classics, University of Southern California. Among his other books are The Origin of the Gods: A Psychoanalytic Study of Greek Theogonic Myth (Oxford University Press, 1989) and Hesiod's Theogony (Focus Classical Library, 1987).
Caldwell sets forth his approach in the Translator's Note:
I have tried to place as little as possible between Vergil and the reader. This has meant eliminating the poetry and, inescapably, much of the beauty of the poem. A poetic translation may convey the idea that the Aeneid is a poem, but the translation itself would be another poem with another author...
The audience I wrote for is anyone who wants to read the Aeneid but doesn't know Latin.
...I did my best to recall rusty Latin and simply wrote down what Vergil said...[1].
By necessity, this approach imposes a certain terseness on Caldwell. If we compare this excerpt from the Aeneid, Book IV, as done by Caldwell with the same done by Cobbold we see that Caldwell says in 107 words what Cobbold takes 143 words to say. Despite this, or maybe because of it, I found Caldwell's work to be very readable and seldom awkward.
Caldwell includes notes for every paragraph at the bottom of the page. If you already know everything he has to say or aren't interested, the notes may be a distraction. I found the notes helpful and interesting - there was no danger of me knowing everything he had to say - and I consider them a major advantage of this work.
Most names (people, divinities, peoples, places) are defined at least twice in the book: in the notes at the bottom of the page the first time the name is encountered the first time in each Book, and also in a glossary at the back.
The Bryn Mawr Classical Review contains a review of the book by Betty Rose Nagle.
| Latin[2] | Caldwell's Translation[3] |
|---|---|
|
Tum Iuno omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem |
Almighty Juno pitied her long suffering and difficult death, and sent Iris |
[1]Vergil, The Aeneid, trans. Richard S. Caldwell, (Newburyport, MA: Focus Publishing, R. Pullins & Company, Inc., 2004), xxii.
[2] P. Vergilius Maro, Aeneid, edited by J. B. Greenough, from The Perseus Digital Library.
[3]Vergil, 75.
| The Aeneid in English
| Joepye Latin Bookstore |
| Collins2006 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group
| Collins2007 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group |
| Created on December 12, 2005. Updated on December 8, 2006. Comments to joepye@pobox.com. | |||
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