| The Aeneid in English
| Joepye Latin Bookstore |
| Collins2006 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group
| Collins2007 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group |
The Aeneid, trans. Edward McCrorie, intro. Vincent J. Cleary, (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1995) is the version of McCrorie's translation that I have. It is available in paperback (ISBN: 0472065955) and hard cover (ISBN: 0472095951). It includes an introduction by Vincent J. Cleary, a selective glossary, a preface by the translator, and a list of principal characters. This translation was originally published by Donald Grant Press, Providence, RI, in 1991, and that version is still available in hard cover (ISBN: 0937986712). These books are all readily available at online booksellers, including the Joepye Latin Bookstore (text-only version).
Edward McCrorie is Professor of English, Providence College. In addition to the Aeneid, he has translated the Odyssey and he has a translation of the Illiad forthcoming. He has also published several books of original poetry.
Edward McCrorie sets forth his ambitious goals for this verse translation in the Translator's Preface:
I strived for an English Aeneid as varied and intense, as momentous and dramatic, as the Latin original... Working with a flexible five-beat line for this translation (some have six beats), usually with a dactyl-trochee combination at the line's end (as in Virgil), I often ran one line onto the next and paused after the first foot... I can claim to have followed Virgil line for line... I also tried to vary the syntax considerably, as Virgil does... Perhaps presumptuously, I even tried to imitate his orchestration often, working with hash vowels and hard consonants...when he describes a battle scene[1].McCrorie adds a few general words about the idea of fidelity in translation:
If a translation is not to be a free adaptation...neither should it turn out to be mere transliteration. Because the latter is difficult in prose and quite impossible in poetry, some have despaired of translation altogether, arguing that no attempt will be "faithful" to the original.
So goes the theoretical opposition. To get from day to day, however, I must be practical. I tried working with the idea that everything really significant in the Latin could take significant form in English...[2].
Each reader will have to judge for himself if McCrorie succeeds. He definitely has followed Virgil line for line, at least in total. Each Book has the exact same number of lines as the corresponding book of the original! To my ear, the translation is a little "awkward." But perhaps what is "awkward" to my ear is "poetic" to another's.
McCrorie includes no notes, but he does include a map, a selective glossary, and a list of principal characters. A nice touch, I think, is the inclusion of descriptive headers every 15 lines or so. Line numbers are also included.
There is a brief foreword by Vincent J. Cleary, the main point of which is that Reading the Aeneid is Good for You. But I didn't let that discourage me, and neither should you.
The Bryn Mawr Classical Review contains a review of the book by Sarah Ruden. The University of Michigan Press has further information.
| Latin[3] | McCrorie's Translation[4] |
|---|---|
|
Tum Iuno omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem |
At length powerful Juno pitied her wretched, |
[1]Virgil, The Aeneid, trans. Edward McCrorie, intro. Vincent J. Cleary, (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1995), 10-11.
[2]Virgil, 12.
[3] P. Vergilius Maro, Aeneid, edited by J. B. Greenough, from The Perseus Digital Library.
[4]Virgil, 97.
| The Aeneid in English
| Joepye Latin Bookstore |
| Collins2006 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group
| Collins2007 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group |
| Created on January 9, 2006. Updated on December 8, 2006. Comments to joepye@pobox.com. | |||
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