| The Aeneid in English
| Joepye Latin Bookstore |
| Collins2006 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group
| Collins2007 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group |
The only version of C.H. Sisson's translation I have found is The Aeneid, (London: J.M. Dent & Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle, Everyman Library, 1998). It is in paperback (ISBN: 0460877542).
It is edited by Denis Feeney and it includes brief notes on the author and editor, a brief chronology of Virgil's life and times, a short introduction by the editor, an introduction by the translator, notes and a glossary.
This book appears to be out of print, but it is available at online booksellers, including the Joepye Latin Bookstore (text-only version).
C.H. Sisson (1914-2003) was an English poet, novelist, critic, translator, and civil servant. The web abounds with information about him. A few sites of interest are Carcanet Press, which publishes some of his work; Wikepidia , the onine encyclopedia; the Daily Telegraph obituaries; and Poetry Nation , which has an essay about Sisson's politics by Donald Davie.
Sisson believes that
Everyone should know something of the Aeneid[1].
He admires Dryden's translation, but
Of the contemporary versions I will say nothing, except that if any of them satisfied me I should not be offering this further attempt.[2]
He finds himself uniquely qualified to produce an Aeneid translation for our day.
Only a poet can even begin to perform a similar operation [assimilate Virgil and produce a translation like Dryden did] for our own day. It is as someone who has long wrestled with the art of verse in his own poems and, as much at least as any of his contemporaries, with the procedures of translation, that I offer this new version:...[3]
This "new version" that he offers is a smooth, readable translation. As expected with a verse translation, it is longer than the original (Sisson's Book I has 23% more lines than the original), but I did not find it too wordy.
The glossary is not complete, but includes all the major characters and many of the minor ones, as well as many place names. The notes are informative, but oddly are not indicated in the text. When the reader encounters something he doesn't understand, he can turn to the notes at the back of the book in the hopes that his question will be answered. Frequently it will be, but in many cases it will be wasted effort.
I found this to be a satisfactory, inexpensive verse version of The Aeneid
| Latin[4] | Sisson's Translation[5] |
|---|---|
|
Tum Iuno omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem |
All mighty Juno then, pitying the pain |
[1]Virgil, The Aeneid, trans. C.H. Sisson (London: J.M. Dent & Vermont: Charles E Tuttle Co. Inc., 1998), xxiv.
[2]Virgil, xxvii.
[3]Virgil, xxviii.
[4] P. Vergilius Maro, Aeneid, edited by J. B. Greenough, from The Perseus Digital Library.
[5]Virgil, 109.
| The Aeneid in English
| Joepye Latin Bookstore |
| Collins2006 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group
| Collins2007 Ecclesiastical Latin Study Group |
| Created on March 21, 2006. Updated on December 8, 2006. Comments to joepye@pobox.com. | |||
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