Virgil (eBook)

R. Alden Smith is Professor of Classics at Baylor University. He is the author of Poetic Allusion and Poetic Embrace in Ovid and Virgil (1998) and The Primacy of Vision and Virgil's Aeneid (2005), as well as many articles on Latin and Greek poetry, and Greek epigraphy.

List of Figures viii

Preface ix

Note on Abbreviations xi

1 Generalizing about Virgil: Dialogue, Wisdom, Mission 1

2 Publius Vergilius Maro: A Preamble 26

3 Eclogue Dialogues 40

4 The Georgics: A Repast of Wisdom 75

5 The Aeneid: Mission and Telos 104

6 Virgilian Manuscripts: Codex to Critical Edition 150

7 The Virgilian Legacy 168

8 Further Reading 188

Index 205

"The real gem of this book comes in Chapter 6, where Smith
offers a wonderfully concise and comprehensible overview of the
Vergilian manuscripts with examples of textual problems that he
teases out carefully to show why and how editors emend; teachers
who wish to introduce textual criticism to advanced Latin students
or to explain how Vergil got from ancient Rome to modern readers
will find this section a superb resource . . . Chapter 8 closes the
volume with ample suggestions for further reading that will be
especially useful for those teaching Vergil for the first time,
including much readily accessible material that can be used to fill
those gaps in Smith's book that will present difficulties to
newcomers to Vergil and Classical literature."
(Classical Journal, 1 December 2012)

"Overall this is a highly successful volume ... He is to be
commended on producing a sensitive, sensible, and thoroughly useful
book that will be of great help to students, teachers, and those
who would like to gain insights on Vergilian matters and
scholarship." (Vergilius, 2011)

"The present book contains eight chapters, one of the most
valuable of which is a handsomely illustrated guide to the
Virgilian manuscript tradition that constitutes a welcome primer
with useful analyses of several textual cruces ... While volumes of
this sort have little to offer seasoned scholars, S.'s book will be
of interest and use to students of Virgil at all levels. The more
experienced, too, will care to see how a gifted Virgilian treats
both familiar problems and less travelled Maronian byways." (The
Classical Review, 2011)

"Smith has written a guide that should become a standard for the
next generation of Vergilian readers." (Bryn Mawr Classical Review,
11 June 2011)

"A truly useful introduction to Vergil and his poetry. Smith
combines up-to-date information on the issues with an intelligent
and well-written assessment. Highly recommended."

Karl Galinsky, University of Texas at Austin

"For the newcomer to Virgil, this book will be a welcome
introduction to the poet's works and their reception by
critics, artists, and scholars through the centuries."

Peter E. Knox, University of Colorado, Boulder