Vergil

<B>A biography of Vergil, Rome’s greatest poet, by the acclaimed translator of the <I>Aeneid</I></B><BR />  <BR /> The <I>Aeneid </I>stands as a towering work of Classical Roman literature and a gripping dramatization of the best and worst of human nature. In the process of creating this epic poem, Vergil (70–19 BCE) became the world’s first media celebrity, a living legend.<BR />  <BR /> But the real Vergil is a shadowy figure; we know that he was born into a modest rural family, that he led a private and solitary life, and that, in spite of poor health and unusual emotional vulnerabilities, he worked tirelessly to achieve exquisite new effects in verse. Vergil’s most famous work, the <I>Aeneid</I>, was commissioned by the emperor Augustus, who published the epic despite Vergil’s dying wish that it be destroyed.<BR />  <BR /> Sarah Ruden, widely praised for her translation of the <I>Aeneid</I>, uses evidence from Roman life and history alongside Vergil’s own writings to make careful deductions to reconstruct his life. Through her intimate knowledge of Vergil’s work, she brings to life a poet who was committed to creating something astonishingly new and memorable, even at great personal cost.