Kosmos Society Book Club | Virgil Aeneid Books 11 & 12


CHS Kosmos Society members have read Virgil’s Aeneid Books 1–10 in previous Book Club discussions, which covered the fall of Troy, the escape of Aeneas, his wanderings, his encounter with Dido, the funeral games for Anchises, the visit to Hades, battles, a beautiful description of a shield made by Vulcan for Aeneas. Most recently the community members discussed the night-raid of Nisus and Euryalus, and the continued fighting in which they saw the prowess and ferocity of Turnus and of Aeneas.
This month community members are continuing their reading through to the end of the work, picking up where Aeneas stops to grieve and bury his fallen comrades—Books 11 and 12.
You can read any translation you like. Here are links to some free online versions:
A.S. Kline—available to download in various formats
Theodore C. Williams—on Perseus
John Dryden—on Perseus
The Latin text is also available on Perseus.
The discussion starts in the Kosmos Society forum, and the Google+ Hangout will be on Tuesday, August 29, at 11 a.m. EDT.
If you have not previously read any of this work or if you are new to Latin texts, you might find the following video discussions useful:
‘From Homer to Virgil’ with Gregory Nagy
Aeneid Books 4 and 6’ with Gregory Nagy
Happy readings!