Excerpt from The Aeneid of Virgil: Freely Translated Into English Blank Verse I would ask, however, to be judged on my dealing with the best portions and passages of my author; and a little reflection will, I think, suffice to acquit me of presump tion herein There is no end of passages in Homer, ' writes Cowper, in his Preface to the second edition of his translation of the Iliad, which must creep unless they are lifted; and to give relief to such without seeming unseasonably tumid, is extremely difficult.' And although Virgil has very few indeed of such passages, yet has he occasionally - and this only in common with all fiction writers of antiquity - narratives and details wholly and exclusively belonging to the 'classical age, to which it is impossible, in anything of a faithful rendering, to impart positive interest or attractiveness for a modern who reads them in his own language - omarz' res z'psa negat. The portions, then, of my work on which I would desire to be specially tried are those which purport to render what the classical reader will pronounce to be the best passages and portions of the original; in the other parts of my version I shall be content, as I trust my reader will also be, if I do not sink below the level of ordinary poetical diction and style. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.