It's Aeneas and Dido: A Tale of Love and War. As we get into the first major episodes of Aeneas' journey, we embark upon an intricate composition of wheels within wheels--stories of carnage and battle interlocked with stories of desire, affection, and lust. From an explanation of ring composition via Harry Potter, to a Virgilian image that has changed poetry ever since, to a bonus segment on chiasmus and the clapper (you know, that thing you can use to turn your lights on and off) it's a jam-packed addition to our Aeneas series.

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Beatrice Groves on Ring Composition in Harry Potter: 

https://www.hogwartsprofessor.com/guest-post-stone-goblet-hallows-literary-links-and-riddles-in-philosophers-stone-goblet-of-fire-and-deathly-hallows-dr-groves-part-ii/

Who's that dime walking down the temple corridor? Is it Juno? Venus? Diana? Cleopatra? No, it's Dido, queen of Carthage and warrior princess of Tyre. In this episode, Virgil introduces one of literature's all-time greatest heroines, high on her throne but doomed to fall. She's demure...or is she? She's mother...or not? Whatever she is, she's always a woman to me. And to Aeneas, who at this point can't do much more than stare at her like a dope.

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When I tell you my finger smashed the "order now" button--apparently there's a fragmentary translation of the Aeneid by C.S. Lewis that he was working on all throughout his life. It's a rhyming version in 12-syllable Alexandrine lines, and you KNOW I had to do a review of it. Here are my thoughts, as well as a little more on Lewis's theory of epic and his lifelong relationship with Rome's greatest narrative poem.

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Check out a new review of the book at Law and Liberty: https://t.co/lHSo8yotG8

Of all the gin joints on all the shores of the Mediterranean, Aeneas had to wash up onto this one. He doesn't know it yet, but this is Carthage: the home of what will become Rome's greatest rival and the ultimate obstacle in her rise to greatness. The genius of Virgil is how he tells us all that while also showing us what things looked like from Aeneas' vantage point--before the clash of civilizations was made manifest, and when the immediate point at issue was where to get something to eat. Here's the key to understanding Virgil's opening moves.

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The End of Everything, by Victor Davis Hanson: https://a.co/d/iCDan7I

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If you've ever wanted to make the ladies or the fellas swoon with just three little words, now is your chance. I'm talking, of course, about the words "arma virumque cano." So few syllables, yet they say so much. In fact, they connect Virgil's epic to Rome and Greece, past and future, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the human and the divine realms, all at once. And each one is a kind of transformation of what went before it. Digging in deeper can help show the power of language and translation. It's time for another episode of words, words, words.

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A helpful list of translations: https://foundinantiquity.com/2023/12/05/do-we-have-too-many-english-translations-of-the-aeneid/#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20there%20is%20not,English%20translations%20of%20the%20Aeneid.

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Aeneas really, really does not want to be in this poem. As in, he would rather be dead. That's how the Aeneid starts out: when we're introduced to our hero he's a very unwilling participant in a grand plan for world history, and he doesn't feel remotely up to the task. Virgil might have felt the same way, crushed under the political and artistic pressure of telling a founding story for Rome's new era. Which makes this a perfect time to read the poem, as a troubled America gets ready to celebrate 250 years since its own founding.

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A helpful list of translations: https://foundinantiquity.com/2023/12/05/do-we-have-too-many-english-translations-of-the-aeneid/#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20there%20is%20not,English%20translations%20of%20the%20Aeneid.

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Mailbag: Check out Omeros, by Derek Walcott

How many English editions of the Aeneid can we possibly need? Which one is the best one, and why? Is the C.S. Lewis version real, or just a myth? Today, as we prepare to launch into our series on Virgil's great epic, I share a reading from a few different translations, a discussion of some of the issues at play, and a verdict on the GOAT when it comes to the Aeneid in English.

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A helpful list of translations: https://foundinantiquity.com/2023/12/05/do-we-have-too-many-english-translations-of-the-aeneid/#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20there%20is%20not,English%20translations%20of%20the%20Aeneid.

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I maked this: "The Crisis of Purpose in the West": https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/report/resurrection-or-surrender-the-crisis-purpose-the-west

It's a new year, and it's time for a new epic. You asked, we delivered: here comes Virgil's Aeneid! BUT FIRST: while we were gone over the Christmas vacation, Twitter descended into an intoxicating madness of epic adaptation, debate, and counter-programming. I'll recap the major points and give my take on: Christopher Nolan's Odyssey, whether you should have heard of Homer before, and what you should think of Emily Wilson's new translations. Then we'll launch into our new series for the year, on the little Roman epic with big hopes to rival Greece.

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Read my review of Emily Wilson's Odyssey and Iliad translations: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/homer-without-heroes/

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I maked this: "The Crisis of Purpose in the West": https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/report/resurrection-or-surrender-the-crisis-purpose-the-west

I wanted to like this movie. Really, I did. I tried to like it. But modern realism is just totally unsuited to the Homeric epics and like, also...maybe to telling a coherent story at all? Ralph Feinnes and Juliette Binoche are both terrific actors, but The Return failed for me at every level and here's why. Plus: read more at The New Jerusalem. 

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And the Inkling Award goes to...

This year, for the first of what I hope will be many times, I'm announcing my awards for the best books I read in four categories, with one bonus:

Non-Fiction  Criticism Fiction Theology Bonus Category: Worst Book of the year

You can find links to the winners above, and a few runner-ups here, here, here, here, and here. Who will win? Who belly-flopped the hardest? Were there any good movies this year? All this and more, plus a preview of things to come.

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