Virgil: Aeneid XII (Latin Texts) (Bk. 12)

This
edition, originally published in 1953 in the admirable Methuen Classical
Texts series, has been maintained in print by Bradda Books. This longevity is
deserved; for it remains a very fine edition, manageable at different levels
of attainment. Maguinness had chiefly in mind students at sixth-form or early
university level but, for the benefit of less practised students taking GCSE
or in their second year of Latin bugun at University, he wisely included a
Vocabulary (marked with syllable lengths to tie in with his very useful
section on scansion and reading aloud) and a considerable amount of fairly
elementary linguistic matter in the Notes. The Introduction gives an outline
of the background knowledge needed by a beginner in Virgilian studies. For a
succinct and always level-headed approach to the "Aeneid", this remains a splendid edition - one for which more advanced
Virgilians still have every reason to be thankful; and Book XII gives an
excellent flavour of the whole epic and the meaning of its constantly
enigmatic closure.