Virgil: Aeneid VII-XII: Bks. 7-12 (Latin Texts)

I read the second half of this edition of the Aeneid having read the first half with the help of editions, including those of Keith Maclennan for books 1, 4 and 6, meant for those with a little Latin than Williams' target audience. I found the step up to Williams not as great as I had feared - he still translates all (or almost all) the really challenging passages for the reader and he still explains the Latin and gives the background in mythology and politics that would be in the mind of the contemporary reader of Virgil in Augustan Rome. The edition in fact does what it says on the tin, namely it is 'concise' and I would strongly recommend it to all.If I have reservations they are simply about the tendency Williams has (which I am thinking probably dates from the time in the early 1970s when he wrote these books) to see Aeneas as something of a moral improvement on his main rival Turnus, in these books. I doubt this is the appeal of the Aeneid - though I must confess that having read all 12 books, I'm not sure I could give a good rival account. I did find it very rewarding though, overall - partly I am sure for the beauty of language, partly for the grand conception of an epic to rival Homer, and the grand sweep of action that embraces Olympus, wanderings, battles, a love story, the pull of family, and in the similes a vivid sense of everyday life.

I was quite impressed with the new edition replacing the old red one. The notes are excellent and helped me a great deal preparing for my IGCSE. However the binding is poor, after using the book for a while the pages start to fall out.