The Aeneid, Book Eleven: Latin Text, with an Introduction and Latin Prose Version and English Summaries

This book contains the complete text of Aeneid XI, together with a rendering into Latin prose and a running summary of the whole in English. Its main intended audience is A-Level Latin students in England. Aeneid XI is one of the set texts by the OCR Board for 2020 and 2021. A larger and less easily defined audience is anyone, in any time or place, who wants to read Vergil, but whose Latin is not ready for the challenge.

I have reordered the words in a more obvious sequence. I have replaced many words with more natural alternatives. I have supplied pronouns and verbs and prepositions that could not be fitted into the metrical structure. I have broken up the paragraphs, and formatted the whole as if it were a novel.

The advantage is that the result is still Latin. It is Latin that most A-Level students will be able to read without too much looking in a dictionary – and not too much head-scratching thereafter. Unlike any English version, it is obviously related to the original, and is a fair key to understanding the original. It also gives students a piece of Latin that they can read at length, and that will be good practice for the unseen translation.

Sample of the Content

Original

Oceanum interea surgens Aurora reliquit:
Aeneas, quamquam et sociis dare tempus humandis
praecipitant curae turbataque funere mens est,
vota deum primo victor solvebat Eoo.
Ingentem quercum decisis undique ramis
constituit tumulo fulgentiaque induit arma,
Mezenti ducis exuvias, tibi, magne, tropaeum,
bellipotens: aptat rorantis sanguine cristas
telaque trunca viri et bis sex thoraca petitum
perfossumque locis clipeumque ex aere sinistrae
subligat atque ensem collo suspendit eburnum.

Interpretation

Interim Aurora oriens deseruit mare. Aeneas victor, primo mane reddebat vota Diis, quamvis et urgeat solicitudo dandi tempus sociis tumulandis, et animus turbatus sit morte Pallantis. Defigit in colle quercum excelsam, ramis circum amputatis, et imponit ei arma splendida, spolia ducis Mezentii, quod erat trophaeum tibi sacrum, O Mars, magne Deus belli. Accommodat quercui cristas stiltantes sanguine, et spicula hominis fracta, et loricam appetitam et apertam duodecim locis, et annectit laevae parti clipeum ex aere, et suspendit collo gladium manubrio eburneo.

Other Classical Texts by Sean Gabb on Amazon:

• Acts of the Apostles: A Parallel Text - Greek, Latin, English
  
• Aeneid VI: Text with Notes and English and Latin Prose Versions
  
• Ars Grammatica
  
• Stories from Paul the Deacon
  
• Stories from the Life of Christ
  

From the Amazon Reviews:

This text is a great collection of passages from the life of Christ that perfectly fills the need for an intermediate reader, and has a great selective dictionary at the end with just the words used in the texts, so it is quick to use. This suited my level perfectly as the passages were not too complex, but beyond beginner level, and include enough repetition in the stories and dialogue to help memory retention. (Stories from the Life of Christ)

[G]oing from Latin lessons to real Latin texts is a huge jump. Here the author has chosen later texts written by Paul the Deacon.... The Latin is simpler as a result and it makes the book a very useful stepping stone....  [My Latin has now] gone rusty, and this book looks an ideal way for me to recapture some of that lost prowess. Also it has a vocabulary.... Yes I have a Latin dictionary, but experience... has shown me the value of having a vocabulary or dictionary at the back. (Stories from Paul the Deacon)