Why Read the Aeneid in Latin?

If it has been a while since you last studied Latin, Vergil (Virgil) -- specifically Vergil's Aeneid may be a good place to start your review. Here are reasons why it will benefit you to read Vergil and reasons why Vergil is actually easier than some other authors you might be tempted to try.

1. Masterpiece
   Vergil or Virgil's Aeneid was considered the masterpiece of Roman literature by the Romans of his day. Why not spend your time reading what the ancients thought was the best sample of their work?
   Later Roman writers still considered Vergil the master.

   "The medieval tradition of allegorical interpretation of myth also owes much to Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy, which, along with Virgil's Aeneid, was a central curricular text throughout the Middle Ages."
   Medieval Theory and Criticism

2. Classical Tradition
   Later literature owes much to Vergil. Dante's Divine Comedy makes little sense without understanding the Aeneid. See Aeneid and the Classical Tradition.
3. Portability
   Small Latin-English dictionaries, like the Collins Gem, use Vergil-based vocabulary. This means you probably won't have to lug around a tome if you take your Vergil to work with you. See Latin Dictionaries.
4. Tip / Trick
   Dactyllic hexameters, the meter used throughout the Aeneid, make it easy to spot 3d plurals and ablative singulars of the first declension. See Meter in Greek and Latin Poetry.
5. Trojan Horse Survivors
   The Aeneid tells the Trojan Horse story from the perspective of the Trojans. Trojan War
6. Compact History of Rome
   When you read the Aeneid you learn the legendary history of Rome.
7. Carthage vs. Rome
   The Aeneid provides a legendary explanation for the hostility between Carthage and Rome.
8. Excitement
   The Aeneid is action-packed and fast moving.
9. Epic Themes
   Vergil includes the great themes of epic literature: exile of the hero, relationships between humans and gods, love, death, loss of innocence, and sacrifice.

   "In the Exposition of the Content of Virgil Fulgentius [fl. 500 A.D.] reads the Aeneid as a human pilgrimage from birth to adulthood, from ignorance and error to wisdom and virtue, seeing the narrative action of each book of the Aeneid as an allegory for each stage of this process: the shipwreck stands for birth, Dido's funeral pyre stands for the self-consuming flames of adolescent passion, the descent to the underworld in book 6 stands for the penetration of the mysteries of knowledge through philosophy and experience, and so on throughout Virgil's text."
   Medieval Theory and Criticism

   Epic Poetry
10. Daily Life
    Vergil's vocabulary reveals details of daily life in ancient Rome, Roman weaponry, and ancient farming.

If you need some more help with the Aeneid, see Rose Williams' The Labors of Aeneas.

Who Was Publius Vergilius Maro - Vergil?

Publius Vergilius Maro was born October 15, 70 B.C. at Andes, near Mantua, in Cisalpine Gaul. He died 51 years later on September 21, 19 B.C. at Brundisium. His magnum opus, the Aeneid, commissioned by the Emperor Augustus, was published, against his wishes, posthumously. Vergil also wrote the ten books of Pastoral poems, known as Eclogues or Bucolics, and a treatise on the four aspects of farm-life (tillage, horticulture, cattle-breeding, and bee-keeping), known as the Georgics.