On his deathbed in 19 BCE, Vergil asked that his epic, the Aeneid, be burned and not published. If his wishes had been obeyed, western literature - and maybe even western civilization - might have taken a different course.

The Aeneid has remained a key text of university courses since the rise of universities, and has been invoked at key points of human history - whether by Saint Augustine to illustrate the fallen nature of the soul, by settlers to justify manifest destiny in North America, or by Mussolini in support of his Fascist regime.

In this fresh and fast-paced translation of the Aeneid, Shadi Bartsch brings the poem to the modern reader. Along with the translation, her introduction will guide the reader to a deeper understanding of the epic's enduring influence.