The gates of hell are open night and day;

Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:

But to return, and view the cheerful skies,

In this the task and mighty labor lies.

-Vergil, Aeneid

You can support the continuation of this effort, and get unlimited access to my entire body of work for$5 per month on Patreon.

My favorite translation of the Aeneid is the Modern Library edition by Shadi Bartsch, which is richly introduced and essayed/footnoted, although the Fitzgerald and Dryden translations are also classic for their poetry.

Read more about the late, great Hubert "Bert" Dreyfus here.

Music Credit: (Intro and Outro): Max John, Schubert, Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat Major, Creative Commons (YouTube). Interlude is Peter Bradley-Fulgoni, from Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 4, Movement 2 (IMSLP).

This series will have X parts:

1. The Odyssey and the Archaic Greece (Done)

2. Aeschylus and Greek Tragedy (Done)

3. Aeneas and the Roman Tradition (This)

4. Catholic Christianity: The Gospel of John, Dante's Comedy (Upcoming)

5. Protestantism: Pascal's Pensées and Moby Dick (Upcoming)

Stay tuned...