A biography of Vergil, Rome-s greatest poet, by the acclaimed translator of the Aeneid -Ms. Ruden has converted the writer of the Aeneid from a noble and stodgy -ancient- into our contemporary . . . persuasively re-imagined [as] a sympathetic, three-dimensional figure. . . . The existence of the Aeneid is cause for gratitude. So is Ms. Ruden-s sensitive, celebratory portrait of its maker.--Willard Spiegelman, Wall Street Journal The Aeneid stands as a towering work of Classical Roman literature and a gripping dramatization of the best and worst of human nature. In the process of creating this epic poem, Vergil (70-19 BCE) became the world-s first media celebrity, a living legend. But the real Vergil is a shadowy figure; we know that he was born into a modest rural family, that he led a private and solitary life, and that, in spite of poor health and unusual emotional vulnerabilities, he worked tirelessly to achieve exquisite new effects in verse. Vergil-s most famous work, the Aeneid,
