This
edition, originally published in 1953 in the admirable Methuen Classical
Texts series, has been maintained in print by Bradda Books. This longevity is
deserved; for it remains a very fine edition, manageable at different levels
of attainment. Maguinness had chiefly in mind students at sixth-form or early
university level but, for the benefit of less practised students taking GCSE
or in their second year of Latin bugun at University, he wisely included a
Vocabulary (marked with syllable lengths to tie in with his very useful
section on scansion and reading aloud) and a considerable amount of fairly
elementary linguistic matter in the Notes. The Introduction gives an outline
of the background knowledge needed by a beginner in Virgilian studies. For a
succinct and always level-headed approach to the "Aeneid", this remains a splendid edition - one for which more advanced
Virgilians still have every reason to be thankful; and Book XII gives an
excellent flavour of the whole epic and the meaning of its constantly
enigmatic closure.