Virgilian delights

 One of my most treasured books is the Oxford Classical Text of Virgil which I bought at the start of my university career in September 1971. It then cost the princely sum of £1.00 (20s, as it says on the inside of the dustjacket). In November of that year I was lucky enough to attend a lecture given by the editor, Professor Sir Roger Mynors, and to secure his autograph on the title page (see picture).
 
I first fell in love with Virgil in my O level year, when we read selections of Aeneid I-IV from a book called Journey to Hesperia. It was my first introduction to Latin literature, and I found myself being sucked in and reading in my spare time more than the minimum prescription. The first book of the Aeneid I read in toto was II: I even wrote out in a school exercise book a full translation with running vocabulary. At A level my Virgil was extended by dipping into Georgics I and IV, but it was really the epic stuff that grabbed my interest.
 
This continued at university, where odd books were read here and there. I found a fascination in the less trendy books, and rather took a fancy to Book XI. Anyway, I was able to say, by the end of my university career, that I had read all of Virgil – even the boring Eclogues, which still aren't my cup of tea.
 
There followed about 30 years of teaching simple Latin to youngsters in prep schools, before I was inspired by a highly respected former colleague who was doing what I did in my earlier years – reading Latin in spare time for fun and relaxation. So I decided to read the Aeneid from beginning to end, the way it was presumably intended to be read. What a pleasure it has been. I started in March, managing between 50 and 200 lines a day - depending on the commitments of my day job – and finished mid-May. The build-up to the showdown between Aeneas and Turnus at the end was as exciting as any modern thriller. And of course the magic of the poetry is a delight to read. It was almost a shame to have finished. I want to progress to Lucan and other Latin epic after that, but not immediately: I've been drawn back to Virgil and have started re-reading the Aeneid again – it really is unputdownable!