Virgil, Aeneid II: A Selection

Summary

This is the OCR-endorsed edition covering the Latin AS and A-Level (Group 3) prescription of Virgil's Aeneid Book 2, lines 40–249 and the A-Level (Group 4) prescription of Book 2, lines 268–317, 370–558, giving full Latin text, commentary and vocabulary, with a detailed introduction that also covers the prescribed material to be read in English for A Level. Book II of Virgil's Aeneid is the story of how Troy fell and how Aeneas escaped with his family and his city's gods. It is a narrative relayed in retrospect by Aeneas as a refugee at the court of Queen Dido in Carthage, and the OCR selection covers the book's first two thirds: the Wooden Horse episode, and the chaos which ensues – including the dramatic murder of King Priam. Virgil depicts war in all its ugly complexity, and Aeneas' response to this – as combatant in Troy, as exile in Carthage – is central to the poem's early exposition.