Virgil and the Augustan Reception

This book examines the ideological reception of Virgil at specific moments in the past two millennia. It focuses on the emperor Augustus in the poetry of Virgil, detects in the poets and grammarians of antiquity pro- and anti-Augustan readings, studies Dryden's 1697 Royalist translation, and also naive American translation. It scrutinizes nineteenth-century philology's rewriting or excision of troubling readings, and covers readings by both supporters and opponents of fascism and National Socialism. Finally it examines how successive ages have made the Aeneid conform to their upbeat expectations of this poet.

• Demonstrates that all readings of Virgil are conditioned by contemporary assumptions
• Explores the role Virgil has played in various phases of European culture
• Shows the centrality of Virgil for the history of Western political and ideological thought