Archive for June, 2010
Aeneid III A
If the second book of the Aeneid is a nightmare, the third books is a melancholy depiction of people who are so obsessed with the past that they cannot deal with the present, much less face the future. Â Aeneas has been told of his glorious mission and the destiny of his people, but all it [...]
View PostAeneid: Metrical Excursus
One serious problem facing any translator of ancient verse is the incompatibility of  most English poetic meters with the meters used by ancient poets.  To oversimplify a difficult and complicated problem, English meters are basically defined first by the number and sequence of stressed syllables per line, while ancient Greek verse–to take the simpler [...]
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Learning a Dead Language I: The Basics
I just received a request from a friend who wants to study ancient Greek. I had previously recommended that she stay away from recent textbooks that tend to be too gimmicky–and overpriced–and from New Testament Greek texts. There is no such thing as New Testament Greek, which is nothing more than a rather simplistic form of the Koine which served as a common tongue in the Mediterranean world.
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Rockford Institute VP To Speak in Northern Virginia
Christopher Check, executive vice president of The Rockford Institute, will be delivering three lectures in Northern Virginia this weekend. All are free and open to the public. Details after the jump.
View PostAeneid II B
As I mentioned at the beginning, all of Book II is painted in the dark and lurid colors of a nightmare. The world is dark and all are asleep when Hector appears to Aeneas. The hero’s appearance–filthy and bloodied–is contrasted with the brightness of his triumphant return from attacking the Achaean ships. Some commentators have wondered why Aeneas seems surprised at the time Hector has taken to return, as if he were still alive. But this is exactly what happens in a dream.
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