Selections from Virgil's Aeneid Books 7-12

Book excerpt: This reader of Virgil's text features passages from the second half of the Aeneid and is designed to help students understand and appreciate Virgil's poem, as well as improve their Latin reading skills. Each Latin passage is accompanied by running vocabulary, on-page commentary notes and targeted questions. The book can be used as a source of one-off unseen passages or as a reader for students working through individual books or the whole poem. The commentary notes explain references to characters, places and events, provide linguistic and grammatical help on more challenging Latin phrases, and point out stylistic features. The questions test students' comprehension of the characters and storyline, and give them practice in handling literary terms. The passages are linked by summaries of the continuing plot, so students can grasp the progression of the poem as a whole. An introduction sets the story of the Aeneid in its mythological, literary and historical context and includes a glossary of literary devices and essays explaining the principles of Virgil's word order and metre. At the end of the book is a complete alphabetical vocabulary list.