Building an empire does not much appeal to this postcolonial period, so those who would like to save Vergil from himself argue that he was subtly criticizing the empire -- the thesis of the so-called "Harvard School" (exemplified by scholars like Adam Perry, Wendell Clausen, Michael Putnam, and others). This is like saying that we now consider hell an inhuman concept, so Dante must really have been undermining that concept while describing it in Inferno. After all, Dante was intelligent and humane, so how could he differ from us on such a fundamental matter? This complimenting of other cultures by saying they were really like us prevents people from meeting the challenge of real differences.
--Garry Wills, Closer Than Ever to Vergil, The New York Review of Books, March 23rd, 2009, review of
The Aeneid, by Vergil, translated by Sarah Ruden
Loss Upon Loss, by Anthony Esolen, Claremont Review of Books, Winter 2007, review of
The Aeneid, by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles, and
Virgil’s Gaze: Nation and Poetry in The Aeneid, by J.D. Reed, by Anthony Esolen
Sacra Roma, by Robert Royal, First Things, February 2007, review of
The Aeneid, by Virgil, translated by Robert Fagles
The Emperor's New Poem, by David Barber, Boston Globe, November 12, 2006, review of
The Aeneid, translated by Robert Fagles
Politics And Piety, by John E. Alvis, Claremont Review of Books, Fall 2004, review of
Vergil's Empire: Political Thought in the Aeneid, by Eve Adler
Virgil Lives! His epic, his empire--and ours, by Robert Royal, The Weekly Standard, September 29, 2003, review of
Vergil's Empire: Political Thought in the Aeneid, by Eve Adler
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