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Vergil's Empire: Political Thought in the Aeneid
Author(s): Eve Adler (Author)
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
- Publication Date: 11 Mar. 2003
- Language: English
- Print length: 368 pages
- ISBN-10: 0742521664
- ISBN-13: 9780742521667
Book Description
In Vergil’s Empire, Eve Adler offers an exciting new interpretation of the political thought of Vergil’s Aeneid. Adler argues that in this epic poem, Vergil presents the theoretical foundations of a new political order, one that resolves the conflict between scientific enlightenment and ancestral religion that permeated the ancient world. The work concentrates on Vergil’s response to the physics, psychology, and political implications of Lucretius’ Epicurean doctrine expressed in De Rerum Natura. Proceeding by a close analysis of the Aeneid, Adler examines Vergil’s critique of Carthage as a model of universal enlightenment, his positive doctrine of Rome as a model of universal religion, and his criticism of the heroism of Achilles, Odysseus, and Epicurus in favor of the heroism of Aeneas. Beautifully written and clearly argued, Vergil’s Empire will be of great value to all interested in the classical world.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This book is stunningly original. An empire, even a benevolent one, may overreach, of course. And Virgil hints that there are, humanly speaking, perhaps even seeds of self-dissolution in the most providential and perfect of empires. And so we oscillate between force and restraint, unmindful of their deeper meaning―still caught in the dynamic perceived by Virgil and brilliantly revived for us by Eve Adler in Vergil’s Empire. ― The Weekly Standard
This is a major work, of a kind one does not often come across. — Harvey Mansfield, Professor of Government, Harvard University; Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Marvelous. ―
Brothers JuddEve Adler takes a refreshingly novel approach in her recent study of the Aeneid. Adler’s study of Vergil distinguishes itself from most current efforts in literary criticism by commenting upon the poem in a manner that develops a continuous course of thought. ―
Claremont Review of BooksAdler’s argument about the fundamental purpose of Aeneid is interesting and clearly presented. ―
New England Classical JournalAbout the Author
Eve Adler is professor of classics at Middlebury College and has published four previous books and translations.
