The Aeneid by Virgil (19BC)

This was an exercise in getting a classic under my belt. Many of those are an unalloyed pleasure. This was not quite that. It is a story initially of wandering - the Trojans, post-Iliad, trying to find a new place in the world, led by Aeneas. An experiment with Dido in Carthage turns sour and the wandering begins again. They end up on the site which will later become Rome and encounter the Italians, just a small tribal group at this time. There occurs the phenomenal battle which will see the Italians under Turnus defeated and Aeneas victorious - and crucially the Roman Empire established. For this story is Rome justified, and many of the players must have been ancestors of notable Romans of Virgil's time. They are woven into the heroic myth in huge numbers. The other obvious element of note is the work of the gods - great Jove, Aeneas' mother Venus, and Turnus' champion Juno. A myriad of minor deities flit through the story, influencing on one side or another. The most satisfying parts are those in the midst of the battle, where spears fly poetically, or swords penetrate with fire in their thrust, and heads are sheared off, or sides split open, or throats gouged, or brains run through! This prose translation by JW Mackail may, I think, not be the ultimate experience of this material. I think a poetic translation may be called for.