Georgics [Paperback]

Virgil'sGeorgics, considered to be one of the great poems of Western literature, is ostensibly a didactic poem on agriculture. Challenging this idea, the late Sir Roger Mynors argues that the poem's true subject is humanity and its place in nature and society. The poem is also a landmark in the use of the natural world as material for literature and of special interest because the poet draws not only on his own experience but also on his wide reading of Greek poetry. This commentary examines Virgil's meaning and choice of expression to provide a fuller understanding of the poetry.

Will be an important reference for this complex poem....The commentary itself is invaluable. --The Classical Outlook

I can only note how fortunate we are to have this commentary at last. It will obviously be indispensable to everyone seriously interested in theGeorgics. --Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Mynors' knowledge of the textual tradition and the ancient and modern commentators on the poem is encyclopedic, and his exhaustive research on both the literary antecedents and the technical literature that Vergil used and the linguistic parallels in the contemporary and subsequent authors is marshalled for the task of exegesis with taste and precision. The explication of the poem in light of the natural history of the Mediterranean world is particularly rich. Mynors' formidable scholarship is never heavy-handed, and in it lurks a certain puckish wit....Every library and every Latin scholar should own this book. --The Classical World

Mynors' enviable knowledge of ancient technology and everyday life--not to mention his familiarity with the scientific, literary, and philological writings that inform or were informed by the poem--make this commentary an indispensable companion piece to Thomas' edition. Anyone who does serious work on theGeorgicswill have to have access to Mynors' exacting commentary; anlC!