The ''Eneados'' is a translation into

Middle Scots Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 15th century, its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually ...

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...

's Latin ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...

'', completed by the poet and clergyman

Gavin Douglas Gavin Douglas (c. 1474 – September 1522) was a Scottish bishop, makar and translator. Although he had an important political career, he is chiefly remembered for his poetry. His main pioneering achievement was the '' Eneados'', a full and fa ...

in 1513.

Description

The title of Gavin Douglas' translation "Eneados" is given in the heading of a manuscript at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, which refers to the "twelf bukis of Eneados." The title of the first printed edition (London, 1553) was ''The xiii Bukes of Eneados of the famose Poete Virgill''. The work was the first complete translation of a major classical text in the

Scots language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commo ...

and the first successful example of its kind in any Anglic language. In addition to Douglas's version of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', the work also contains a translation of the "thirteenth book" written by the fifteenth-century poet Maffeo Vegio as a continuation of the ''Aeneid''. Douglas supplied original prologue verses for each of the thirteen books, and a series of concluding poems. There is also an incomplete commentary, covering only part of the first book, written as marginal notes (almost certainly in Douglas's own hand) in the Cambridge manuscript. In the first general prologue Douglas compares the merits of Virgil and

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

as master poets and attacks the printer

William Caxton William Caxton ( – ) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer to be the first English retailer of printed books. His parentage a ...

for his inadequate rendering of a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

translation of the ''Aeneid''.

Critical reception

Douglas's reputation among modern readers was bolstered somewhat in 1934 when

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

included several passages of the ''Eneados'' in his '' ABC of Reading''. Comparing Douglas to Chaucer, Pound wrote that "the texture of Gavin's verse is stronger, the resilience greater than Chaucer's".

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

was also an admirer of the work: "About Douglas as a translator there may be two opinions; about his ''Aeneid'' (Prologues and all) as an English book there can be only one. Here a great story is greatly told and set off with original embellishments which are all good—all either delightful or interesting—in their diverse ways."

Kenneth Rexroth Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth (1905–1982) was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider ...

called it "a spectacular poem", albeit one that "bears little relationship to the spirit of Virgil".

Sample

Douglas translates the opening of the poem thus:

Manuscripts and editions

The principal early manuscripts of the ''Eneados'' are * Cambridge MS (c. 1525), in the library of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

* Elphynstoun MS (before 1527), in the library of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

* Ruthven MS (c. 1535), also in the library of the University of Edinburgh * Lambeth MS (1545–1546), in the library of

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposit ...

. The poem was copied into this manuscript by Thomas Bellenden. * Bath (or Longleat) MS (1547), in the

Marquess of Bath Marquess of Bath is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1789 for Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth. The Marquess holds the subsidiary titles Baron Thynne, of Warminster in the County of Wiltshire, and Viscount Weymou ...

's library at

Longleat Longleat is an English stately home and the seat of the Marquess of Bath, Marquesses of Bath. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan prodigy house, it is adjacent to the village of Horningsham and near the towns of War ...

The first printed edition appeared in London in 1553, from the press of William Copland. It displays an anti–Roman Catholic bias, in that references (in the prologues) to the Virgin Mary, Purgatory, and Catholic ceremonies are altered or omitted; in addition, 66 lines of the translation, describing the amour of Dido and Aeneas, are omitted as indelicate. The 1710 Edinburgh folio edited by Thomas Ruddiman, which includes a full glossary and a biography of Douglas by Bishop John Sage, is based on the 1553 edition and the Ruthven manuscript, perhaps with corrections from the Bath manuscript. The

Bannatyne Club The Bannatyne Club, named in honour of George Bannatyne and his famous anthology of Scots literature the Bannatyne Manuscript, was a text publication society founded by Sir Walter Scott to print rare works of Scottish interest, whether in history ...

edition of 1839 is a printing of the Cambridge manuscript. The standard modern edition of the ''Eneados'' is the four-volume Scottish Text Society edition by David F. C. Coldwell. The recent two-volume critical edition by Gordon Kendal regularises the spelling.Gordon Kendal, ed., ''Gavin Douglas's Translation of the Aeneid (1513)'' (London: MHRA, 2011)

Notes and references

External links