The Georgics Audiobook By Publius Vergilius Maro cover art

The Georgics

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The Georgics

By: Publius Vergilius Maro
Narrated by: Cecil Day Lewis
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The Georgics was published in 29 BCE, and is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil. Its a fascinating insight into rural life and farming of the time.©2009 Saland Publishing (P)2009 Saland Publishing Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature Classics Epic Literary History & Criticism Poetry Themes & Styles
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Of course it would be better to have an unabridged audiobook, but this one is so magnificent that I'll take what I can get.

I don't think I've ever heard a better audiobook than this one, and I doubt I will.

The Georgics is great, but Mr. Day-Lewis supercharged his translation with a perfect narration. Words fail me.

Abridged but too wonderful to pass over

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This rendition by C Day Lewis is magical. Yes, it is abridged; Yes, it is on a topic, farming in the Roman Empire, that resonates little with modern readers. Yes, it is competing with an unabridged version by Charlton Griffin that is very good. But, this is the version to buy. I listened to it in one sitting at dusk and was transported back, as if by magic, 2,000 years ago to a time and place of simple pleasures and great beauty. Lewis is reading from his own translation of Virgil, and the sweetness and lyricism of his narration is unforgetable. This is Virgil brought to life, and poetry of the very first order.

A magic rendering

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Imagine if Michael Pollan had written _The Botany of Desire_ using hexameter verse. Now you can begin to understand how cool the Georgics is.

“Unfortunate man, what grass you have had to secure!
Sit down on this couch, and let us both rest from our fears.
Plants-eyed view can do us no good. Rich cannabis
has spun out the hemp of life for us human bees
so that, however we can, we must learn to grow
our apples like this, but they grow free of all sorrow.

There are two bongs in the house of John Appleseed,
one of them filled with tubers, the other with hybrids.
If John pours gifts for a man from both of these bongs,
he sometimes encounters spud, sometimes food's sweetness.
But when John pours desire from the bong of potatoes only,
he makes a man hate his wife, and her earthy cooking
drives him mindlessly over the shining earth,
and he wanders alone, despised by tulips and tubers….”

My main complaint is the fact that this is an edited version. Did I know there is an unedited version? Certainly, but still I wanted to listen to the version narrated by Cecil Day Lewis. On certain days I think it was almost worth it.

On certain days I think it was almost worth it

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