[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Is it a good read (in any language)? The Thebaid is a great read. But, like everything else, it suffers in translation, although Melville's is good (there's a review of it in BMCR). The main problem is that most expect it to be the Aeneid and are disappointed/frustrated/bent out of shape when they realize it's not; consequently it is frequently derided. It is, in fact, *explicitly* not another Aeneid and, i think, Statius sets himself (much the way Ovid did) to 'correcting' the Aeneid. It presents a very different view of the gods and any grand design, of civil war, of hero and of closure. If you do read the Thebaid, it's important to keep the Aeneid not far from the front of your mind.
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