Virgil Book

This is an adequete scholarly introduction to the work of Virgil. The first chapter, a brief biography of Virgil (and some other introductory matter), is excellent. The book gets a little weaker later on. Griffin seems more at home in close analysis than in overview, and although his treatment of Virgil's presentation of various themes, characters, etc. is very good, it probably also dives a little too deep, leaving out simpler content that might be required to explain the material more thoroughly. I have spent a fair amount of time studying the ancient world, and even I lost the thread a few times. I suppose the phrase, 'losing the wood for the trees' comes to mind.

Nevertheless, I can't not recommend this book. There is little 'easy reading' the topic of Virgil. This is not a bad book by any means, but it's not for the general reader.