The Aeneid (Penguin Classics)

This enduring masterpiece tells of the epic quest of Aeneas, who flees the ashes of Troy to found a new civilization: Rome. A unique hero, Aeneas struggles and fights not for personal gain but for a civilization that will exist far into the future. Caught between passion and fate, his vision would change the course of the Western world. Virgil, Rome's greatest poet, turned a mythical legend into a national epic that would survive Rome's collapse to become the most influential book Rome contributed to Western culture.