I had narrowed it down to Fitzgerald and Ahl first, and then decided on Ahl, despite his being a recent translation that isn't well-known, because he, like Lattimore, decided to try to match something of the original metre while also trying to retain the feel of the original text and be as faithful as possible. Lattimore spoiled me a bit in that regard. Ahl also appears to be the first and only English translator who has tried to translate most of the puns, anagrams and wordplay of Virgil.
However, reading reviews of Ahl, some mention it can, unlike Lattimore, be clunky, include some too-modern/hip translation and awkwardly continue sentences or thoughts onto the next line, sometimes only for one last word.
I compared a few different translations. There's a review on the Amazon Ahl translation page that compares the opening lines of the Fagles, Ruden and Ahl, where I liked Ahl the best. Then I also looked at a site that compared certain lines of the Fagles, Cobbold, Lombardo, Caldwell, McCrorie, West, Sisson, Fitzgerald, Copley and Mandelbaum. And I also previewed the Fitzgerald opening lines in Amazon preview.
Of the rest, I liked Fitzgerald, which I think was also second-runner up for me in choosing my Homer translations (always a bridesmaid...), but the Ahl was too tempting. After sampling more in Amazon preview, despite the negatives listed here and in some reviews and while I could see a bit of the clunkiness right away in the first lines, the Ahl has a vivacity and toughness and poetic quality to it, which he was striving for, and that combined with its fidelity to the original text sold me. I also liked the conciseness of Ahl compared to Fitzgerald; the Aeneid opening lines which Ahl translated in seven took 12 for Fitzgerald.
Here's the Ahl opening lines if curious:
Quote:
Arms and the man I sing of Troy, who first from its seashores,
Italy-bound, fate's refugee, arrived at Lavinia's
Coastlands. How he was battered about over land, over high deep
Seas by the powers above! Savage Juno's anger remembered
Him, and he suffered profoundly to establish a city,
Settle his gods into Latium, making this land of the Latins
Future home of the Elders of Alba and Rome's mighty ramparts.
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As a huge plus, since I love good helpful annotations, this translation is filled with them.
Oddly, at the Sony store, there seem to be two versions of the exact same book, just with different covers and different price points. My best guess is that they've somehow decided to make one version from the hardback and one from the softcover. I'm going for the cheaper one, hoping there is no difference!