The Aeneid of Virgil
Translated into
Scottish verse
By
Gavin Douglas
Bishop of Dunkeld
This project is going to chart my reading and interpretation of Eneados - Gavin Douglas's 1513 translation of Virgil's Aeneid from Latin into Middle Scots. This includes the twelve prologues that he wrote for each of the books, as well as one he wrote for the 'thirteenth book' written by Maffeo Vegio in the sixteenth century. I've been lucky enough to handle a 1710 edition in the collection of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. Burns was familiar with the work of Douglas; he even uses a quotation from the prologues to introduce Tam O Shanter: "Of Brownyis and of Bogilis full is this Beuk."
I'm interested in the words and language that Douglas uses, both in his prologues and in his translation, and what this language can tell us about life in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. To this end, I'll not only be providing a basic translation of the prologues, but also my notes on any unfamiliar words or phrases I come across. Hopefully you'll find them as interesting as I do.
