The Aeneid by Virgil is a legendary tale baked with all the usual ingredients: a dash of hyper-masculine leading man, a pinch of the ol’ “ill-fated lovers” scenario, and a dollop of grandiose battle scenes à la Troy and 300. Oh yeah and the cherry on top is Queen Dido, who kills herself atop a burning funeral pyre. (She had a touch of the dramatic about her, it must be said.)

The central character, Aeneas, is a Trojan fleeing from Troy with the remains of his people. He journeys to Italy and ends up founding the Roman civilisation after much placating of the interfering god Juno by her husband, Jupiter.

The epic poem – I want to say book but know this is wrong, and that if I did, my old Classics teacher would surely mount her own funeral pyre – is almost on par with Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey but suffers as a result of trying to combine these two works into one.

What lifts it up is its commentary on the dangers of mindless passion and the benefits of commitment to a higher purpose. A read worthy of your time.