Arguably the most famous case of "Yes, and" in the history of literature. Reading The Aeneid in early 2026, amid international sabre-rattling and the death of international law, is something. A foundational text of imperial literature is one long invention of manifest destiny, with the entire plot being driven less by "because the gods will it" and more by "because Augustus wants to feel good about taking over the entire known world".

I do love how Virgil adapts the Homeric narration here, creating something that definitely feels more modern in terms of storytelling, preserving the splatterpunk of the battle scenes but getting more into the character psychology and giving even more room to mourn the redshirts (Dido, Nisos and Euryalus). Yes, it's definitely more partial than the Iliad, with Aeneas not just being destined but justified to win by his opponents being portrayed a bit more foolish and arrogant, but there's still that incredible, soaring, elegic tone to it - the way he occasionally breaks the first wall to talk directly to the characters, as if to comfort them beyond the centuries. My god, those incredibly cinematic scenes of the fall of Troy and the tour of the underworld. I really wish I could read this in Latin.