This volume has its origins in a conference on ‘Augustan Poetry and the Irrational’ held at the University of Cambridge in 2012. It begins with an introduction to the topic of the conference and contains fourteen contributions, which are grouped in five parts (‘Civil War: Expiation and the Return of the Repressed’; ‘Order and Disorder: Counting and Accounts'; ‘Reason and Desire’; ‘Self-contradictions: Philosophy and Rhetoric’; and ‘Virgilian Figures of the Irrational’) without, however, a concluding chapter which could have summarised the outcomes of the conference.

The introduction makes clear that the volume aims to test the common view that rationality – in the sense that Augustan literary products display great balance and order – runs through Augustan literature and art, stressing also that its title comes from E.R. Dodd's famous study (The Greeks and the Irrational [1951]). H. argues that the key term here is furor, which is investigated through selected beginnings and endings in the Virgilian œuvre, its erotic aspect (‘furor of love’), its Dionysiac features, Augustan didactic poetry and furious female figures, surveying the relevant bibliography on these subjects and summarising the subsequent chapters. Nevertheless, the introductory chapter seems to be a bit confusing; in view of the contents of the volume, one would expect that the introduction would explain its structure and above all the common themes under which the contributions are categorised in these five parts.

Part 1 begins with E. Giusti's ‘My Enemy's Enemy is My Enemy: Virgil's Illogical Use of metus hostilis', which is concerned with ‘Carthage in Virgil's Aeneid’ (p. 39) through Sallust's metus hostilis that strengthens Roman national identity. The piece examines the thematic relationship of Virgil's Aeneid and Aeschylus' Persae and of Dido and Atossa to show that ‘Virgil's Carthaginians' can be seen as ‘Persian barbarians’ (p. 41), who thus recall foreign enemies. Giusti continues with Virgil's dependence on Euripides' Bacchae. The interactions between Trojans/Romans, Phoenicians/Carthaginians and Greeks constitute the elements related to the idea of the irrational, which, however, is hardly mentioned in the article (p. 55). This part of the book continues with S. Rebegianni, ‘Orestes, Aeneas, and Augustus: Madness and Tragedy in Virgil's Aeneid’, who examines the way in which Virgil uses madness, focusing on Orestes and his relation to the presentation of Aeneas and Octavian. Mythological comparisons are regularly used to provide ‘mitigating factors for Octavian's actions' (p. 58) such as Achilles and Orestes, who are associated with Octavian, and Orestes' revenge also legitimates ‘Octavian's vendetta’ (‘apologetic use of revenge’). In other words, Octavian is not a ‘blood-thirsty tyrant but a tragic hero’ (p. 72), whose irrational actions (civil war) are influenced by furor. Part 1 ends with M. Labate's ‘The Night of Reason: the Esquiline and Witches in Horace’. The article refers to Maecenas' garden and the Esquiline's reclamation, which have strong symbolic value, implying that the Roman past has been left behind; however, the reference to them in the title is too prominent in comparison with Canidia, who constitutes the key figure of the article. This lovely garden is transformed at night into the place where Horace situates Canidia (Epod. 5), who is compared to furious female characters such as Medea, confirming that the irrational and its traces cannot be vanquished but become rational after sunset.

Part 2 begins with C.D. Haß, ‘Beyond “Cosmos” and “Logos”: an Irrational Cosmology in Virgil, Georgics 1.231–58?’, who investigates the way in which ‘rational order overcomes irrational chaos' (‘rationalisation’) (p. 97) in Virgil's ‘Cosmo-Logy’, displaying the ‘irrational residuum’ (p. 98) with which the rationalisation has to deal. Haß argues that Virgil combines ‘narrative mytho-logy and scientific cosmo-logy’ (p. 104) to create a poetology according to which the irrational is epistemologically conceivable, semiotically represented and didactically conveyable. J.P. Schwindt, ‘The Magic of Counting: on the Cantatoric Status of Poetry (Catullus 5 and 7; Horace Odes 1.11)’, examines the irrational into rational constituent elements such as numbers. This ‘magic of counting’ is cantatorically used by the mad lover in Catullus 5 and 7 to be immune ‘against any jinx from outside’ (p. 123). On the contrary, Horace Carm. 1.11 argues in cantatoric style that what will or will not come is not based on ‘any Babylonian arithmetic’ but on ‘the poet's disciplined command of metre’ (p. 131), stressing that ‘man's measure is the day’ (p. 132). Finally, E. Gowers, ‘Under the Influence: Maecenas and Bacchus in Georgics 2’, suggests that Bacchus constitutes the spirit of the irrational in Augustan poetry. Gowers examines the irrational, focusing on its ‘technical as much as psychological’ aspects and on the ‘logical or numerical account embedded’ (p. 134) into the word ratio. Virgil's self-conscious irrationality is endorsed by Maecenas and Bacchus, who are ‘virtual equivalents’ (p. 136), though Maecenas' relation to the irrational (furor) is not always clear.

Part 3 begins with J. Burkowski's ‘Apollo in Tibullus 2.3 and 2.5’, where Apollo is Admetus' erotic object and servant (‘an irrational figure’, p. 155) and a source of inspiration for poetry and prophecy (‘the god of rationality’). Since Apollo is traditionally related to the Augustan order and reason, Burkowski argues that the god's unconventional behaviour can justify the elegiac lover's irrational love for Nemesis, which stands above any societal or elegiac value system. Nonetheless, furor, which constitutes the volume's key term (p. 4), is absent from Burkowski's article. On the other hand, furor is a term dealt with by J. Fabre-Serris, ‘The ars rhetorica: an Ovidian remedium for Female furor’. Based on the common view that Virgil and Propertius use elements drawn from Gallus' Amores, Fabre-Serris claims that female furor is a Gallan motive which can be eliminated with ars rhetorica. This is a new remedy proposed by Ovid in Heroides, Ars Amatoria and Metamorphoses to women to be able to ‘analyse situations and feelings’ (p. 185) and thus to understand men's erotic words. W. Fitzgerald, ‘Augustan Gothic: Alexander Pope Reads Ovid’, examines Pope's verse letter Eloisa to Abelard written in the ‘Age of Reason’ of English literature in relation to Horace's Ep. 1.11 and Ovid's Her. 10, 11 and 15. Fitzgerald identifies strong similarities between Pope and Horace/Ovid, suggesting that the ‘Ovidian symbiosis of landscape and psychology’ (p. 188) is enriched with certain Gothic elements in Pope's verse letter. Finally, D. O'Rourke, ‘The Madness of Elegy: Rationalizing Propertius’, concentrates on Propertius’ ‘irrational and inscrutable alter-ego’ (p. 216) and ‘erotic furor’ (p. 204), which can be cured through Stoic and Epicurean therapy. Philosophy can explain Propertius’ turn to rationalism away from ‘Cynthia's irrationality’ (p. 209) and towards the psychological integrity that ‘sets the scene for the rationalist poetics and politics’, which, however, are still combined with erotic themes. In other words, O'Rourke subtly underlines the Augustan rationality which constitutes the other side that we should also bear in mind.

Part 4 begins with M. Citroni's ‘The Value of Self-deception: Horace, Aristippus, Heraclides Ponticus, and the Pleasures of the Fool (and of the Poet)’, which deals with Horace's irrationality and inconstancy in relation to ancient moral philosophy. Citroni argues that Horace stresses that the ‘rationalization of luxury’ (p. 230) by those who deceive themselves about the value of the pleasures constitutes a ‘disturbing force’ (p. 230) that can overturn the rational construction of his moral discourse (reason vs pleasure). S.J. Heyworth, ‘Irrational Panegyric in Augustan Poetry’, concentrates on the irrational physiology of the divine emperor, the geographical and astronomical irrationality, the irrationality of the divine insight, the humorous and sarcastic irrationality and the Bacchic ecstasy and Apollonian orders, arguing that the panegyric contains contradictory, inaccurate, hyperbolic and false elements. Particularly, the rational can be traced behind the poet's irrational words.

Part 5 begins with S. Clément-Tarantino's ‘Caderent omnes a crinibus hydri: the Problems of the Irrational in the Juno and Allecto Episode in Aeneid 7’, which deals with the Fury Allecto, focusing on the issues raised by this figure about the irrational in this scene. Clément-Tarantino aims to explain Allecto's furious intervention to Amata and Turnus, who already ‘behave irrationally’, Amata's snake and Ascanius’ and Silvia's stag, examining a selection of Virgilian commentaries from antiquity to today. Finally, H.’s article, ‘Adamastor and the Epic Poet's Dark Continent’, is concerned with the giant Adamastor from Luis de Camões’ Lusíadas, who is related to Virgil's Fama both as an irrational figure (although the irrationality is not based on the furor), which reflect the epic poet's combination of ‘fact and fiction’, and the blending of ‘inherited tradition with invention’ (p. 285).

This fine volume (almost free of typos) covers a considerable interpretative gap in studies on Augustan poetry and is an essential tool for students and scholars. On the other hand, there is not always balance between the contributions in the way in which they deal with furor, which constitutes the key term for the idea of the irrational. Furthermore, its structure is not always tight and sometimes may confuse the reader, while cross-references that could have strengthened its unity are very few. Nonetheless, these criticisms should not underestimate its value in terms of content, which is emphatically evident from the fresh and original views found in its chapters.