This is a brief monograph (a revised University of Washington doctoral dissertation), which could (and probably should) have been considerably longer. This is a volume that proposes theories about the composition of Virgil's epic that will not convince every reader, theories that are worth considering attentively all the same. This is a book that opens many doors in an intertextual edifice, as it offers tantalising, succinct, occasionally enigmatic insights into the Augustan poet's engagement with his Republican predecessor Lucretius. Its reading is swiftly over; the implications of its rich tapestry of ideas linger long in the mind.

G.'s principal concern is Virgil's epic appropriation of Lucretius’ atoms. Epicurean physics as expounded in limpid hexameters provides some of the material to compose a political and socio-historical metaphor for Aeneas’ encounters with assorted enemies foreign and domestic, as it were (the atoms, after all, must someday form a Roman, Augustan, imperial compound). Most of the focus on the Trojan hero's enemies is on the Rutulian Turnus; the Etruscan Mezentius and the Carthaginian Dido receive significantly shorter shrift, while the Volscian Camilla is not considered at all (she might or might not have fit nicely into G.'s thesis, but she deserved inclusion, if only to explicate why she does not follow the pattern of the seemingly unholy trinity of Dido–Mezentius–Turnus). Mortal foes are of greater interest in these pages than immortal; while Juno is a focus of some attention, the Fury Allecto (something of an otherworldly counterpart of Camilla) is ignored. Cacus might provide another such focal point of profitable study, so too the Trojan women in the context of the attempted burning of Aeneas’ fleet. Given the political implications of G.'s thesis, more on relevant passages from the middle third of the epic at any rate would have been a relevant desideratum.

The strength of G.'s proposed metaphor rests ultimately on the problem of disorder and the connection of the same to the perceived action of Epicurean atoms. One issue that such an argument inevitably raises is what one is to do with the times when Aeneas (not to mention his many allies) evinces the mantle of madness and the cloak of chaos (Coroebus merits particular consideration). Some readers might be tempted not so much to see value judgements on the different characters in the epic, and rather wish to see G.'s theory tested more comprehensively. Those hesitant to accept the atomic metaphor might be more convinced were it tested on other figures in the poem or on other scenes and episodes in the epic. The animal kingdom as depicted in Virgil also offers important, relevant material for comparison with Lucretian zoological antecedents as illustrative material for a study of atomic action; here S. Rocca's work on Virgilian etologia might have been helpful, alongside G.'s fellow Washingtonian B. Mechley with his dissertation on Lucretius’ animals.

There is considerable attention herein to the exploration of atomism in both Aristotle and Cicero, with some excellent work on more challenging passages of the De natura deorum. This material is presented essentially as prolegomena to the consideration of the Aeneid, and it is of undeniable interest both in itself and as foundational to examination of the Virgil material. Here, however, the very complexity of the material and the size of the epic mitigate against brevity. This is a work devoted to Virgilian philosophy and political science, all through the lens of Virgil's intertextual rapport with a difficult poetic model and source of inspiration. It attempts to do much, perhaps too much given its slender size. The bibliography is predominately anglophone in orientation; one might have hoped to see engagement with the useful, foundational material on Turnus in both P. Schenk and (especially given G.'s political interests) C. Renger, and on Mezentius by G. Thome. There is nothing of G.B. Conte's (including the base text of the Aeneid, which in this book is that of R.A.B. Mynors); probably W. Clausen 2002 should appear if there is reference to Clausen 1987. The book is well edited and proofread, with the occasional minor slip (the uninitiated might think E. Norden's Aeneid 6 appeared in 1984).

There is no book by G.N. Knauer as yet for Virgil's use of Lucretian colour and content. The absence is keenly felt in the present work, which nonetheless will be valuable for the labour that still needs to be expended even to begin to appreciate what the Aeneid does with the De rerum natura. G.'s book should prompt significant work on the implications of his Lucretian intertextual arguments. There are many seeds in these pages for further engagement with Virgil's pervasive, tissue-like poetic interplay with his poetic predecessor, not to mention his presentation of philosophical problems as an integral facet of his epic. While not everyone will agree that Virgil has employed some overarching atomic metaphor in the Aeneid or even that such machinations with metaphors would be a ludic method employed by the ancient author – here there may have been profit in considering some of the arguments put forth so well by N. Horsfall in his Alambicco (arguments revisited and refined in his Epic Distilled). But anyone interested in the reception of Lucretius, in the presentation of Epicurean and Stoic philosophy in Roman letters, and in the depiction of Turnus in the Aeneid will want to read and reread these pages, and to consider the important questions it raises for readings of Virgil's epic, whether or not one approaches its verses more as a materialist than as a mystic.