This book is a critically sophisticated introduction to the epic tradition of the early Roman empire, specifically the epic poems of Ovid, Lucan, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, and Silius Italicus. It explores the use that they all make of the great Augustan epic of Virgil, the Aeneid. Instead of being feeble imitations of the great classic (a common critical viewpoint), these poems are shown to be dynamic works that use the Virgilian model creatively to reflect the moral and political issues of their own day. All Latin is translated.