Virgil: Difference between revisions

| image = File:Parco della Grotta di Posillipo5 (crop).jpg

| caption = BustModern bust of Virgil at the entrance to his crypt in [[Naples]]

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Publius Vergilius Maro

| birth_date = 15 October 70 BC

| birth_place = [[Virgilio, Lombardy|Near MantuaAndes]], [[Cisalpine Gaul]], [[Roman Republic]]

| death_date = 21 September 19 BC (aged 50)

| death_place = [[Brindisi|Brundisium]], [[Italy (Roman Empire)|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]

| occupation = Poet

| nationality = [[Roman Empire|Roman]]

| period =

| genre = [[Epic poetry]], [[didactic poetry]], [[pastoral poetry]]

| subject =

| movement = [[Augustan poetry]]

| signature =

'''Publius Vergilius Maro''' ({{IPA-|la-x-classic|ˈpuːbliʊs wɛrˈɡɪliʊs ˈmaroː|classicallang|link=yes}}; traditional dates 15 October 70 BC{{snd}}21 September 19 BC), usually called '''Virgil''' or '''Vergil''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|v|ɜːr|dʒ|ɪ|l}} {{respell|VUR|jil}}) in English, was an [[ancient Rome|ancient Roman]] poet of the [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan period]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Peter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JKBIrIOR4PcC&pg=PA1|title=Reading Virgil: Aeneid I and II|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0521768665|pages=1, 4|language=en|access-date=23 November 2016}}</ref> He composed three of the most famous poems in [[Latin literature]]: the ''[[Eclogues]]'' (or ''Bucolics''), the ''[[Georgics]]'', and the [[Epic poetry|epic]] ''[[Aeneid]]''. A number of minor poems, collected in the ''[[Appendix Vergiliana]]'', were attributed to him in ancient times, but modern scholars consider his authorship of these poems to be MYdubious.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bunson|first1=Matthew|title=Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1438110271|page=28|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5tic2VunRoC&pg=PA28|access-date=15 July 2021|language=en|year=2014|archive-date=26 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164820/https://books.google.com/books?id=T5tic2VunRoC&pg=PA28|url-status=live}}</ref>

Virgil's work has had great influence on [[Western literature]], most notably [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]]'s ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', in which Virgil appears as the author's guide through [[Hell]] and [[Purgatory]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ruud|first1=Jay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hqc5tXPUjI0C&pg=PA376|title=Critical Companion to Dante|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-1438108414|page=376|language=en|access-date=23 November 2016}}</ref> Virgil has been traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. HisSince its composition, his ''Aeneid'' ishas alsobeen considered athe [[national epic]] of [[ancient Rome]],.<ref>{{Cite aweb |title=The heldRoman sinceEmpire: compositionin the First Century. The Roman Empire. Writers. Virgil {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/virgil.html |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=www.pbs.org |archive-date=8 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240108215146/https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/virgil.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to these accounts, Publius Vergilius Maro was born in the village of [[Virgilio, Lombardy|Andes]], near [[Mantua]]<ref group="lower-roman">The [[epitaph]] on his tomb in [[Posillipo|Posilipo]] near [[Naples]] read ''{{lang|la|Mantua me genuit; Calabri rapuere; tenet nunc Parthenope. Cecini pascua, rura, duces}}'' ("Mantua gave birth to me, the Calabrians took me, now Naples holds me; I sang of pastures [the Eclogues], country [the Georgics], and leaders [the Aeneid]").</ref> in [[Cisalpine Gaul]] ([[northern Italy]], added to [[Roman Italy|Italy proper]] during his lifetime).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gottwein.de/latine/map/it_cis01.jpg |title=Map of Cisalpine Gaul |website=gottwein.de |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528150009/http://www.gottwein.de/latine/map/it_cis01.jpg |archive-date=28 May 2008}}</ref> Analysis of his name has led some to believe that he descended from earlier Roman colonists. Modern speculation is not supported by narrative evidence from his writings or his later biographers. [[Macrobius]] says that Virgil's father was of a humble background, though scholars generally believe that Virgil was from an [[Roman aristocracy#The ordo equester under AugustusEquites|equestrian]] landowning family who could afford to give him an education. He attended schools in [[Cremona]], [[Mediolanum]], Rome, and [[Naples]]. After briefly considering a career in [[rhetoric]] and law, the young Virgil turned his talents to poetry.<ref>Damen, Mark. [2002] 2004. "[http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320AncLit/chapters/11verg.htm Vergil and 'The Aeneid']." Ch. 11 in ''A Guide to Writing in History and Classics''. [[Utah State University]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20170216160433/http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320AncLit/chapters/11verg.htm Archived] from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2020.</ref>

}}</ref> claim that today's consideration for ancient ''Andes'' should be sought in the area ([[Casalpoglio]]) area of [[Castel Goffredo]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Gualtierotti |first=Piero |date=2008 |title=Castel Goffredo dalle origini ai Gonzaga |location=Mantua |language=it |pages=96–100 }}</ref>

The biographical tradition asserts that Virgil began the hexameter ''[[Eclogues]]'' (or ''Bucolics'') in 42 BC and it is thought that the collection was published around 39–38 BC, although this is controversial.<ref name="Fowler, pg.1603" />{{Rp|1602}} The ''Eclogues'' (from the Greek for "selections") are a group of ten poems roughly modeled on the [[bucolic]] (that is, "pastoral" or "rural") poetry of the Hellenistic poet [[Theocritus]], which were written in [[dactylic hexameter]]. After defeating the army led by the [[Assassination of Julius Caesar|assassins]] of [[Julius Caesar]] in the [[Battle of Philippi]] (42 BC), [[Octavian]] tried to pay off his veterans with land expropriated from towns in northern Italy, which—according to tradition—included an estate near Mantua belonging to Virgil. The loss of Virgil's family farm and the attempt through poetic petitions to regain his property have traditionally been seen as his motives in the composition of the ''Eclogues''. This is now thought to be an unsupported inference from interpretations of the ''Eclogues''. In ''Eclogues'' 1 and 9, Virgil indeed dramatizes the contrasting feelings caused by the brutality of the land expropriations through pastoral idiom but offers no indisputable evidence of the supposed biographic incident. While some readers have identified the poet himself with various characters and their vicissitudes, whether gratitude by an old rustic to a new god (''Ecl''. 1), frustrated love by a rustic singer for a distant boy (his master's pet, ''Ecl''. 2), or a master singer's claim to have composed several eclogues (''Ecl''. 5), modern scholars largely reject such efforts to garner biographical details from works of fiction, preferring to interpret an author's characters and themes as illustrations of contemporary life and thought.

[[File:Horace, Virgil and Varius at the house of Maecenas.jpg|thumb|175x140pxupright=1.3|right|[[Quintus Horatius Flaccus|Horace]], Virgil and [[Lucius Varius Rufus|Varius]] at the house of [[Gaius Maecenas|Maecenas]], by [[Charles Jalabert]].]]

[[File:Przygotowanie narzędzi rolniczych.jpg|thumb|upright=1.89|Late 17th-century illustration of a passage from the ''Georgics'', by [[Jerzy Siemiginowski-Eleuter]].]]

The tone of the ''Georgics'' tone wavers between optimism and pessimism, sparking critical debate on the poet's intentions,<ref name="Fowler, pg.1603" />{{Rp|1605}} but the work lays the foundations for later didactic poetry. Virgil and Maecenas are said to have taken turns reading the ''Georgics'' to Octavian upon his return from defeating Antony and [[Cleopatra]] at the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BC.

Virgil worked on the ''Aeneid'' during the last eleven years of his life (29–19 BC), commissioned, according to [[Propertius]], by [[Augustus]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Avery|first1=W. T.|year=1957|title=Augustus and the "Aeneid"|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=52|issue=5|pages=225–29}}</ref> The epic poem consists of 12 books in [[dactylic hexameter]] verse which describe the journey of [[Aeneas]], a warrior fleeing the sack of Troy, to Italy, his battle with the Italian prince Turnus, and the foundation of a city from which Rome would emerge. The ''Aeneid''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first six books describe the journey of Aeneas from Troy to Rome. Virgil made use of several models in the composition of his epic;<ref name="Fowler, pg.1603" />{{Rp|1603}} Homer, the pre-eminent author of classical epic, is everywhere present, but Virgil also makes special use of the Latin poet [[Ennius]] and the Hellenistic poet [[Apollonius of Rhodes]] among the various other writers to whichwhom he alludes. Although the ''Aeneid'' casts itself firmly into the epic mode, it often seeks to expand the genre by including elements of other genres, such as tragedy and aetiological poetry. Ancient commentators noted that Virgil seems to divide the ''Aeneid'' into two sections based on the poetry of Homer; the first six books were viewed as employing the ''[[Odyssey]]'' as a model while the last six were connected to the ''[[Iliad]]''.<ref>Jenkyns, p. 53</ref>

The works of Virgil almost from the moment of their publication revolutionized [[Latin poetry]]. The ''Eclogues'', ''Georgics'', and above all the ''Aeneid'' became standard texts in school curricula with which all educated Romans were familiar. Poets following Virgil often refer intertextually to his works to generate meaning in their own poetry. The Augustan poet [[Ovid]] parodies the opening lines of the ''Aeneid'' in ''[[Amores (Ovid)|Amores]]'' 1.1.1–2, and his summary of the Aeneas story in Book 14 of the ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', the so-called "mini-Aeneid", has been viewed as a particularly important example of post-Virgilian response to the epic genre. [[Lucan]]'s epic, the ''[[Pharsalia|Bellum Civile]]'', has been considered an anti-Virgilian epic, disposing of the divine mechanism, treating historical events, and diverging drastically from Virgilian epic practice. The Flavian-era poet [[Statius]] in his 12-book epic ''Thebaid'' engages closely with the poetry of Virgil; in his epilogue he advises his poem not to "rival the divine ''Aeneid'', but follow afar and ever venerate its footsteps."<ref>Theb.12.816–817</ref>

In [[Silius Italicus]], Virgil finds one of his most ardent admirers in [[Silius Italicus]]. With almost every line of his epic ''[[Punica (poem)|Punica]]'', Silius references Virgil. Indeed, Silius is known to have bought and restored Virgil's tomb and worshipped the poet.<ref>Pliny ''Ep''. 3.7.8</ref>

Partially as a result of his so-called "Messianic" [[Eclogue 4|Fourth Eclogue]]{{snd}}widely interpreted later to have predicted the [[Nativity of Jesus|birth of Jesus Christ]]{{snd}}Virgil was in later antiquity imputed to have the magical abilities of a seer; the ''[[Sortes Vergilianae]]'', the process of using Virgil's poetry as a tool of divination, is found in the time of [[Hadrian]], and continued into the Middle Ages. In a similar vein Macrobius in the ''[[Macrobius#Saturnalia|Saturnalia]]'' credits the work of Virgil as the embodiment of human knowledge and experience, mirroring the Greek conception of Homer.<ref name="Fowler, pg.1603" />{{Rp|1603}} Virgil also found commentators in antiquity. [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], a commentator of the 4th century AD, based his work on the commentary of [[Aelius Donatus|Donatus]]. Servius's commentary provides us with a great deal of information about Virgil's life, sources, and references; however, many modern scholars find the variable quality of his work and the often simplistic interpretations frustrating.

The legend of "Virgil in his basket" arose in the [[Middle Ages]], and is often seen in art and mentioned in literature as part of the [[Power of Women]] [[literary topos]], demonstrating the disruptive force of female attractiveness on men. In this story Virgil became enamoredenamoured of a beautiful woman, sometimes described as the emperor's daughter or mistress and called Lucretia. She played him along and agreed to an assignation at her house, which he was to sneak into at night by climbing into a large basket let down from a window. When he did so he was hoisted only halfway up the wall and then left trapped there into the next day, exposed to public ridicule. The story paralleled that of [[Tale of Phyllis and Aristotle|Phyllis riding Aristotle]]. Among other artists depicting the scene, [[Lucas van Leyden]] made a [[woodcut]] and later an [[engraving]].<ref>[[James Snyder (art historian)|Snyder, James]]. 1985. ''Northern Renaissance Art''. US: [[Abrams Books|Harry N. Abrams]], {{ISBN|0136235964}}. pp. 461–62.</ref>

Possibly as early as the second century AD, Virgil's works were seen as having magical properties and were used for [[divination]]. In what became known as the ''[[Sortes Vergilianae]]'' ("Virgilian Lots"), passages would be selected at random and interpreted to answer questions.<ref name=Ziolkowskixxxiv>{{cite book|last1=Ziolkowski|first1=Jan M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MpsPueOp8cUC|title=The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years|last2=Putnam|first2=Michael C. J.|date=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300108224|page=xxxiv|access-date=11 November 2013}}</ref> In the 12th century, starting around [[Naples]] but eventually spreading widely throughout Europe, a tradition developed in which Virgil was regarded as a great [[Magician (paranormal)|magician]]. Legends about Virgil and his magical powers remained popular for over two hundred years, arguably becoming as prominent as his writings themselves.<ref name=Ziolkowskixxxiv/> Virgil's legacy in medieval [[Wales]] was such that the Welsh version of his name, ''[[Fferyllt]]'' or ''Pheryllt'', became a generic term for magic-worker, and survives in the modern Welsh word for pharmacist, ''fferyllydd''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ziolkowski|first1=Jan M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MpsPueOp8cUC|title=The Virgilian Tradition: The First Fifteen Hundred Years|last2=Putnam|first2=Michael C. J.|date=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300108224|pages=101–102|access-date=11 November 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Parco della Grotta di Posillipo3.jpg|alt=Tomb of Virgil in Naples, Italy|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Virgil's tomb|Tomb of Virgil]] in Naples, Italy]]

The structure known as "[[Virgil's tomb]]" is found at the entrance of an ancient Roman tunnel ({{lang|it|grotta vecchia}}) in [[Piedigrotta]], a district {{cvt|3|km|order=flip}} from the centre of [[Naples]], near the [[Mergellina]] harborharbour, on the road heading north along the coast to [[Pozzuoli]]. While Virgil was already the object of literary admiration and veneration before his death, in the Middle Ages his name became associated with miraculous powers, and for a couple of centuries his tomb was the destination of [[pilgrimage]]s and veneration.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_K0UJAAAAIAAJ| title=The Book of Days | publisher=W and R Chambers | author=Chambers, Robert | year=1832 | location=London | pages=366}}</ref>

* Farrell, J., and Michael C. J. Putnam, eds. 2010. ''A Companion to Vergil's Aeneid and Its Tradition'', (''Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World''). Chichester, MA: [[Wiley-Blackwell]].

* Fletcher, K. F. B. 2014. ''Finding Italy: Travel, Nation and Colonization in Vergil's 'Aeneid<nowiki>'</nowiki>''. Ann Arbor: [[University of Michigan Press]].

* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=P.+Vergilius+Maro Works of Virgil] at the [[Perseus Digital Library]]—Latin{{snd}}Latin texts, translations, and commentaries

* [http://www.intratext.com/Catalogo/Autori/AUT392.HTM Virgil's works]—text{{snd}}text, concordances, and frequency list.

** [http://hdl.handle.net/10550/23087 ''Publii Vergilii Maronis Opera''] Italy, 1470{{snd}}14991470–1499.

* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/suet-vergil.html Suetonius: ''The Life of Virgil'']—an{{snd}}an English translation.

* [http://www.lateinforum.de/vergil.htm Vergilian Chronology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070222085305/http://www.lateinforum.de/vergil.htm |date=22 February 2007 }} (in German).

* "[http://www.tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25345-2589259,00.html A new ''Aeneid'' for the 21st century]."—A{{snd}}A review of [[Robert Fagles]]'s new translation of the ''Aeneid'' in the [http://www.the-tls.co.uk TLS], 9 February 2007.

* [http://www.virgilmurder.org Virgilmurder]—Jean{{snd}}Jean-Yves Maleuvre's website setting forth his theory that Virgil was murdered by Augustus.

* [http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/AV/ The Secret History of Virgil]—contains{{snd}}contains selection on the magical legends and tall tales that circulated about Virgil in the Middle Ages.

* [http://thoughtcast.org/casts/virgils-georgics Interview] with Virgil scholar Richard Thomas and poet David Ferry, who recently translated the ''[[Georgics]]''—via{{snd}}via ''ThoughtCast''

* [http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/werner_vergil.html A selective Bibliographical Guide to Vergil's ''Aeneid''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181005162933/http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/werner_vergil.html |date=5 October 2018 }}