Vergil (P. Vergilius Maro): Life & Works

70 born near Mantua (Cisalpine Gaul)
Studies Epicureanism in Naples
42 family farm confiscated, then restored
?39/38 Eclogues

• Collection of ten poems
• Modelled on Gk. poet Theocritus (III BC)
• "Pastoral" mode: singing shepherds
• Setting: idyllic Arcadian countryside
• Political undertones
• 1 & 9: land confiscations
• 4: birth of 'messianic' child
• Leads to patronage by Maecenas

• Poem on farming in 4 books
• Model: Hesiod, Works & Days (c. 750 BC)
• Conclusion: Orpheus myth

• Unfinished & published posthumously
• Incomplete lines & "scaffolding"
• inauthentic (?) Helen episode (Book II)

Sources

• Foundation legend (Aeneas) > variant: Aeneas as Trojan traitor
• Aeneas & Dido: < Naevius's Punic War?
• Vergilian invention

Twelve books (= scrolls)

• (1-6) Odyssey + (7-12) Iliad
• (1-4) Carthage -> (5-8) Italy -> (9-12) War

• "Subjective style": involved narrator
• Cinematic style: non-continuous narrative (flashbacks); change of focus, perspective
• Incorporation of later history (prophecy, flashforwards, typology)

• What kind of hero is Aeneas?
• Augustan or anti-Augustan?
• Optimism or pessimism?