View source for Virgil

{{short description|1st-century-BC Roman poet}}
{{about|the ancient Roman poet|the grammarian|Virgilius Maro Grammaticus|other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| image            = Virgil mosaic in the Bardo National Museum (Tunis) (12241228546).jpg
| caption          = A 3rd-century Roman [[Virgil Mosaic|mosaic of Virgil]] seated between [[Clio]] and [[Melpomene]] (from [[Hadrumetum]] [Sousse], Tunisia)
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = Publius Vergilius Maro
| birth_date       = 15 October 70 BC
| birth_place      = Andes, [[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        = 
| notable_works    = ''[[Eclogues]]'' <br/> ''[[Georgics]]'' <br/> ''[[Aeneid]]''
}}

'''Publius Vergilius Maro''' ({{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈpuːbliʊs wɛrˈɡɪliʊs ˈmaroː|lang|link=yes}}; 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]]. He composed three of the most famous poems in [[Latin literature]]: the ''[[Eclogues]]'' (or ''Bucolics''), the ''[[Georgics]]'', and the [[Epic poetry|epic]] ''[[Aeneid]]''. Some minor poems, collected in the ''[[Appendix Vergiliana]]'', were attributed to him in ancient times, but modern scholars regard these as spurious, with the possible exception of a few short pieces.

Already acclaimed in his lifetime as a classic author, Virgil rapidly replaced [[Ennius]] and other earlier authors as a standard school text, and stood as the most popular Latin poet through late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and early modernity, exerting inestimable influence on all subsequent [[Western literature]]. [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] assigned Virgil a uniquely prominent position among all the celebrities of human history in ''[[The House of Fame]]'' (1374–85), describing him as standing ''on a pilere / that was of tinned yren clere'' ("on a pillar that was of bright tin-plated iron"), and in the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', in which Virgil appears as the author's guide through [[Hell]] and [[Purgatory]], [[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] pays tribute to Virgil with the words {{lang|it|tu se' solo colui da cu'io tolsi / lo bello stile che m'ha fatto onore}} (''Inf.'' I.86–7) ("thou art alone the one from whom I took the beautiful style that has done honour to me"). In the 20th Century, [[T. S. Eliot]] famously began a lecture on the subject "What Is a Classic?" by asserting as self-evidently true that "whatever the definition we arrive at, it cannot be one which excludes Virgil – we may say confidently that it must be one which will expressly reckon with him."<ref>{{cite book |last=Eliot |first=T. S. |editor1-last=Chinitz |editor1-first=David E. |editor2-last=Schuchard |editor2-first=Ronald |chapter=What Is a Classic? |title=The Complete Prose of T. S. Eliot: The Critical Edition |volume=6: The War Years, 1940–1946 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |pages=669–687}}</ref>

==Traditional biography==
===Biographical sources===
Biographical information about Virgil is transmitted chiefly in {{lang|la|vitae}} ('lives') of the poet prefixed to commentaries on his work by [[Marcus Valerius Probus|Probus]], [[Aelius Donatus|Donatus]], and [[Servius the Grammarian|Servius]]. The life given by Donatus is generally considered to closely reproduce the life of Virgil from a lost work of [[Suetonius]] on the lives of famous authors, just as Donatus used this source for the poet's life in his commentary on [[Terence]], where Suetonius is explicitly credited.{{sfn|Nettleship|1879|pp=28–31}}<ref name="Stok_Lives"/> The far shorter life given by Servius likewise seems to be an abridgement of Suetonius except for one or two statements.{{sfn|Nettleship|1879|p=31}} [[Lucius Varius Rufus|Varius]] is said to have written a memoir of his friend Virgil, and Suetonius likely drew on this lost work and other sources contemporary with the poet.{{sfn|Nettleship|1879|p=32}} A life written in verse by the grammarian Phocas (probably active in the 4th through 5th century AD) differs in some details from Donatus and Servius.<ref name="Stok_Lives"/> [[Henry Nettleship]] believed that the life attributed to Probus may have drawn independently from the same sources as Suetonius,{{sfn|Nettleship|1879|p=31}} but it is attributed by other authorities to an anonymous author of the 5th or 6th century AD who drew on Donatus, Servius, and Phocas.<ref name="Stok_Lives"/> The Servian life was the principal source of Virgil's biography for medieval readers, while the Donatian life enjoyed a more limited circulation, and the lives of Phocas and Probus remained largely unknown.<ref name="Stok_Lives">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Stok |first=Fabio |title=Lives |encyclopedia=The Virgil Encyclopedia |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2014 |pages=751–755 |doi=10.1002/9781118351352.wbve1235|isbn=978-1-4051-5498-7 }}</ref>
[[File:Parco della Grotta di Posillipo5 (crop).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Modern bust of Virgil at the entrance to his crypt in [[Naples]]]]

Although the commentaries record much factual information about Virgil, some of their evidence can be shown to rely on allegorizing and on inferences drawn from his poetry. For this reason, details regarding Virgil's life story are considered somewhat problematic.<ref name="Fowler, pg.1603">Fowler, Don. 1996. "Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro)." In ''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary|The Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'' (3rd ed.). Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]].</ref>{{Rp|1602}}

===Family and birth===

According to the ancient {{lang|la|vitae}}, Publius Vergilius Maro was born on the [[Ides (calendar)|Ides]] of October in the consulship of [[Pompey]] and [[Marcus Licinius Crassus|Crassus]] (15 October 70 BC) in the village of Andes, near [[Mantua]] 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>{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=1}}{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=73}} The Donatian life reports that some say Virgil's father was a potter, but most say he was an employee of an [[apparitor]] named Magius, whose daughter he married.{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=1}} According to Phocas and Probus, the name of Virgil's mother was [[Magia Polla]].{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=50}}{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=73}} The [[cognomen]] of Virgil's maternal family, ''Magius,'' and failure to distinguish the genitive form of this rare name (''Magi'') in Servius' life from the genitive ''magi'' of the noun ''magus'' ("magician"), probably contributed to the rise of the medieval legend that Virgil's father was employed by a certain itinerant magician, and that Virgil was a magician himself.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Morgan |first=John D. |title=Magius |encyclopedia=The Virgil Encyclopedia |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2014 |page=781 |doi=10.1002/9781118351352.wbve1289|isbn=978-1-4051-5498-7 }}</ref>{{sfn|Nettleship|1879|p=7}}

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.

====Site of Andes====

A tradition of obscure origin, which was accepted by Dante,<ref>''Purg.'' XVIII.83</ref> identifies Andes with modern [[Pietole]], two or three miles southeast of Mantua.{{sfn|Conway|1923|p=194}} The ancient biography attributed to [[Marcus Valerius Probus|Probus]] records that Andes was thirty [[Mile#Roman|Roman miles]] (about {{Convert|45|km|mi|abbr=|disp=or}}) from Mantua.{{sfn|Conway|1923|p=189}}{{sfn|Nettleship|1879|p=7}}{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=73}} There are eight or nine references to the ''[[gens]]'' to which Vergil belonged, [[Vergilia gens|''gens Vergilia'']], in inscriptions from [[Northern Italy]]. Out of these, four are from townships remote from Mantua, three appear in inscriptions from [[Verona]], and one in an inscription from [[Calvisano]], a [[votive offering]] to the [[Matres and Matronae|Matronae]] (a group of deities) by a woman called Vergilia, asking the goddesses to deliver from danger another woman, called Munatia.{{sfn|Conway|1923|p=190}} A tomb erected by a member of the [[Magia gens|''gens Magia'']], to which Virgil's mother belonged, is found at [[Casalpoglio]], just {{Convert|12|km|mi}} from Calvisano. In 1915, G. E. K. Braunholtz drew attention to the proximity of these inscriptions to each other, and the fact that Calvisano is exactly 30 Roman miles from Mantua,{{sfn|Braunholtz|1915|p=108}} which led [[Robert Seymour Conway]] to theorize that these inscriptions have to do with relatives of Virgil, and Calvisano or [[Carpenedolo]], not Pietole, is the site of Andes.{{sfn|Conway|1923|pp=190–4}} [[Edward Kennard Rand|E. K. Rand]] defended the traditional site at Pietole, noting that [[Egnazio]]'s 1507 edition of Probus' commentary, supposedly based on a "very ancient codex" from [[Bobbio Abbey]] which can no longer be found, says that Andes was three miles from Mantua, and arguing that this is the correct reading.{{sfn|Rand|1930|pp=123–4, 127–42}} Conway replied that Egnazio's manuscript cannot be trusted to have been as ancient as Egnazio claimed it was, nor can we be sure that the reading "three" is not Egnazio's own conjectural correction of his manuscript to harmonize it with the Pietole tradition, and all other evidence strongly favours the unanimous reading of the other witnesses of "thirty miles."{{sfn|Conway|1931|pp=71–5}} Other studies<ref>{{cite magazine
| last        = Nardoni
| first       = Davide
| date        = 1986
| title       = La terra di Virgilio
| language    = it
| magazine    = Archeologia Viva
| edition     = January–February
| pages       = 71–76
}}</ref> claim that today's consideration for ancient ''Andes'' should be sought in the Casalpoglio area of [[Castel Goffredo]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Gualtierotti |first=Piero |date=2008 |title=Castel Goffredo dalle origini ai Gonzaga|publisher=Banca di credito cooperativo di Castel Goffredo |location=Mantua |language=it |pages=96–100 }}</ref>

==== Spelling of name ====
By the fourth or fifth century AD the original spelling ''Vergilius'' had been changed to ''Virgilius'', and then the latter spelling spread to the modern European languages.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Comparetti|first1=Domenico|title=Vergil in the Middle Ages|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691026787|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-6wGE9Ylmj4C&pg=PR7|access-date=23 November 2016|language=en|year=1997}}</ref> This latter spelling persisted even though, as early as the 15th century, the classical scholar [[Poliziano]] had shown ''Vergilius'' to be the original spelling.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson-Okamura|first1=David Scott|title=Virgil in the Renaissance|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521198127|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WTaNUGscVhIC&pg=PA15|access-date=23 November 2016|language=en|year=2010}}</ref> Today, the [[anglicisation]]s ''Vergil'' and ''Virgil'' are both considered acceptable.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Winkler|first1=Anthony C.|last2=McCuen-Metherell|first2=Jo Ray|title=Writing the Research Paper: A Handbook|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1133169024|page=278|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PUMIAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA278|access-date=23 November 2016|language=en|year=2011}}</ref>

There is some speculation that the spelling ''Virgilius'' might have arisen due to a pun, since ''virg-'' carries an echo of the Latin word for 'wand' (''uirga''), Virgil being particularly associated with magic in the [[Middle Ages]]. There is also a possibility that ''virg-'' is meant to evoke the Latin ''virgo'' ('virgin'); this would be a reference to the [[Eclogue 4|fourth ''Eclogue'']], which has a history of Christian, and specifically [[Messianism|Messianic]], [[Christian interpretations of Virgil's Eclogue 4|interpretations]].<ref group="lower-roman">For more discussion on the spelling of Virgil's name, see Flickinger, R. C. 1930. "Vergil or Virgil?." ''[[The Classical Journal]]'' 25(9):658–60.</ref>

===Childhood and education===

Virgil spent his boyhood in [[Cremona]] until his 15th year (55 BC), when he is said to have received the ''[[toga virilis]]'' on the very day that [[Lucretius]] died.{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=2}} From Cremona, he moved to Milan, and shortly afterwards to Rome.{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=2}} 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> Despite the biographers statements that Virgil's family was of modest means, these accounts of his education, as well as of his ceremonial assumption of the ''toga virilis,'' suggest that his father was in fact a wealthy [[equites|equestrian]] landowner.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gordon |first=Mary L. |title=The Family of Vergil |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=24 |issue=1 |date=1934 |pages=1–12|doi=10.2307/297009 |jstor=297009 }}</ref>

He is said to have been tall and stout, with a swarthy complexion and a rustic appearance.{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=2}} Virgil also seems to have suffered bad health throughout his life and in some ways lived the life of an invalid. Schoolmates considered Virgil extremely shy and reserved, and he was nicknamed "Parthenias" ("virgin") because of his social aloofness.

===Poetic career===

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}} 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.<ref>Wilkinson, L. P. (1966). "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/4475419 Virgil and the Evictions]". ''Hermes'' '''94''' (3): 320–321.</ref>

Sometime after the publication of the ''Eclogues'' (probably before 37 BC),<ref name="Fowler, pg.1603"/>{{Rp|1603}} Virgil became part of the circle of [[Maecenas]], Octavian's capable ''agent d'affaires'' who sought to counter sympathy for Antony among the leading families by rallying Roman literary figures to Octavian's side. Virgil came to know many of the other leading literary figures of the time, including [[Horace]], in whose poetry he is often mentioned,<ref>[[Horace]], ''[[Satires (Horace)|Satires]]'' 1.5, 1.6; Horace, [[Odes (Horace)|''Odes'']] 1.3</ref> and [[Varius Rufus]], who later helped finish the ''Aeneid''.

At Maecenas's insistence (according to the tradition) Virgil spent the ensuing years (perhaps 37–29 BC) on the long [[dactylic hexameter]] poem called the ''[[Georgics]]'' (from Greek, "On Working the Earth"), which he dedicated to Maecenas.

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> According to the tradition, Virgil traveled to the [[senatorial province]] of [[Achaea (Roman province)|Achaea]] in Greece in about 19 BC to revise the ''Aeneid''. After meeting Augustus in Athens and deciding to return home, Virgil caught a fever while visiting a town near [[Megara]]. After crossing to Italy by ship, weakened with disease, Virgil died in [[Apulia]] on 21 September 19 BC. Augustus ordered Virgil's literary executors, [[Lucius Varius Rufus]] and [[Plotius Tucca]], to disregard Virgil's own wish [[Book burning#Posthumous destruction of works|that the poem be burned]], instead ordering it to be published with as few editorial changes as possible.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Virgil|volume=28|pages=111–116|last1=Sellar|first1=William Young |author-link1=William Young Sellar |last2=Glover|first2=Terrot Reaveley|author2-link=Terrot Reaveley Glover|last3=Bryant|first3=Margaret}}</ref>{{rp|112}}

==== Burial and tomb ====
[[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]]

After his death at [[Brundisium]] according to Donatus,{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=8}} or at [[Taranto]] according to some late manuscripts of Servius,{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=72}} Virgil's remains were transported to [[Naples]], where his tomb was engraved with an epitaph that he himself composed: ''{{lang|la|Mantua me genuit; Calabri rapuere; tenet nunc Parthenope. Cecini pascua, rura, duces}}'';{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=8}}{{sfn|Brummer|1912|p=72}} "[[Mantua]] gave me life, the [[Salento|Calabrians]] took it away, Naples holds me now; I sang of pastures, farms, and commanders." (transl. [[Bernard Knox]]) [[Martial]] reports that [[Silius Italicus]] annexed the site to his estate (11.48, 11.50), and [[Pliny the Younger]] says that Silius "would visit Virgil's tomb as if it were a temple" (''Epistulae'' 3.7.8).<ref name="Berenbeim_Tomb">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Berenbeim |first=Jessica |title=Virgil, tomb of |encyclopedia=The Virgil Encyclopedia |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2014 |page=1361 |doi=10.1002/9781118351352.wbve2205|isbn=978-1-4051-5498-7 }}</ref>

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]] harbour, 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> Through the nineteenth century, the supposed tomb regularly attracted travellers on the [[Grand Tour]], and it still draws visitors today.<ref name="Berenbeim_Tomb"/>

==Works==
===Early works===
{{Main article| Appendix Vergiliana}}
According to the commentators, Virgil received his first education when he was five years old and later went to [[Cremona]], [[Milan]], and finally [[Rome]] to study [[rhetoric]], [[medicine]], and [[astronomy]], which he would abandon for philosophy. From Virgil's admiring references to the [[neoteric]] writers [[Gaius Asinius Pollio (consul 40 BC)|Pollio]] and [[Helvius Cinna|Cinna]], it has been inferred that he was, for a time, associated with [[Catullus]]'s neoteric circle. According to the ''[[Appendix Vergiliana#Catalepton ("Trifles")|Catalepton]]'', he began to write poetry while in the [[Epicurean]] school of [[Siro the Epicurean|Siro]] in Naples. A group of small works attributed to the youthful Virgil by the commentators survive collected under the title ''[[Appendix Vergiliana]]'', but are largely considered spurious by scholars. One, the ''Catalepton'', consists of fourteen short poems,<ref name="Fowler, pg.1603" />{{Rp|1602}} some of which may be Virgil's, and another, a short narrative poem titled the ''[[Appendix Vergiliana#Culex ("The Gnat")|Culex]]'' ("The Gnat"), was attributed to Virgil as early as the 1st century AD.

===''Eclogues''===
{{Main article| Eclogues}}
[[File:RomanVirgilFolio001rEclogues.jpg|thumb|Page from the beginning of the ''Eclogues'' in the 5th-century ''Vergilius Romanus'']]

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]]. 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.

The ten ''Eclogues'' present traditional pastoral themes with a fresh perspective. Eclogues 1 and 9 address the land confiscations and their effects on the Italian countryside. 2 and 3 are pastoral and erotic, discussing both homosexual love (''Ecl''. 2) and attraction toward people of any gender (''Ecl''. 3). [[Eclogue 4|''Eclogue'' 4]], addressed to [[Asinius Pollio]], the so-called "Messianic Eclogue", uses the imagery of the golden age in connection with the birth of a child (who the child was meant to be has been subject to debate). 5 and 8 describe the myth of [[Daphnis]] in a song contest, 6, the cosmic and mythological song of [[Silenus]]; 7, a heated poetic contest, and 10 the sufferings of the contemporary elegiac poet [[Cornelius Gallus]]. Virgil in his ''Eclogues'' is credited with establishing [[Arcadia (utopia)|Arcadia]] as a poetic ideal that still resonates in Western literature and visual arts<ref>{{cite book |last1=Snell |first1=Bruno |title=The Discovery of the Mind: the Greek Origins of European Thought |date=1960 |publisher=Harper |pages=281–282}}</ref> and with setting the stage for the development of Latin pastoral by [[Calpurnius Siculus]], [[Nemesianus]] and later writers.

===''Georgics''===
{{Main|Georgics}}
[[File:Horace, Virgil and Varius at the house of Maecenas.jpg|thumb|[[Horace]], Virgil and [[Lucius Varius Rufus|Varius]] at the house of [[Gaius Maecenas|Maecenas]], by [[Charles Jalabert]]]]
[[File:Przygotowanie narzędzi rolniczych.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|1680s illustration of a passage from the ''Georgics'', by [[Jerzy Siemiginowski-Eleuter]]]]

The ostensible theme of the ''Georgics'' is instruction in the methods of running a farm. In handling this theme, Virgil follows in the [[didactic]] ("how to") tradition of the Greek poet [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Works and Days]]'' and works of the later Hellenistic poets.

The four books of the ''Georgics'' focus respectively on:
# raising crops;
# raising trees;
# livestock and horses;
# beekeeping and the qualities of bees.<ref>Virgil. [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Eclogues_and_Georgics_(Mackail_1910)/Georgics_4 ''Georgics'', Book IV], trans. J. W. Mackail. ''Wikisource''. Retrieved 20 June 2025.</ref>

Well-known passages include the beloved ''Laus Italiae'' of Book 2, the prologue description of the temple in Book 3, and the description of the plague at the end of Book 3. Book 4 concludes with a long mythological narrative, in the form of an ''[[epyllion]]'', which describes vividly the discovery of beekeeping by [[Aristaeus]], and the story of [[Orpheus]]' journey to the underworld. Ancient scholars, such as Servius, conjectured that the Aristaeus episode replaced, at the emperor's request, a long section in praise of Virgil's friend, the poet Gallus, who was disgraced by [[Augustus]], and who committed suicide in 26 BC.<ref>Cassius Dio. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/53*.html#23 ''Roman History'', LIII, 23], trans. Earnest Cary. ''[[LacusCurtius]]''. Retrieved 20 June 2025.</ref>

The tone of the ''Georgics'' 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.

===''Aeneid''===
{{Main|Aeneid}}
The ''Aeneid'' is widely considered Virgil's finest work, and is regarded as one of the most important poems in the history of Western literature ([[T. S. Eliot]] referred to it as 'the classic of all Europe').<ref>[[T. S. Eliot|Eliot, T. S.]] 1944. [http://bracchiumforte.com/PDFs/tseliot.pdf ''What Is a Classic?''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115123753/http://bracchiumforte.com/PDFs/tseliot.pdf |date=15 November 2019 }}. London: [[Faber & Faber]].</ref> The work (modelled after [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'') chronicles a refugee of the [[Trojan War]], named [[Aeneas]], as he struggles to fulfill his destiny. His intentions are to reach Italy, where his descendants [[Romulus and Remus]] are to found the city of Rome.
[[File:Terracotta Aeneas MAN Naples 110338.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.7|A 1st-century terracotta expressing the ''[[pietas]]'' of Aeneas, who carries his aged father and leads his young son]]

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 whom 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>

Book 1<ref group="lower-roman">For a succinct summary, see [http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/aeneid.htm Globalnet.co.uk] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091218115544/http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/aeneid.htm |date=18 December 2009 }}</ref> (at the head of the Odyssean section) opens with a storm which [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], Aeneas's enemy throughout the poem, stirs up against the fleet. The storm drives the hero to the coast of [[Carthage]], which historically was Rome's deadliest foe. The queen, [[Dido (Queen of Carthage)|Dido]], welcomes the ancestor of the Romans, and under the influence of the gods falls deeply in love with him. At a banquet in Book 2, Aeneas tells the story of the sack of [[Troy]], the death of his wife, and his escape, to the enthralled Carthaginians, while in Book 3 he recounts to them his wanderings over the Mediterranean in search of a suitable new home. [[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]] in Book 4 recalls the lingering Aeneas to his duty to found a new city, and he slips away from Carthage, leaving Dido to commit suicide, cursing Aeneas and calling down revenge in symbolic anticipation of the fierce wars between Carthage and Rome. In Book 5, funeral games are celebrated for Aeneas's father [[Anchises]], who had died a year before. On reaching [[Cumae]], in Italy in Book 6, Aeneas consults the [[Cumaean Sibyl]], who conducts him through the [[Underworld]] where Aeneas meets the dead Anchises who reveals Rome's destiny to his son.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Virgil |author-link=Virgil |last2=Fitzgerald |first2=Robert (trans.) |title=The Aeneid |publisher=Random House |location=New York |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-394-52827-4|page=6.1203–1210.}} </ref>

Book 7 (beginning the Iliadic half) opens with an address to the muse and recounts Aeneas's arrival in Italy and betrothal to [[Lavinia]], daughter of King [[Latinus]]. Lavinia had already been promised to [[Turnus]], the king of the [[Rutuli]]ans, who is roused to war by the [[Erinyes|Fury]] [[Allecto]] and [[Amata]], Lavinia's mother. In Book 8, Aeneas allies with [[Evander of Pallene|King Evander]], who occupies the future site of Rome, and is given new armor and a shield depicting Roman history. Book 9 records an assault by [[Nisus and Euryalus]] on the Rutulians; Book 10, the death of Evander's young son [[Pallas (son of Evander)|Pallas]]; and 11 the death of the Volscian warrior princess [[Camilla (mythology)|Camilla]] and the decision to settle the war with a duel between Aeneas and Turnus. The ''Aeneid'' ends in Book 12 with the taking of Latinus's city, the death of Amata, and Aeneas's defeat and killing of Turnus, whose pleas for mercy are spurned. The final book ends with the image of Turnus's soul lamenting as it flees to the underworld.

===Reception of the ''Aeneid''===
<!-- {{main|Reception of the Aeneid}} -->
[[File:Virgil Reading the Aeneid.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|''Virgil Reading the'' Aeneid ''to Augustus, Octavia, and Livia'' by [[Jean-Baptiste Wicar]], Art Institute of Chicago]]

Critics of the ''Aeneid'' focus on a variety of issues.<ref group="lower-roman">For a bibliography and summary see Fowler, pp. 1605–1606</ref> The tone of the poem as a whole is a particular matter of debate; some see the poem as ultimately pessimistic and politically subversive to the Augustan regime, while others view it as a celebration of the new imperial dynasty. Virgil makes use of the symbolism of the Augustan regime, and some scholars see strong associations between Augustus and Aeneas, the one as founder and the other as re-founder of Rome. A strong [[teleology]], or drive towards a climax, has been detected in the poem. The ''Aeneid'' is full of prophecies about the future of Rome, the deeds of Augustus, his ancestors, and famous Romans, and the [[Carthaginian Wars]]; the shield of Aeneas even depicts Augustus's victory at [[Battle of Actium|Actium]] against [[Mark Antony]] and [[Cleopatra VII]] in 31 BC. A further focus of study is the character of Aeneas. As the protagonist of the poem, Aeneas seems to waver constantly between his emotions and commitment to his prophetic duty to found Rome; critics note the breakdown of Aeneas's emotional control in the last sections of the poem where the "pious" and "righteous" Aeneas mercilessly slaughters Turnus.

The ''Aeneid'' appears to have been a great success. Virgil is said to have recited Books 2, 4, and 6 to Augustus;<ref name="Fowler, pg.1603" />{{Rp|1603}} and Book 6 apparently caused the emperor's sister [[Octavia the Younger|Octavia]] to faint. Although the truth of this claim is subject to scholarly skepticism, it has served as a basis for later art, such as [[Jean-Baptiste Wicar]]'s ''Virgil Reading the Aeneid''.

Some lines of the poem were left unfinished, and the whole was unedited, at Virgil's death in 19 BC. As a result, the text of the ''Aeneid'' that exists may contain faults which Virgil was planning to correct before publication. However, the only obvious imperfections are a few lines of verse that are metrically unfinished (i.e. not a complete line of [[dactylic hexameter]]). Some scholars have argued that Virgil deliberately left these metrically incomplete lines for dramatic effect.<ref>Miller, F. J. 1909. "Evidences of Incompleteness in the "Aeneid" of Vergil." ''[[The Classical Journal]]'' 4(11):341–55. {{JSTOR|3287376}}.</ref> Other alleged imperfections are subject to scholarly debate.

== Legacy and reception ==

=== Antiquity ===
[[File:RomanVirgilFolio014rVergilPortrait.jpg|thumb|A 5th-century portrait of Virgil from the [[Vergilius Romanus]]]]

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 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> Virgil finds one of his most ardent admirers in [[Silius Italicus]]. With almost every line of his epic ''[[Punica (poem)|Punica]]'', Silius references Virgil.

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.

=== Late antiquity ===

[[File:Vergil tomb inscription.jpg|alt=The verse inscription at Virgil's tomb.|thumb|The verse inscription at Virgil's tomb was supposedly composed by the poet himself: ''Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope. Cecini pascua, rura, duces.'' ("[[Mantua]] gave me life, the [[Salento|Calabrians]] took it away, [[Naples]] holds me now; I sang of pastures, farms, and commanders" [transl. [[Bernard Knox]]])]]
Even as the Western Roman Empire collapsed, literate men acknowledged that Virgil was a master poet – [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]], for example, confessing how he had wept at reading the death of Dido.<ref>K. W. Gransden, ''Virgil: The Aeneid'' (Cambridge 1990), p. 105.</ref> The best-known surviving manuscripts of Virgil's works include manuscripts from late antiquity such as the ''[[Vergilius Augusteus]]'', the ''[[Vergilius Vaticanus]]'' and the ''[[Vergilius Romanus]]''.

=== Middle Ages ===
[[Gregory of Tours]] read Virgil, whom he quotes in several places, along with some other Latin poets, though he cautions that "we ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death".<ref>{{cite book|author=Gregory of Tours|year=1916|title=The History of the Franks|translator-first=E.|translator-last=Brehaut|location=New York|publisher=Columbia University Press|oclc=560532077|page=xiii}}</ref> In the [[Renaissance of the 12th century]], [[Alexander Neckham]] placed the "divine" ''Aeneid'' on his standard arts curriculum,<ref>[[Helen Waddell]], ''The Wandering Scholars'' (Fontana 1968), p. 19.</ref> and Dido became the romantic heroine of the age.<ref>Waddell, pp. 22–3.</ref> Monks like [[Maiolus of Cluny]] might repudiate what they called "the luxurious eloquence of Virgil",<ref>Waddell, p. 101.</ref> but they could not deny the power of his appeal.

==== Dante's ''Divine Comedy'' ====
[[File:Lucas van Leyden 034.jpg|thumb|''Virgil in His Basket'', [[Lucas van Leyden]], 1525]]
[[Dante Alighieri|Dante]] presents Virgil as his guide through [[Inferno (Dante)|Hell]] and the greater part of [[Purgatorio|Purgatory]] in the ''[[Divine Comedy]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Divine Comedy (The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso)|last=Alighieri|first=Dante|publisher=Berkley|year=2003|isbn=978-0451208637|location=New York}}</ref> Dante also mentions Virgil in ''[[De vulgari eloquentia]]'', as one of the four ''regulati poetae'' along with [[Ovid]], [[Marcus Annaeus Lucanus|Lucan]] and [[Statius]] (ii, vi, 7).

=== Renaissance and early modernity ===
The Renaissance saw a number of authors inspired to write epic in Virgil's wake: [[Edmund Spenser]] called himself the English Virgil; ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' was influenced by the example of the ''Aeneid''; and later artists influenced by Virgil include [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]] and [[Hermann Broch]].<ref>Gransden, pp. 108–111.</ref>

===Legends===
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 enamoured 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>

In the Middle Ages, Virgil's reputation was such that it inspired legends associating him with magic and prophecy. From at least the 3rd century, Christian thinkers interpreted [[Eclogue 4|''Eclogue'' 4]], which describes the birth of a boy ushering in a golden age, as a prediction of [[Nativity of Jesus|Jesus's birth]]. In consequence, Virgil came to be seen on a similar level to the [[Bible prophecy|Hebrew prophets of the Bible]] as one who had heralded Christianity.<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=xxxiv-xxxv|access-date=11 November 2013}}</ref> Relatedly, ''[[The Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' argues that medieval legends about the [[golem]] may have been inspired by Virgilian legends about the poet's apocryphal power to bring inanimate objects to life.<ref>{{Jewish Encyclopedia |no-prescript=1 |title=Golem}}</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>

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|35em|group=lower-roman}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist|23em}}

===Works cited===
* {{cite journal |last=Braunholtz |first=G. E. K. |title=The Nationality of Vergil |journal=The Classical Review |volume=29 |issue=4 |date=June 1915 |pages=104–110 |doi=10.1017/S0009840X00048368 |jstor=696876}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Brummer |editor-first=Jacob |title=Vitae Vergilianae |location=Leipzig |publisher=B. G. Teubner |year=1912 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iqkNAAAAIAAJ}}
* {{cite journal |last=Conway |first=R. S. |author-link=Robert Seymour Conway |title=Where Was Vergil's Farm? |journal=Bulletin of the John Rylands Library |volume=7 |issue=2 |date=January 1923 |pages=184–210 |doi=10.7227/BJRL.7.2.2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m2caAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA184|url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite journal |last=Conway |first=R. S. |title=Further Considerations on the Site of Vergil's Farm |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=25 |issue=2 |date=April 1931 |pages=65–76 |doi=10.1017/S0009838800013483}}
* {{cite book |last=Nettleship |first=H. |author-link=Henry Nettleship |title=Ancient Lives of Vergil |location=Oxford |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1879 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_STSsb7otPcC}}
* {{cite book |last=Rand |first=Edward Kennard |author-link=Edward Kennard Rand |title=In Quest of Virgil's Birthplace |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1930 |isbn=978-0-674-42874-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKAyAQAAIAAJ}}

==Further reading==
* Anderson, W. S., and L. N. Quartarone. 2002. ''Approaches to Teaching Vergil's Aeneid''. New York: [[Modern Language Association]].
* Buckham, Philip Wentworth, Joseph Spence, Edward Holdsworth, William Warburton, and John Jortin. 1825. [https://archive.org/details/miscellaneavirg00jortgoog ''Miscellanea Virgiliana: In Scriptis Maxime Eruditorum Virorum Varie Dispersa, in Unum Fasciculum Collecta'']. Cambridge: Printed for W. P. Grant.
* Conway, R. S. [1914] 1915. "[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t6445ps8d&view=1up&seq=5 The Youth of Vergil]." ''[[Bulletin of the John Rylands Library]]'' July 1915.
* {{cite book |last=Conway |first=Robert Seymour |title=Harvard Lectures on the Vergilian Age |location=Cambridge, MA |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1928 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUt-rtli_V0C}}
* Farrell, J. 1991. ''Vergil's Georgics and the Traditions of Ancient Epic: The Art of Allusion in Literary History''. New York: [[Oxford University Press]].
* —2001. "The Vergilian Century." ''Vergilius (1959–)'' 47:11–28. {{JSTOR|41587251}}.
* 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]].
* Hardie, Philip R., ed. 1999. ''Virgil: Critical Assessments of Ancient Authors'' 1–4. New York: [[Routledge]].
* Henkel, John. 2014. "Vergil Talks Technique: Metapoetic Arboriculture in 'Georgics' 2." ''Vergilius (1959–)'' 60:33–66. {{JSTOR|43185985}}.
* Horsfall, N. 2016. ''The Epic Distilled: Studies in the Composition of the Aeneid''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*{{cite book |last1=Keith |first1=Alison |last2=Myers |first2=Micah Y. |title=Vergil and Elegy |date=2023 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |isbn=9781487547950}}
* Mack, S. 1978. ''Patterns of Time in Vergil''. Hamden: Archon Books.
* Panoussi, V. 2009. ''Greek Tragedy in Vergil's "Aeneid": Ritual, Empire, and Intertext''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Quinn, S., ed. 2000. ''Why Vergil? A Collection of Interpretations''. Wauconda: Bolchazy-Carducci.
* Rossi, A. 2004. ''Contexts of War: Manipulation of Genre in Virgilian Battle Narrative''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
* Sondrup, Steven P. 2009. "Virgil: From Farms to Empire: Kierkegaard's Understanding of a Roman Poet." In ''Kierkegaard and the Roman World'', edited by J. B. Stewart. Farnham: [[Ashgate Publishing|Ashgate]].
* Syed, Y. 2005. ''Vergil's Aeneid and the Roman Self: Subject and Nation in Literary Discourse''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
* [[Antonia Syson|Syson, A.]] 2013. ''Fama and Fiction in Vergil's 'Aeneid'''. Columbus: [[Ohio State University Press]].
==External links==
{{Sister project links|b=no|s=Author:Virgil}}
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Virgil
  |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}
'''Collected works'''
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/virgil}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=129}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=("Virgil" OR "Vergil" OR "Publius Vergilius Maro")}}
* {{Librivox author |id=6359}}
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=P.+Vergilius+Maro Works of Virgil] at the [[Perseus Digital Library]]{{snd}}Latin texts, translations, and commentaries
** ''Aeneid'', ''[[Eclogues]]'', and ''[[Georgics]]'' translated by J. C. Greenough, 1900
** ''[[Aeneid]]'', translated by T. C. Williams, 1910
** ''—'' translated by [[John Dryden]], 1697
* [http://www.theoi.com/Text/VirgilEclogues.html Works of Virgil] at [[Theoi Project]]
** ''Aeneid'', ''Eclogues'' and'' Georgics'', translated by H. R. Fairclough, 1916
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/virgil/index.htm Works of Virgil] at [[Internet Sacred Text Archive|Internet Sacred Texts Archive]]
** ''Aeneid'', translated by John Dryden, 1697
** ''Eclogues'' and ''Georgics'', translated by [[John William Mackail|J. W. MacKail]], 1934
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/verg.html P. Vergilius Maro] at [[The Latin Library]]
* [http://www.intratext.com/Catalogo/Autori/AUT392.HTM Virgil's works]{{snd}}text, concordances, and frequency list.
* [http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Virgilhome.htm Virgil: The Major Texts]: contemporary, line-by-line English translations of ''Eclogues'', ''Georgics'', and ''Aeneid''.
* [http://roderic.uv.es/handle/10550/2407/browse?value=Virgili+Mar%C3%B3%2C+Publi%2C+70-19+aC&type=author  Virgil] in the collection of [[Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria]] at [http://roderic.uv.es/handle/10550/43 Somni]:
** [http://hdl.handle.net/10550/16827 ''Publii Vergilii Maronis Opera''] Naples and Milan, 1450.
** [http://hdl.handle.net/10550/23087 ''Publii Vergilii Maronis Opera''] Italy, 1470–1499.
** [http://hdl.handle.net/10550/23142 ''Publii Vergilii Maronis Opera''] Milan, 1465.
* [http://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0023/html/lewis_e_198.html Lewis E 198 Opera at OPenn]
'''Biography'''
* [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/suet-vergil.html Suetonius: ''The Life of Virgil'']{{snd}}an English translation.
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030724230122/http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/donatus_vita.html ''Vita Vergiliana'']}} [''The'' ''Life of Virgil''] by [[Aelius Donatus]] (in original Latin).
* Aelius Donatus's [http://www.virgil.org/vitae/a-donatus.htm ''Life of Virgil''], translated by David Wilson-Okamura
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10960 ''Vergil – A Biography''] (Project Gutenberg ed.), by [[Tenney Frank]].
* [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).
'''Commentary'''
* [http://vergil.classics.upenn.edu/ The Vergil Project].
* "[https://www.news.co.uk/ A new ''Aeneid'' for the 21st century]."{{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]{{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]{{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]]''{{snd}}via ''ThoughtCast''
* [http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/aeneid1.htm SORGLL: ''Aeneid'', Bk I, 1–49] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002001956/http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/aeneid1.htm |date=2 October 2012 }}, read by [[Robert Sonkowsky]]
* [http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/aeneid04.htm SORGLL: ''Aeneid'', Bk IV, 296–396] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227140428/http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/aeneid04.htm |date=27 February 2012 }}, read by Stephen Daitz
'''Bibliographies'''
* [http://www.niklasholzberg.com/Homepage/Bibliographien.html Comprehensive bibliographies on all three of Virgil's major works, downloadable in Word or pdf format]
* [https://sites.google.com/site/hellenisticbibliography/latin-authors/vergil Bibliography of works relating Vergil to the literature of the Hellenistic age]
* [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 }}
* [http://www.virgil.org/bibliography Virgil in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance: an Online Bibliography]

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