Virgil
Virgil | |
---|---|
pastoral poetry | |
Literary movement | Augustan poetry |
Notable works | Eclogues Georgics Aeneid |
Publius Vergilius Maro (
Virgil's work has had great influence on Western literature, most notably Dante's Divine Comedy, in which Virgil appears as the author's guide through Hell and Purgatory.[3] Virgil has been traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. Since its composition, his Aeneid has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome.[4]
Life and works
Birth and biographical tradition
Virgil's biographical tradition is thought to depend on a lost biography by the Roman poet
According to these accounts, Publius Vergilius Maro was born in the village of Andes, near Mantua[i] in Cisalpine Gaul (northern Italy, added to Italy proper during his lifetime).[6] 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 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.[7]
According to Robert Seymour Conway, the only ancient source which reports the actual distance between Andes and Mantua is a surviving fragment from the works of Marcus Valerius Probus. Probus flourished during the reign of Nero (AD 54–68).[8] Probus reports that Andes was located 30 Roman miles from Mantua. Conway translated this to a distance of about 45 kilometres or 28 miles.[8]
Relatively little is known about the family of Virgil. His father reportedly belonged to gens Vergilia, and his mother belonged to gens Magia.[8] According to Conway, gens Vergilia is poorly attested in inscriptions from the entire Northern Italy, where Mantua is located. Among thousands of surviving ancient inscriptions from this region, there are only 8 or 9 mentions of individuals called "Vergilius" (masculine) or "Vergilia" (feminine). Out of these mentions, three appear in inscriptions from Verona, and one in an inscription from Calvisano.[8]
Conway theorized that the inscription from Calvisano had to do with a kinswoman of Virgil. Calvisano is located 30 Roman miles from Mantua, and would fit with Probus's description of Andes.
Other studies[9] claim that today's consideration for ancient Andes should be sought in the Casalpoglio area of Castel Goffredo.[10]
Early works
According to the commentators, Virgil received his first education when he was five years old and later went to
Eclogues
The biographical tradition asserts that Virgil began the hexameter
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).
Georgics
Sometime after the publication of the Eclogues (probably before 37 BC),
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.
The ostensible theme of the Georgics is instruction in the methods of running a farm. In handling this theme, Virgil follows in the
The four books of the Georgics focus respectively on:
- raising crops;
- raising trees;
- livestock and horses;
- beekeeping and the qualities of bees.
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
The tone of the Georgics tone wavers between optimism and pessimism, sparking critical debate on the poet's intentions,[5]: 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
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').[13] 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.
Virgil worked on the Aeneid during the last eleven years of his life (29–19 BC), commissioned, according to Propertius, by Augustus.[14] 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'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;[5]: 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.[15]
Book 1
Book 7 (beginning the Iliadic half) opens with an address to the muse and recounts Aeneas's arrival in Italy and betrothal to
Reception of the Aeneid
Critics of the Aeneid focus on a variety of issues.
The Aeneid appears to have been a great success. Virgil is said to have recited Books 2, 4, and 6 to Augustus;[5]: 1603 and Book 6 apparently caused the emperor's sister 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.
Virgil's death and editing of the Aeneid
According to the tradition, Virgil traveled to the
Legacy and reception
Antiquity
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 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 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."[18]
Virgil finds one of his most ardent admirers in Silius Italicus. With almost every line of his epic Punica, Silius references Virgil. Silius is known to have bought and restored Virgil's tomb and worshipped the poet.[19]
Partially as a result of his so-called "Messianic"
Late antiquity
Even as the Western Roman Empire collapsed, literate men acknowledged that Virgil was a master poet – Saint Augustine, for example, confessing how he had wept at reading the death of Dido.[20] 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
Dante's Divine Comedy
Purgatorio
In Purgatorio 21, the pilgrim and Virgil encounter the shade of Statius, the author of the Thebaid. Statius claims that Virgil was his "mama ... and nurse in writing poetry",[26] as well as wishing that he could have "lived back there while Virgil was alive".[26] Virgil does not wish for Statius to know his true identity, and he turns to Dante with "a look that silently said: 'Be Silent'".[26] However, Dante smiles "like one who gives a hint", at the irony of the situation.[26] Statius misinterprets Dante's laughter for disdain, and Virgil comes forth to reveal himself. Upon learning his identity, Statius moves to embrace Virgil as a fellow poet; but Virgil says, "Brother, do not, for you are a shade, and a shade is what you see",[26] since Statius is a Christian who "exceeds him in the order of grace".[26] In Purgatorio 22, Statius claims that not only was Virgil his poetic inspiration but also that "through you [I became] a Christian",[26] Statius having read Virgil's words in Eclogue 4 as a prophecy of Christ: "The age begins anew; justice / returns and the first human time, and a new / offspring comes down from Heaven."[26]
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 Berlioz and Hermann Broch.[27]
Legends
The legend of "Virgil in his basket" arose in the
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, which describes the birth of a boy ushering in a golden age, as a prediction of Jesus's birth. In consequence, Virgil came to be seen on a similar level to the Hebrew prophets of the Bible as one who had heralded Christianity.[29] 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.[30]
Possibly as early as the second century AD, Virgil's works were seen as having magical properties and were used for
Virgil's tomb
The structure known as Virgil's tomb is found at the entrance of an ancient Roman tunnel (grotta vecchia) in Piedigrotta, a district 1.9 mi (3 km) 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 pilgrimages and veneration.[33]
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.[34] This latter spelling persisted even though, as early as the 15th century, the classical scholar Poliziano had shown Vergilius to be the original spelling.[35] Today, the anglicisations Vergil and Virgil are both considered acceptable.[36]
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), Vergil 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 fourth Eclogue, which has a history of Christian, and specifically Messianic, interpretations.[iv]
See also
- Quintus Caecilius Epirota
- Dante and Virgil in Hell (1822 painting)
- Dante, led by Virgil, Consoles the Souls of the Envious (1835 painting)
- Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Appraised by Dante and Virgil (1835 painting)
- Dante and Virgil (1850 painting)
- The Barque of Dante (1858 painting)
References
Notes
- ^ The epitaph on his tomb in Posilipo near Naples read 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]").
- ^ For a succinct summary, see Globalnet.co.uk Archived 18 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ For a bibliography and summary see Fowler, pp. 1605–1606
- ^ 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.
Citations
- ISBN 978-0521768665. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ISBN 978-1438110271. Archivedfrom the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
- ISBN 978-1438108414. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ^ "The Roman Empire: in the First Century. The Roman Empire. Writers. Virgil | PBS". www.pbs.org. Archived from the original on 8 January 2024. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Fowler, Don. 1996. "Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro)." In The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^ "Map of Cisalpine Gaul". gottwein.de. Archived from the original on 28 May 2008.
- ^ Damen, Mark. [2002] 2004. "Vergil and 'The Aeneid'." Ch. 11 in A Guide to Writing in History and Classics. Utah State University. Archived from the original on 16 February 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-0819601827. pp. 14–41. The article was originally sourced from Nupedia and isopen content.
- ^ Nardoni, Davide (1986). "La terra di Virgilio". Archeologia Viva (in Italian) (January–February ed.). pp. 71–76.
- ^ Gualtierotti, Piero (2008). Castel Goffredo dalle origini ai Gonzaga (in Italian). Mantua. pp. 96–100.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Snell, Bruno (1960). The Discovery of the Mind: the Greek Origins of European Thought. Harper. pp. 281–282.
- ^ Horace, Satires 1.5, 1.6; Horace, Odes 1.3
- ^ Eliot, T. S. 1944. What Is a Classic? Archived 15 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine. London: Faber & Faber.
- ^ Avery, W. T. (1957). "Augustus and the "Aeneid"". The Classical Journal. 52 (5): 225–29.
- ^ Jenkyns, p. 53
- Glover, Terrot Reaveley; Bryant, Margaret (1911). Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 111–116. . In
- JSTOR 3287376.
- ^ Theb.12.816–817
- ^ Pliny Ep. 3.7.8
- ^ K. W. Gransden, Virgil: The Aeneid (Cambridge 1990), p. 105.
- OCLC 560532077.
- ^ Helen Waddell, The Wandering Scholars (Fontana 1968), p. 19.
- ^ Waddell, pp. 22–3.
- ^ Waddell, p. 101.
- ISBN 978-0451208637.
- ^ OCLC 32430822.
- ^ Gransden, pp. 108–111.
- ISBN 0136235964. pp. 461–62.
- ISBN 978-0300108224. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Golem". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- ^ ISBN 978-0300108224. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ISBN 978-0300108224. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ Chambers, Robert (1832). The Book of Days. London: W and R Chambers. p. 366.
- ISBN 978-0691026787. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ISBN 978-0521198127. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
- ISBN 978-1133169024. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
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. Miscellanea Virgiliana: In Scriptis Maxime Eruditorum Virorum Varie Dispersa, in Unum Fasciculum Collecta. Cambridge: Printed for W. P. Grant.
- Conway, R. S. [1914] 1915. "The Youth of Vergil." Bulletin of the John Rylands Library July 1915.
- 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'. 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.
- Keith, Alison; Myers, Micah Y. (2023). Vergil and Elegy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 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.
- Syed, Y. 2005. Vergil's Aeneid and the Roman Self: Subject and Nation in Literary Discourse. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Syson, A. 2013. Fama and Fiction in Vergil's 'Aeneid'. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
External links
Collected works
- Works by Virgil in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
- Works by Virgil at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Virgil at Internet Archive
- Works by Virgil at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Works of Virgil at the Perseus Digital Library – 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
- Works of Virgil at Theoi Project
- Aeneid, Eclogues and Georgics, translated by H. R. Fairclough, 1916
- Works of Virgil at Internet Sacred Texts Archive
- Aeneid, translated by John Dryden, 1697
- Eclogues and Georgics, translated by J. W. MacKail, 1934
- P. Vergilius Maro at The Latin Library
- Virgil's works – text, concordances, and frequency list.
- Virgil: The Major Texts: contemporary, line-by-line English translations of Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid.
- Virgil in the collection of Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria at Somni:
- Publii Vergilii Maronis Opera Naples and Milan, 1450.
- Publii Vergilii Maronis Opera Italy, 1470–1499.
- Publii Vergilii Maronis Opera Milan, 1465.
- Lewis E 198 Opera at OPenn
Biography
- Suetonius: The Life of Virgil – an English translation.
- Vita Vergiliana [The Life of Virgil] by Aelius Donatus (in original Latin).
- Aelius Donatus's Life of Virgil, translated by David Wilson-Okamura
- Vergil – A Biography (Project Gutenberg ed.), by Tenney Frank.
- Vergilian Chronology Archived 22 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine (in German).
Commentary
- The Vergil Project.
- "A new Aeneid for the 21st century." – A review of Robert Fagles's new translation of the Aeneid in the TLS, 9 February 2007.
- Virgilmurder – Jean-Yves Maleuvre's website setting forth his theory that Virgil was murdered by Augustus.
- The Secret History of Virgil – contains selection on the magical legends and tall tales that circulated about Virgil in the Middle Ages.
- Interview with Virgil scholar Richard Thomas and poet David Ferry, who recently translated the Georgics – via ThoughtCast
- SORGLL: Aeneid, Bk I, 1–49 Archived 2 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, read by Robert Sonkowsky
- SORGLL: Aeneid, Bk IV, 296–396 Archived 27 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, read by Stephen Daitz
Bibliographies
- Comprehensive bibliographies on all three of Virgil's major works, downloadable in Word or pdf format
- Bibliography of works relating Vergil to the literature of the Hellenistic age
- A selective Bibliographical Guide to Vergil's Aeneid Archived 5 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- Virgil in Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance: an Online Bibliography