Editing Virgil (section)

=== 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.