Editing Aeneid (section)

==Influence==
[[File:VirgilAeneidVI.jpg|thumb|''Virgil Reading the Aeneid to Augustus and Octavia'',<ref>The anecdote, in which the poet read the passage in Book VI in praise of Octavia's late son [[Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Julio-Claudian dynasty)|Marcellus]], and Octavia fainted with grief, was recorded in the late fourth-century ''[[Biography|vita]]'' of Virgil by [[Aelius Donatus]].</ref> by [[Jean-Joseph Taillasson]], 1787, an early [[Neoclassicism|neoclassical]] painting ([[National Gallery (London)|National Gallery]], London)]]
The ''Aeneid'' is a cornerstone of the [[Western canon]], and early (at least by the 2nd century AD) became one of the essential elements of a Latin education,<ref>{{cite book|last=Kleinberg|first=Aviad M.|title=Flesh Made Word: Saints' Stories and the Western Imagination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y9SFs9Tvm1UC&pg=PA68|year=2008|publisher=Harvard UP|isbn=978-0-674-02647-6|page=68}}</ref> usually required to be memorised.<ref>{{cite book|last=Montaner|first=Carlos Alberto|title=Twisted Roots: Latin America's Living Past|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eybIGmuny64C&pg=PA118|year=2003|publisher=Algora|isbn=978-0-87586-260-6|page=118}}</ref> Even after the [[decline of the Roman Empire]], it "remained central to a Latin education".<ref>{{cite book|last=Horsfall|first=Nicholas|title=A Companion to the Study of Virgil|url=https://archive.org/details/companiontostudy0005hors|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-11951-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/companiontostudy0005hors/page/303 303]}}</ref> In Latin-Christian culture, the ''Aeneid'' was one of the canonical texts, subjected to [[Commentary (philology)|commentary]] as a philological and educational study,<ref>{{cite book|last=Burman|first=Thomas E.|title=Reading the Qur'ān in Latin Christendom, 1140–1560|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtHfRxmCPesC&pg=PA84|year=2009|publisher=U of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-0-8122-2062-9|page=84}}</ref> with the most complete commentary having been written by the 4th-century grammarian [[Maurus Servius Honoratus]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Savage|first=John J.H.|year=1932|title=The Manuscripts of the Commentary of Servius Danielis on Virgil|journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology|volume=43|pages=77–121|doi=10.2307/310668|jstor=310668}}</ref> It was widely held to be the pinnacle of Latin literature, much in the same way that the ''Iliad'' was seen to be supreme in Greek literature.

The strong influence of the ''Aeneid'' has been identified in the development of European vernacular literatures—some English works that show its influence being ''[[Beowulf]]'', [[Layamon's Brut|Layamon's ''Brut'']] (through the source text ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]''), ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'', and [[John Milton|Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]''. The Italian poet [[Dante Alighieri]] was himself profoundly influenced by the ''Aeneid'', so much so that his magnum opus ''[[Divine Comedy|The Divine Comedy]]'', itself widely considered central to the western canon, includes a number of quotations from and allusions to the ''Aeneid'' and features the author Virgil as a major character—the guide of Dante through the realms of the Inferno and Purgatorio. Another continental work displaying the influence of the ''Aeneid'' is the 16th-century Portuguese epic ''[[Os Lusíadas]]'', written by [[Luís de Camões]] and dealing with [[Vasco da Gama]]'s voyage to India.

The importance of Latin education itself was paramount in Western culture: "from 1600 to 1900, the Latin school was at the centre of European education, wherever it was found"; within that Latin school, Virgil was taught at the advanced level and, in 19th-century England, special editions of Virgil were awarded to students who distinguished themselves.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Grafton|first1=Anthony|last2=Most|first2=Glenn W.|last3=Settis|first3=Salvatore|title=The Classical Tradition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbqF8z2bq3sC&pg=PA297|year=2010|publisher=Harvard UP|isbn=978-0-674-03572-0|pages=294–297}}</ref> In the United States, Virgil and specifically the ''Aeneid'' were taught in the fourth year of a Latin sequence, at least until the 1960s;<ref>{{cite book|last=Skinner|first=Marilyn B.|title=A Companion to Catullus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2buHe449NoAC&pg=PT448|year=2010|publisher=John Wiley|isbn=978-1-4443-3925-3|pages=448–449}}</ref> the current (2011) [[Advanced Placement]] curriculum in Latin continues to assign a central position to the poem: "The AP Latin: Virgil Exam is designed to test the student's ability to read, translate, understand, analyze, and interpret the lines of the ''Aeneid'' that appear on the course syllabus in Latin."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap-latin-course-description.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap-latin-course-description.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Latin : Virgil; Course Description|year=2011|publisher=[[College Board]]|page=14|access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref>

Many phrases from this poem entered the [[Latin]] language, much as passages from [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] and [[Alexander Pope]] have entered the English language. One example is from Aeneas' reaction to a painting of the [[sack of Troy]]: ''Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt''—"These are the tears of things, and our mortality cuts to the heart" (''Aeneid'' I, 462). The influence is also visible in very modern work: [[Brian Friel]]'s ''[[Translations (play)|Translations]]'' (a play written in the 1980s, set in 19th-century Ireland), makes references to the classics throughout and ends with a passage from the ''Aeneid'':
<blockquote>''Urbs antiqua fuit''—there was an ancient city which, 'tis said, [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]] loved above all the lands. And it was the goddess' aim and cherished hope that here should be the capital of all nations—should the fates perchance allow that. Yet in truth she discovered that a race was springing from Trojan blood to overthrow some day these Tyrian towers—a people ''late regem belloque superbum''—kings of broad realms and proud in war who would come forth for Libya's downfall.<ref>{{cite journal|last=McGrath|first=F. C.|year=1990|title=Brian Friel and the Politics of the Anglo-Irish Language|journal=Colby Quarterly|volume=26|issue=4|page=247|url=http://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2808&context=cq&sei-redir=1}}</ref></blockquote>