Editing Virgil (section)

==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 article| Georgics}}
[[File:Horace, Virgil and Varius at the house of Maecenas.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|right|[[Quintus Horatius Flaccus|Horace]], Virgil and [[Lucius Varius Rufus|Varius]] at the house of [[Gaius Maecenas|Maecenas]], by [[Charles Jalabert]]]]
[[File:Przygotowanie narzędzi rolniczych.jpg|thumb|upright=1.9|Late 17th-century 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 several 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.

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.

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 article|Aeneid}}
[[File:Terracotta Aeneas MAN Naples 110338.jpg|thumb|left|A 1st-century terracotta expressing the ''[[pietas]]'' of Aeneas, who carries his aged father and leads his young son]]

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.

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.

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.