Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC) is considered the finest of all Roman poets. Virgil was a master of the finest forms of Roman poetry, including the pastoral, didactic and epic. He was given the finest education possible as a youth, and learned philosophy, mathematics, and medicine. After several battles put his father's land and his own life in danger, Virgil moved to Rome and found a patron in the person of the powerful and wealthy Maecenas. Another of Maecenas' patrons was Horace, and he and Seneca became friends. In 27 BC, Augustus wrote to Virgil, asking that some sort of epic be written, and Virgil came up with the Aeneid. This won him great fame, as well as the favor of the Imperial family, and he travelled with them to Greece. However, his health gave out on him in Brundisium, and he died there in 19. In addition to the Aeneid, Virgil is remembered for the Bucolics, as well as the Goeorgics. The Aeneid, spanning the last ten years of Virgil's life, was not completed. Photo Source: Everyday Life in Roman Times, by Mike Corbishley, p. 21.