(70 - 19 BC)
Born in Andes in Cisalpine Gaul to a family who, while not wealthy, owned a villa and farm, Vergil (Virgil-alternate spelling in English) was well educated. His father first sent him to a nearby town to study and then to Milan, then to Rome where he studied rhetoric and on to Naples for his philosophy training.
In 41 BCE, the Second Triumvirate agreed that their armies needed to be rewarded for their services with the traditional land grants that each man received when he retired. Antony wanted Italian land for his soldiers but free land in Italy was scarce. Instead of giving them land in the provinces, they confiscated land in Italy. The farm that had belonged to Vergil's father was one such parcel. At the time Vergil was studying philosophy and writing poetry in Naples where he lived in a villa that had been given him by a former teacher. His father joined him here. In time, after appeals to Rome, the land was restored to his father.
The poems Vergil wrote during this period reflect the lives of shepherds and capture the sense of loss when displaced from the land. Between 42 and 37, Vergil wrote the Eclogues, a collection of 10 poems about living on the land. He used Arcadia which is in southern Greece as the setting for these idealized stories of country life. While these poems are songs of joy and happiness, he does include tales of shepherds who had been evicted from their land.
The Eclogues caught the attention of Rome's literary society. Maecenas, a patron of the arts and confidant of the man, Octavian who would later become Caesar Augustus, saw his potential. Vergil became part of the circle of poets whom Maecenas befriended. Maecenas paid bills, provided housing and in general supported artists so they could dedicate their time to writing.
In 37, Vergil began to write the Georgics, 4 books dedicated to Maecenas. He spent 7 years meditating, studying and writing the 4 books on farming, agriculture, bee keeping. He praised continually the joys and peace of farming and raged against those who preferred war and praised the glories of war over the peace of farming.
When Octavian was named Caesar Augustus and peace began to permeate the Roman world, Vergil began to write the Aeneid. Up to this point, epic poetry had been written in Greek. His poem told the story of Aeneas' escape from the ruins of Troy (the subject of Homer's Iliad) and then using Homer's Odyssey as a model, continued Aeneas' journey and adventures until he arrived at his new home in Italy. Underlying the story however was his mission, some say his, some say that of Augustus, but nonetheless, a mission to praise Rome, revive the patriotism of the past, the sense of piety, devotion, filial duties.
In 19, Vergil traveled to Greece. He had spent 11 years writing th Aeneid and felt he might need 3 more years to finalize the epic. While returning from Greece he became ill, dying shortly after landing in Brundisium. There is a story that he had left orders that should he die before it was finished the Aeneid was to be destroyed. Augustus intervened and sent the opus to be published. It is said to have given legitimacy to the Latin language as a written literary language. Up to this point most authors wrote in Greek and Latin was truly a language for communication. After the publication and popularity of the Aeneid, writers did not hestitate to create their works in Latin. Latin continued to be the language of the litterati until the French language replaced it in the 19th century.
Vergil's body was brought to Naples for burial. The words on his tomb may have been written by him or perhaps one of the many literary figures with whom he was associated. Whoever wrote them, they are indeed appropriate.
Mantua me genuit; Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc
Parthenope; cecini pascua rura duces
Joan Jahnige, February 2005
Sources:
Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd Edition, Hammond and Scullard, Clarendon Press, NY, 1970 pp. 1123-1128
Ancient Romans, Rosalie and Charles Baker III, Oxford University Press, NY, 1998 pp.126-130
Virgil, Commager, editor, Prentice Hall, 1966, pp. 1-40
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