The poems of Virgil

391 Pages·1952·36.545 MB·English

by  Virgil, James Rhoades (translator)

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LUCRETIUS
12.
EPICTETUS
Introductory Volumes:
MARCUS AURELIUS
1. The Great Conversation VIRGIL
13.
2. The Great Ideas I PLUTARCH
14.
3. The Great Ideas II TACITUS
15.
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16.
HOMER
4. COPERNICUS
KEPLER
AESCHYLUS
5.
SOPHOCLES PLOTINUS
17.
EURIPIDES
AUGUSTINE
ARISTOPHANES 18.
THOMAS AQUINAS
HERODOTUS 19. I
6.
THUCYDIDES THOMAS AQUINAS
20. II
PLATO DANTE
7. 21.
ARISTOTLE CHAUCER
8. I 22.
9. ARISTOTLE II 23. MACHIAVELLI
HOBBES
HIPPOCRATES
10.
GALEN RABELAIS
24.
EUCLID MONTAIGNE
11. 25.
ARCHIMEDES
SHAKESPEARE
APOLLONIUS 26. I
NICOMACHUS SHAKESPEARE
27. II
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28. GILBERT 41. GIBBON II
GALILEO
KANT
HARVEY 42.
AMERICAN STATE
CERVANTES 43.
29.
PAPERS
FRANCIS BACON THE FEDERALIST
30.
MILL
DESCARTES J. S.
31.
SPINOZA BOSWELL
44.
MILTON LAVOISIER
32. 45.
FOURIER
PASCAL
33. FARADAY
NEWTON
34. HEGEL
46.
HUYGENS
GOETHE
47.
LOCKE
35.
BERKELEY 48. MELVILLE
HUME
DARWIN
49.
SWIFT
36.
MARX
STERNE 50.
ENGELS
FIELDING
37.
TOLSTOY
51.
MONTESQUIEU
38.
ROUSSEAU 52. DOSTOEVSKY
ADAM SMITH WILLIAM JAMES
39. 53.
GIBBON FREUD
40. I 54.
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ROBERT MAYNARD HUTCUmS, EDITOR IN CHIEF
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VIRGIL
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MortimerJ. Adler, Associate Editor
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ClarenceH. Faust,AlexanderMeiklejohn,Joseph Schwab,MarkVanDoren.
J.
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POEMS
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VIRGIL
Translated into English Verse byJames Rhoades
William Benton, Publisher
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, INC.
CHICAGO LONDON TORONTO GENEVA SYDNEY TOKYO MANILA
Byarrangement with OxfordUniversity Press
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
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ispublished with the editorial advice of thefaculties
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©
1952
BY Encyclopaedia Brit.^nnic.a, Inc.
Twenty-eighth Printing, 1986
Copyright under International Copyright Union
All Rights Reserved under Pan American and Universal Copyright
Conventions by ENCYCLOP^tDiA Britannica, Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 55-10322
International Standard Book Number: 0-85229-163-9
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Virgil, 70-19 b.g.
PuBLius Vergilius Maro was born October 15, 70 b.c, on a farm on the
banksofthe Mincio,nearMantua in theregion northofthe Po.Although
the province did not obtain the rights of Roman citizenship until 51 B.C.,
Virgil's fatherwasofoldLatinstockandalreadyacitizen. Theownerofa
farmandpottery-works,hehadacquiredsufficientwealthtoprovideVirgil
with the best available education.
Somewhere between theages of ten and twelve he wassent to school at
Cremona, which was then serving as winter headquarters for Caesar's ar-
mies; and Virgil was probably there when the Gallic Wars first appeared.
After he had received the toga virilis, he continued his studies briefly at
Milan beforeproceedingtoRomeforthestudyofrhetoric, thetraditional
preparation for political life. He entered the school of Epidius, who also
had as pupils the young Octavian and Mark Antony. But Virgil did not
find rhetoriccongenial, and, after pleadingone case before the courts, he
abandonedthe forensiclifeforphilosophy.
Virgil left Rome and became associated with "the Garden," a school of
philosophy at Naples directed by Siron the Epicurean. He remained un-
derhis tutelageuntilthe philosopher'sdeathandissaid tohave inherited
his villa. Poetry as well as philosophy was discussed at "the Garden," and
manyoftherisinggenerationofpoetsgatheredthere toreadCatullusand
Lucretius and towriteverses modeled upon the Alexandrians. A number
ofVirgil'sminorpoems, includedintheAppendix Vergiliana,2ixethought
tohave beenwrittenduringhisstudentdays.
ThereislittleevidenceofVirgil'sactivitiesduringthetumultuousyears
of the Civil War. His health was never robust, and, ifhe was conscripted
into Caesar's army, it was for a very brief period. In 42 b.c, the year of
the battle of Philippi, it is known that he was "cultivating his woodland
Muse." The year following, his father's land and his home were involved
in the confiscations made for the benefit of the soldiers of the triumvirs.
He is thought to have used his influence with powerful friends to obtain
their restitution, although it is not known whether he succeeded. The
eventfiguresprominentlyinVirgil'sfirstpublishedwork, theEclogues.
These pastoral poems, which had been commenced at his home in the
country, were completed and published in Rome when he was about
thirty. They immediately established him as the most celebrated poet of
theday, andTacitusrecordsthatononeoccasionwhenVirgilwas present
at a theatre where the Eclogues were recited, the audience arose and ac-
claimedhimas theydid the Emperor. Heenjoyedthe friendship and pro-
tection of powerful patrons and in addition to an income was given a
house on the Esquiline near the garden of Maecenas. Here he made the
acquaintance of Horace, Varius, the epic poet, and other men of letters
and became the head of the group, which, under the patronage of Octa-
v;]
C
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
vian and Maecenas, functioned as a kind of semi-official committee on
literature for promoting the peace and well-being of the Empire.
The life of the city did not appeal to Virgil, and he soon withdrew to
theseclusion of Campania, where he continued his writing. He may have
begun theGeorgicsat thesuggestionofMaecenas,who in hisofficial capac-
ity was interested in reviving agriculture and commending to the sol-
diers newly settled on the land the traditional virtues associated with the
farm. Virgil worked for seven years on the 2,188 lines that compose the
Georgics. He completed them in 30 b. c, and in the following year read
thepoem toAugustuson hisreturn fromAsia. Theremainingyearsofhis
lifewerespenton thecompositionoftheAeneid.
In the Eclogues there is already a hint that Virgil was thinkingofwrit-
ing an epic: "When I tried to make a poem of warring kings, .Apollo
twitched my ear . . ." Even earlier, if the poems in the Appendix Vergili-
ana are his work, he had handled epic material and pondered the pre-
eminenceof the Julian line. And in the Georgics he tells of the temple he
will build with Caesar "in the middle," and how he will sing of Caesar's
battles and bring him lasting fame. By 25 b. c. he was at work upon his
epic poem, for in that year .Augustus, although involved with the cam-
paign in Spain, wrote to Virgil requesting to see selections from it. Virgil
replied: "Regarding my Aer^eas, if I had anything worth your hearing, I
would gladly send it, but the thing is so inchoate that it almost seems to
me that I must have been out of my mind to have started such a work."
The selections were provided two or three years later when Virgil read
from the Aeneid toAugustus and Octavia; hewas famed for his beautiful
reading voice, and Octavia fainted when he recited the passage from the
Sixth Book relating the death of her son, Marcellus.
In 19 B.C. the Aeneid was finished although not corrected, and Virgil
set out for Athens, intending to pass three years in Greece and Asia, to
visit the places described in the poem, and to perfect his work. At Athens
he met Augustus and was persuaded to accompany him back to Italy.
While visiting Megara under a burning sun, he was seized with illness,
whichgrewrapidlyworseashecontinuedhisvoyage. Realizing thatdeath
was imminent, he asked for his manuscripts which he wished to destroy.
The poem wassaved, it issaid, only by the intervention and commandof
Augustus; itwaspublishedwithinayearofhisdeathbyVariusandTucca,
the two friends he had designated as his literary executors.
On September 21, a few days after landing at Brindisi, in Calabria,
Virgil died, being then in his fifty-first year. He was buried at his own re-
quest near his villa in Naples, beneath the epitaph: Mantua me genuit;
Calabri rapuere; tenet nunc Parthenope; cecini pascua, rura, duces—
"Mantuagavemebirth,Calabria tookmeaway,andnow Naplesholdsme;
I sangof pastures, farms, leaders."
CONTENTS
Biographical Note, v
THE ECLOGUES,
i
THE GEORGICS,
33
THE AENEID, loi
C vii 3