Virgil and the Aeneid

Publius Vergilius (or Virgilius) Maro was born at Andes, Oct. 15, 70 B.C.

His father was a farmer, but spared no pains in the education of his son, sending him to school at Cremona, Milan, and finally, when he was sixteen years old, to Naples, where he was instructed by the poet and philosopher, Parthenius.

After spending several years in Naples, Virgil went to Rome (47 B.C.): but his love of country life and his feeble health led him back to Andes; there, in the year 42 B.C., he began to write his "Bucolics," to which the name of "Eclogues" was afterwards given. These short pastorals, ten in number, were all written before the year 37 B.C.; and they at once attracted attention, and gained for him friends and fame. The most finished work of Virgil, his "Georgica," is an agricultural poem: its object was "to recommend the principles of the ancient Romans, their love of home, of labor, of piety, and order; to magnify their domestic happiness and greatness; to make men proud of their country on better grounds than the mere glory of its arms, and extent of its conquests. . . . To comprehend the moral grandeur of the 'Georgics,' in point of style the most perfect piece of Roman literature, we must regard it as the glorification of Labor."

But the poem with which his name is coupled for all time is his epic poem, the AEneid. This was written during the last eleven years of his life: he proposed to devote three years more to polishing and completing the poem, but died without having given it his final touches. It is said, that for this reason he expressed a wish when on his death-bed, to burn the poem; but his friends would not gratify him, and it was published without alteration by Varius and Plotius.

In the year 19 (B.C.) Virgil was seized with a sudden illness, and died in a few days at Brundusium, Sept. 22, in his fifty-first year.

In accordance with his request, his body was conveyed to Naples for burial. His tomb, on the hill of Posilipo, is still visited by tourists from every land.

The AEneid is an epic poem in twelve books, and treats of the following events:--

When Troy was taken by the Greeks, AEneas, carrying his aged father Anchises on his back, and leading his wife and son, escaped from the burning city, intending to go to Italy, the original birthplace of his family.

The wife was lost, and the old father died; but, after numerous adventures by sea and land, AEneas and his son Ascanius arrived in Italy. Latinus, the king, received him kindly, and soon promised him his daughter Lavinia in marriage. But she had already been betrothed by her mother to Turnus; and the king, finding no other way out of his dilemma, proposed that the rivals should settle the dispute by combat. Turnus was slain. AEneas married Lavinia, and succeeded his father-in-law upon the throne.

Dr. Brewer, in "The Reader's Handbook," gives the following outline of the AEneid:--

"Book I.--The escape from Troy. AEneas and his son, driven by a tempest on the shores of Carthage, are hospitably entertained by Queen Dido.

"Book II.--AEneas tells Dido the tale of the wooden horse, the burning of Troy, and his flight with his father, wife, and son. The wife was lost and died.

"Book III.--The narrative continued. The perils he met with on the way, and the death of his father.

"Book IV.--Dido falls in love with AEneas, but he steals away from Carthage; and Dido, on a funeral pyre, puts an end to her life.

"Book V.--AEneas reaches Sicily, and celebrates there the games in honor of Anchises. This book corresponds to the Iliad, XXIII.

"Book VI.--AEneas visits the infernal regions. This book corresponds to Odyssey, XI.

"Book VII.--Latinus, King of Italy, entertains AEneas, and promises to him Lavinia (his daughter) in marriage; but Prince Turnus had been already betrothed to her by the mother, and raises an army to resist AEneas.

"Book VIII.--Preparations on both sides for a general war.

"Book IX.--Turnus, during the absence of AEneas, fires the ships, and assaults the camps. The episode of Nisus and Euryalus.

"Book X.--The war between Turnus and AEneas. Episode of Mezentius and Lausus.

"Book XI.--The battle continued.

"Book XII.--Turnus challenges AEneas to single combat, and is killed."