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115-636: The poet's father (whose name is unknown) was a native of Velia but later moved to Naples and spent time in Rome where he taught with marked success. From boyhood to adulthood, Statius's father proved himself a champion in the poetic contests at Naples in the Augustalia and in the Nemean , Pythian , and Isthmian games , which served as important events to display poetic skill during the early empire. Statius declares in his lament for his father ( Silv. 5.3) that his father

230-537: A Saturnalia gift (4.9). As with the Thebaid , Statius's relationship to Domitian and his court caused him to fall out of favor with critics and readers, but in recent times, the Silvae have been rehabilitated by scholars. Domitian is an important presence in the Silvae , and many of the poems appear to flatter the emperor and court. The content of the Silvae is primarily dictated by the needs of Statius's patrons , and many of

345-529: A city from which Rome would emerge. The Aeneid '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; 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

460-464: A commentator of the 4th century AD, based his work on the commentary of Donatus . Servius's commentary provides us with a great deal of information about Virgil's life, sources, and references; however, many modern scholars find the variable quality of his work and the often simplistic interpretations frustrating. Even as the Western Roman Empire collapsed, literate men acknowledged that Virgil

575-480: A dedicatory epistle. Of nearly four thousand lines which the books contain, more than five-sixths are hexameters . Four of the pieces are written in the hendecasyllabic metre, and there is one Alcaic and one Sapphic ode. Subjects of the Silvae vary widely. Five poems are devoted to the emperor and his favorites, including a description of Domitian 's equestrian statue in the Forum (1.1), praise for his construction of

690-520: A district 1.9 mi (3 km) from the centre of Naples , near the Mergellina harbour, on the road heading north along the coast to Pozzuoli . While Virgil was already the object of literary admiration and veneration before his death, in the Middle Ages his name became associated with miraculous powers, and for a couple of centuries his tomb was the destination of pilgrimages and veneration. Through

805-676: A failure to accept God's divine power. Velia Velia was the Roman name of an ancient city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea . It is located near the modern village of Novi Velia near Ascea in the Province of Salerno , Italy . It was founded by Greeks from Phocaea as Hyele ( Ancient Greek : Ὑέλη ) around 538–535 BC. The name later changed to Ele and then Elea ( / ˈ ɛ l i ə / ; Ancient Greek : Ἐλέα ) before it became known by its current Latin and Italian name during

920-415: A few short pieces. Already acclaimed in his own lifetime as a classic author, Virgil rapidly replaced Ennius and other earlier authors as a standard school text, and stood as the most popular Latin poet through late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and early modernity, exerting inestimable influence on all subsequent Western literature . Geoffrey Chaucer assigned Virgil a uniquely prominent position among all

1035-456: 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 , 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

1150-552: A holiday and health resort for Roman aristocrats, perhaps also thanks to the presence of the medical-philosophical school. In 88 BC Elea was ascribed to the Romilia tribe, becoming a Roman municipium with the name of Velia, but with the right to maintain the Greek language and to mint its own coins. In the second half of the 1st century BC it served as a naval base, first for Brutus (44 BC) and then for Octavian (38 BC). The prosperity of

1265-460: A member of the gens Magia , to which Virgil's mother belonged, is found at Casalpoglio , just 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from Calvisano. In 1915, G. E. K. Braunholtz drew attention to the proximity of these inscriptions to each other, and the fact that Calvisano is exactly 30 Roman miles from Mantua, which led Robert Seymour Conway to theorize that these inscriptions have to do with relatives of Virgil, and Calvisano or Carpenedolo , not Pietole,

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1380-761: A model of the "new vernacular Christian Dante-poeta" in Dante's journey in the Comedy as a protagonist. Statius's arrival in Purgatorio 20 is often compared to Jesus' appearance to the disciples after the Resurrection as narrated by Luke 24:13–16. Scholars have also paralleled Virgil's and Statius's relationship to that of John the Baptist and Jesus : John the Baptist precedes Jesus and formally baptizes him. In Inferno , Virgil alludes to Christ's Harrowing of Hell , through which John

1495-497: A noble woman, placing her among the virtuous pagans in Limbo. Capaneus , who is at the center of the Thebaid ' s tragic theme, is placed in the third ring of the seventh circle of Dis , where those who committed sins of violence against the God are condemned. However, Statius' Capaneus is represented as a heroic character, whereas in the Comedy his only attributes are physical strength and

1610-488: A particularly important example of post-Virgilian response to the epic genre. Lucan 's epic, the Bellum Civile , has been considered an anti-Virgilian epic, disposing of the divine mechanism, treating historical events, and diverging drastically from Virgilian epic practice. The Flavian-era poet Statius in his 12-book epic Thebaid engages closely with the poetry of Virgil; in his epilogue he advises his poem not to "rival

1725-464: 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

1840-493: A young slave boy, who died c. 95. In that same year Statius embarked on a new epic, the Achilleid , giving popular recitations of his work (Juv. 7.83) only to complete a book and a half before dying in 95, leaving the poem unfinished. His fifth book of Silvae were published after his death c. 96. As a poet, Statius was versatile in his abilities and contrived to represent his work as otium . Taught by his educated father, Statius

1955-637: Is also a "negative exemplum" to Dante. This is because Statius shunned from publicly revealing his Christianity, contrary to Dante, who publicly writes about his faith in the Divine Comedy . In addition to Statius himself, characters drawn from his works are also found in the Divine Comedy . Argia , who was a character in Statius' Thebaid and wife of Polynices , is referred to in the line "of your people" ( de le genti tue ) in Purg . 22 109–110. Dante considers her to be

2070-672: Is attributed by other authorities to an anonymous author of the 5th or 6th century AD who drew on Donatus, Servius, and Phocas. The Servian life was the principal source of Virgil's biography for medieval readers, while the Donatian life enjoyed a more limited circulation, and the lives of Phocas and Probus remained largely unknown. Although the commentaries record much factual information about Virgil, some of their evidence can be shown to rely on allegorizing and on inferences drawn from his poetry. For this reason, details regarding Virgil's life story are considered somewhat problematic. According to

2185-426: Is last mentioned in Purgatorio 33. Although Statius plays a small role after the disappearance of Virgil, his presence in accompanying Dante through Earthly Paradise until the rivers of Lethe and Eunoe serves an important role in the plot line of the Comedy , as it underscores Statius's significant difference from Virgil. This is because Dante's Statius, a Christian poet who drew inspiration from Virgil, represents

2300-403: Is not supported by narrative evidence from his writings or his later biographers. A tradition of obscure origin, which was accepted by Dante, identifies Andes with modern Pietole , two or three miles southeast of Mantua. The ancient biography attributed to Probus records that Andes was thirty Roman miles (about 45 kilometres or 28 miles) from Mantua. There are eight or nine references to

2415-616: Is often mentioned, and Varius Rufus , who later helped finish the Aeneid . At Maecenas's insistence (according to the tradition) Virgil spent the ensuing years (perhaps 37–29 BC) on the long dactylic hexameter poem called the Georgics (from Greek, "On Working the Earth"), which he dedicated to Maecenas. Virgil worked on the Aeneid during the last eleven years of his life (29–19 BC), commissioned, according to Propertius , by Augustus . According to

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2530-410: Is said to have received the toga virilis on the very day that Lucretius died. From Cremona, he moved to Milan, and shortly afterwards to Rome. After briefly considering a career in rhetoric and law, the young Virgil turned his talents to poetry. Despite the biographers statements that Virgil's family was of modest means, these accounts of his education, as well as of his ceremonial assumption of

2645-433: Is said to have written a memoir of his friend Virgil, and Suetonius likely drew on this lost work and other sources contemporary with the poet. A life written in verse by the grammarian Phocas (probably active in the 4th through 5th century AD) differs in some details from Donatus and Servius. Henry Nettleship believed that the life attributed to Probus may have drawn independently from the same sources as Suetonius, but it

2760-473: 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; and Book 6 apparently caused

2875-490: Is the place where the body of Palinurus washed ashore. Around the 5th century BC, the city was known for its flourishing trade relations. It also took on considerable cultural importance for its pre-Socratic philosophical school, known as the Eleatic School , founded by Parmenides and carried forward by his student Zeno , famous for his paradoxes. In the 4th century it entered the league of cities committed to stopping

2990-456: Is the site of Andes. E. K. Rand defended the traditional site at Pietole, noting that Egnazio 's 1507 edition of Probus' commentary, supposedly based on a "very ancient codex" from Bobbio Abbey which can no longer be found, says that Andes was three miles from Mantua, and arguing that this is the correct reading. Conway replied that Egnazio's manuscript cannot be trusted to have been as ancient as Egnazio claimed it was, nor can we be sure that

3105-545: Is transmitted chiefly in vitae ('lives') of the poet prefixed to commentaries on his work by Probus , Donatus , and Servius . The life given by Donatus is generally considered to closely reproduce the life of Virgil from a lost work of Suetonius on the lives of famous authors, just as Donatus used this source for the poet's life in his commentary on Terence , where Suetonius is explicitly credited. The far shorter life given by Servius likewise seems to be an abridgement of Suetonius except for one or two statements. Varius

3220-570: The Alban Festival, where he received the golden crown from the hand of the emperor Domitian , who had instituted the contest. For the Alban Festival, Statius composed a poem on the German and Dacian campaigns of Domitian - which Juvenal lampoons in his seventh satire. Statius is thought to have moved to Rome c.  90 after his father's death in 79; there he published his acclaimed epic poem

3335-701: The Divine Comedy . Dante also mentions Virgil in De vulgari eloquentia , as one of the four regulati poetae along with Ovid , Lucan and Statius (ii, vi, 7). The Renaissance saw a number of authors inspired to write epic in Virgil's wake: Edmund Spenser called himself the English Virgil; Paradise Lost was influenced by the example of the Aeneid ; and later artists influenced by Virgil include Berlioz and Hermann Broch . The legend of "Virgil in his basket" arose in

3450-473: The gens to which Vergil belonged, gens Vergilia , in inscriptions from Northern Italy . Out of these, four are from townships remote from Mantua, three appear in inscriptions from Verona , and one in an inscription from Calvisano , a votive offering to the Matronae (a group of deities) by a woman called Vergilia, asking the goddesses to deliver from danger another woman, called Munatia. A tomb erected by

3565-613: The Aeneid became standard texts in school curricula with which all educated Romans were familiar. Poets following Virgil often refer intertextually to his works to generate meaning in their own poetry. The Augustan poet Ovid parodies the opening lines of the Aeneid in Amores 1.1.1–2, and his summary of the Aeneas story in Book 14 of the Metamorphoses , the so-called "mini-Aeneid", has been viewed as

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3680-516: 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 . Book 1 (at

3795-610: The Calabrians took it away, Naples holds me now; I sang of pastures, farms, and commanders." (transl. Bernard Knox ) Martial reports that Silius Italicus annexed the site to his estate (11.48, 11.50), and Pliny the Younger says that Silius "would visit Virgil's tomb as if it were a temple" ( Epistulae 3.7.8). The structure known as Virgil's tomb is found at the entrance of an ancient Roman tunnel ( grotta vecchia ) in Piedigrotta ,

3910-576: The Catalepton , consists of fourteen short poems, some of which may be Virgil's, and another, a short narrative poem titled the Culex ("The Gnat"), was attributed to Virgil as early as the 1st century AD. 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

4025-499: The Georgics to Octavian upon his return from defeating Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. 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'). The work (modelled after Homer 's Iliad and Odyssey ) chronicles

4140-501: The Middle Ages , and is often seen in art and mentioned in literature as part of the Power of Women literary topos , demonstrating the disruptive force of female attractiveness on men. In this story Virgil became enamoured of a beautiful woman, sometimes described as the emperor's daughter or mistress and called Lucretia. She played him along and agreed to an assignation at her house, which he

4255-467: The Renaissance of the 12th century , Alexander Neckham placed the "divine" Aeneid on his standard arts curriculum, and Dido became the romantic heroine of the age. Monks like Maiolus of Cluny might repudiate what they called "the luxurious eloquence of Virgil", but they could not deny the power of his appeal. Dante presents Virgil as his guide through Hell and the greater part of Purgatory in

4370-428: The Silvae seem to have received some criticism, and in response he composed a fourth book' at Naples, which was published in 95. During this period at Naples, Statius maintained his relations with the court and his patrons, earning himself another invitation to a palace banquet ( Silv. 4.2). He seems to have taken an interest in the marriage and career of his stepdaughter and, being childless, he also took under his wing

4485-439: The Thebaid ( c.  92 ). In the capital, Statius seems to have made many connections among the Roman aristocracy and court, and he was probably supported through their patronage. Statius produced the first three books of occasional poetry, his Silvae , which were published in 93, and which sketch his patrons and acquaintances of this period and mention his attendance at one of Domitian's Saturnalia banquets. He competed in

4600-451: The Thebaid and his abstract treatment of the gods has been seen as an important innovation in the tradition of classical poetry which ushered in Medieval conventions. Finally, although earlier scholars criticized the style of the poem as episodic, current scholars have noted the subtlety and skill with which Statius organizes and controls his narrative and description. Other topics discussed in

4715-478: The Thebaid have been divided over interpretations of the epic's tone. Earlier critics in the 19th and 20th century considered the poem a piece of elaborate flattery that vindicated the regime of Domitian; however, more recent scholars have viewed the poem as a subversive work that criticizes the authoritarianism and violence of the Flavians by focusing on extreme violence and social chaos. Statius' use of allegory in

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4830-428: The Trojan War , attempts to hide Achilles on the island of Scyros by dressing him up as a girl. On the island, Achilles falls in love with Deidamia and forces her to have sex with him. Ulysses arrives to recruit Achilles for the war effort and reveals his identity. In the second book, Ulysses and Achilles depart and Achilles gives an account of his early life and tutelage by the centaur Chiron . The poem breaks off at

4945-466: The golem may have been inspired by Virgilian legends about the poet's apocryphal power to bring inanimate objects to life. Possibly as early as the second century AD, Virgil's works were seen as having magical properties and were used for divination . In what became known as the Sortes Vergilianae ("Virgilian Lots"), passages would be selected at random and interpreted to answer questions. In

5060-588: The neoteric writers Pollio and Cinna , it has been inferred that he was, for a time, associated with Catullus 's neoteric circle. According to the Catalepton , he began to write poetry while in the Epicurean school of 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,

5175-488: The toga virilis, suggest that his father was in fact a wealthy equestrian landowner. He is said to have been tall and stout, with a swarthy complexion and a rustic appearance. Virgil also seems to have suffered bad health throughout his life and in some ways lived the life of an invalid. Schoolmates considered Virgil extremely shy and reserved, and he was nicknamed "Parthenias" ("virgin") because of his social aloofness. The biographical tradition asserts that Virgil began

5290-478: The 12th century, starting around Naples but eventually spreading widely throughout Europe, a tradition developed in which Virgil was regarded as a great magician . Legends about Virgil and his magical powers remained popular for over two hundred years, arguably becoming as prominent as his writings themselves. Virgil's legacy in medieval Wales was such that the Welsh version of his name, Fferyllt or Pheryllt , became

5405-479: 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, but the work lays the foundations for later didactic poetry. Virgil and Maecenas are said to have taken turns reading

5520-522: The Baptist is freed from Limbo. In the same spirit, Statius cites Virgil's poems as the reason for his conversion to Christianity. In particular, Statius was saved from the vice of prodigality by reading Virgil's condemnation of this particular vice in a passage of the Aeneid ( Aeneid 3.56–57), and that he found reason for converting to Christianity while reading a passage from Virgil's Eclogues (Eclogue 4.5–7). Statius recounts to Virgil that, "through you I

5635-458: The Latin word for 'wand' ( uirga ), Virgil being particularly associated with magic in the Middle Ages . There is also a possibility that virg- is meant to evoke the Latin virgo ('virgin'); this would be a reference to the fourth Eclogue , which has a history of Christian, and specifically Messianic , interpretations . Virgil spent his boyhood in Cremona until his 15th year (55 BC), when he

5750-489: The Middle Ages, the Thebaid remained a popular text, inspiring a 12th-century French romance as well as works by Boccaccio and Chaucer . Statius's development of allegory helped establish the importance of that technique in medieval poetry. In the Renaissance, the Silvae, thanks to Poliziano , helped inspire an entire genre of collections of miscellaneous, occasional poetry called Sylvae which remained popular throughout

5865-460: The Roman era. The city was known for being the home of the philosophers Parmenides and Zeno of Elea , as well as the Eleatic school of which they were a part. The site of the acropolis of ancient Elea was once a promontory called Castello a Mare, meaning "castle on the sea" in Italian. It now lies inland and was renamed Castellammare della Bruca in the Middle Ages . The city later developed on

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5980-542: The Rutulians; Book 10, the death of Evander's young son Pallas ; and 11 the death of the Volscian warrior princess 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

6095-498: The Thebans and escapes to Argos, causing Adrastus and Polyneices to declare war on Thebes (Book 3). In the fourth book the Argive forces gather, commanded by the seven champions Adrastus, Polyneices, Amphiaraus , Capaneus , Parthenopaeus , Hippomedon , and Tydeus, and march to Thebes, but at Nemea , Bacchus causes a drought. The army meets Hypsipyle who shows them a spring then tells them

6210-489: The Via Domitiana (4.3), and a poem on the dedication of the hair of Earinus, a eunuch favorite of Domitian's, to a shrine of Aesculapius (3.4). Six are lamentations for deaths or consolations to survivors, including the highly personal poems on the death of Statius's father and his foster-son (5.3,5). The poems on loss are particularly notable in the collection and range from consolations on the death of wives (3.3) to pieces on

6325-509: The Younger's Letters, it has recently been deduced that Statius also wrote under the pseudonym of Propertius. Less is known of the biography of Statius. Born c. 45 CE, he grew up in the Greek cultural milieu of the Bay of Naples , and his Greek literary education lends a sophisticated veneer to his ornamental verse. From his boyhood he won several poetic contests at his native Naples and three times at

6440-451: The addressees come from the wealthy, privileged class of landowners and politicians. Statius's flattery of these elites has been interpreted in two ways by scholars; some maintain that the collection is highly subversive and is a subtle criticism of Domitian and the Roman aristocracy. Others urge a reading of the Silvae as individual pieces that respond to specific circumstances with their own unique viewpoints. A fragment of his epic poem on

6555-529: The advance of the Lucanians , who had already occupied nearby Poseidonia (Paestum) and were threatening Elea. It joined an alliance with Rome in 273 BC and was included in the ancient province of Lucania . Elea had excellent relations with Rome: it supplied ships for the Punic wars (3rd-2nd century) and sent young priestesses for the cult of Demeter (Ceres), coming from the local aristocratic families. It became

6670-566: The ancient vitae , Publius Vergilius Maro was born on the Ides of October in the consulship of Pompey and Crassus (15 October 70 BC) in the village of Andes, near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul ( northern Italy , added to Italy proper during his lifetime). The Donatian life reports that some say Virgil's father was a potter, but most say he was an employee of an apparitor named Magius, whose daughter he married. According to Phocas and Probus,

6785-468: The attempt through poetic petitions to regain his property have traditionally been seen as his motives in the composition of the Eclogues . This is now thought to be an unsupported inference from interpretations of the Eclogues . In Eclogues 1 and 9, Virgil indeed dramatizes the contrasting feelings caused by the brutality of the land expropriations through pastoral idiom but offers no indisputable evidence of

6900-403: 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

7015-505: The celebrities of human history in The House of Fame (1486–7), describing him as standing on a pilere / that was of tinned yren clere ("on a pillar that was of bright tin-plated iron"), and in the Divine Comedy , in which Virgil appears as the author's guide through Hell and Purgatory , Dante pays tribute to Virgil with the words tu se' solo colui da cu'io tolsi / lo bello stile che m'ha fatto onore ( Inf. I.86–7) ("thou art alone

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7130-475: 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 as a poetic ideal that still resonates in Western literature and visual arts and with setting

7245-485: The city continued until the end of the 1st century AD, when numerous villas and small settlements were built, together with new public buildings and thermae, but the progressive silting up of the port led the city to progressive isolation and impoverishment. From the end of the imperial age, the last inhabitants were forced to take refuge in the upper part of the Acropolis to escape the advancement of marshy land. Remains of

7360-406: The city walls can be seen, with traces of one gate and several towers, of a total length of over three miles, and belong to three different periods, in all of which the local crystalline limestone is used. Bricks with Greek brick-stamps were also employed in later times of a unique shape, each having two rectangular channels on one side. There are remains of cisterns. In 2022, excavations led to

7475-533: The coastal plain below. According to Herodotus , in 545 BC Ionian Greeks fled Phocaea , in modern Turkey, which was being besieged by the Persians. After some wanderings (8 to 10 years) at sea, they stopped in Reggio Calabria , where they were probably joined by Xenophanes , who was at the time at Messina , and then moved north along the coast and founded the town of Hyele. According to Virgil , Velia

7590-464: The death of Hippomedon and Parthenopaeus (Book 9). In 10, Juno causes sleep to overcome the Thebans and the Argives slaughter many in the camp; Menoeceus sacrifices himself to save Thebes and Jupiter kills the wicked Capaneus with a thunderbolt. In 11, Polyneices and Eteocles join in single combat and kill each other; Jocasta kills herself and Creon assumes power, forbidding burial of the Argive dead. In

7705-414: The death of a favorite parrot (2.4) and a lion in the arena (2.5). Another group of the Silvae give picturesque descriptions of the villas, gardens, and artworks of the poet's friends. In these we have a more vivid representation than elsewhere of the surroundings Roman aristocrats of the empire lived in the country. Important examples include a piece on Pollius's temple to Hercules (3.1), the aetiology of

7820-646: The discovery of the archaic temple of Athena on the acropolis of Velia. The oldest temple dates to 540-530 BC, the years following the battle of Alalia. Two well-preserved bronze Greek helmets with Etruscan design found there including metal fragments from weapons are thought to be offerings to the goddess after the battle. Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro ( Classical Latin : [ˈpuːbliʊs wɛrˈɡɪliʊs ˈmaroː] ; 15 October 70 BC – 21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( / ˈ v ɜːr dʒ ɪ l / VUR -jil ) in English,

7935-489: The divine Aeneid , but follow afar and ever venerate its footsteps." Virgil finds one of his most ardent admirers in Silius Italicus . With almost every line of his epic Punica , Silius references Virgil. Partially as a result of his so-called "Messianic" Fourth Eclogue  – widely interpreted later to have predicted the birth of Jesus Christ  – Virgil was in later antiquity imputed to have

8050-497: The emperor's sister 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,

8165-407: The end of his speech. In general, scholars have remarked on the markedly different tone of the Achilleid in comparison with the Thebaid , equating it more to the style of Ovid than Virgil. Some have also noted the predominance of feminine themes and feminine power in the fragment and focus on the poem's perspectives on gender relations. Statius's poetry was very popular in his lifetime, although he

8280-606: 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

8395-405: The final book, the Argive widows go to Athens to ask Theseus to force Creon to allow their husbands' burial while Argia , Polyneices's wife, burns him illicitly. Theseus musters an army and kills Creon. The Thebaid ends with an epilogue in which the poet prays that his poem will be successful, cautions it not to rival the Aeneid , and hopes that his fame will outlive him. Modern critics of

8510-491: The fourth terrace of Purgatory, where the vice of sloth is cleansed. Dante presents Statius as the author of Thebaid and Achilleid and as someone who has a great admiration for Virgil. Statius remarks that Virgil's Aeneid "was my mama and my nurse" ( Purg . 21.98) to express Virgil as his inspiration. In Purgatorio , when Dante reveals Virgil's identity to Statius, Statius makes a failed attempt to embrace Virgil, which parallels with Aeneas 's failed attempt to embrace

8625-525: The future. In the poem, Statius follows Virgil closely as a model (in the epilogue he acknowledges his debt to Virgil), but he also refers to a wide range of sources in his handling of meter and episodes. The poem's theme is the myth of the Seven against Thebes , the story of the battle between the sons of Oedipus for the throne of Thebes . The poem opens (Book 1) with the disgraced Oedipus' curse on his two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices , who have decided to hold

8740-476: The gluttonous). Statius's redemption is heard in Purgatorio 20, when the mountain of Purgatory trembles and the penitent souls cry out the hymn " Gloria in excelsis Deo ". Statius joins Dante and Virgil, as indicated in Purgatorio 21. Statius ascends Mount Purgatory with Dante and Virgil, and he stays with Dante in the Earthly Paradise at the mountain's summit, after Virgil has returned to Limbo . Statius

8855-480: The great Capitoline competition - it is not known in what year, although 94 has been suggested. Statius failed to win the coveted prize, a loss he took very hard. The disappointment may have prompted his return ( c.  94 ) to Naples, the home of his youth. There survives a poem he addressed on this occasion to his wife, Claudia (the widow of a famous singer) who had a musically talented daughter by her first husband, ( Silv. 3.5). Statius's first three books of

8970-502: The head of the Odyssean section) opens with a storm which 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 , 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

9085-470: The hexameter Eclogues (or Bucolics ) in 42 BC and it is thought that the collection was published around 39–38 BC, although this is controversial. After defeating the army led by the assassins of Julius Caesar in the Battle of Philippi (42 BC), Octavian tried to pay off his veterans with land expropriated from towns in northern Italy, which—according to tradition—included an estate near Mantua belonging to Virgil. The loss of Virgil's family farm and

9200-427: The latter spelling spread to the modern European languages. This latter spelling persisted even though, as early as the 15th century, the classical scholar Poliziano had shown Vergilius to be the original spelling. Today, the anglicisations Vergil and Virgil are both considered acceptable. There is some speculation that the spelling Virgilius might have arisen due to a pun, since virg- carries an echo of

9315-473: The life of Achilles —the Achilleid —is also extant, consisting of one book and a few hundred lines of a second. What was completed of this poem was composed between 94 and 95 based on Silvae 4.7.21ff. Statius records that there were recitations of the poem. It is thought that Statius' death in 95 is the reason that the poem remains unfinished. In the first book, Thetis, having foreknowledge of her son's death in

9430-525: The magical abilities of a seer; the Sortes Vergilianae , the process of using Virgil's poetry as a tool of divination, is found in the time of Hadrian , and continued into the Middle Ages. In a similar vein Macrobius in the Saturnalia credits the work of Virgil as the embodiment of human knowledge and experience, mirroring the Greek conception of Homer. Virgil also found commentators in antiquity. Servius ,

9545-558: 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 Rutulians , who is roused to war by the Fury Allecto and Amata , Lavinia's mother. In Book 8, Aeneas allies with 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

9660-577: The name of Virgil's mother was Magia Polla. The cognomen of Virgil's maternal family, Magius, and failure to distinguish the genitive form of this rare name ( Magi ) in Servius' life from the genitive magi of the noun magus ("magician"), probably contributed to the rise of the medieval legend that Virgil's father was employed by a certain itinerant magician, and that Virgil was a magician himself. Analysis of his name has led some to believe that he descended from earlier Roman colonists. Modern speculation

9775-460: The nineteenth century, the supposed tomb regularly attracted travellers on the Grand Tour , and it still draws visitors today. 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

9890-483: 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 Actium against Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII in 31 BC. A further focus of study

10005-414: The one from whom I took the beautiful style that has done honour to me"). In the 20th Century, T. S. Eliot famously began a lecture on the subject "What Is a Classic?" by asserting as self-evidently true that "whatever the definition we arrive at, it cannot be one which excludes Virgil – we may say confidently that it must be one which will expressly reckon with him." Biographical information about Virgil

10120-450: 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. Other alleged imperfections are subject to scholarly debate. The works of Virgil almost from the moment of their publication revolutionized Latin poetry . The Eclogues , Georgics , and above all

10235-406: The period, inspiring works by Hugo Grotius and John Dryden . Dante mentions Statius in De vulgari eloquentia along with Ovid , Virgil and Lucan as one of the four regulati poetae (ii, vi, 7). In the Divine Comedy , Dante and Virgil meet Statius as they leave the fifth terrace in Purgatorio (reserved for the avaricious and the prodigal) and enter the sixth terrace (reserved for

10350-458: The poem be burned , instead ordering it to be published with as few editorial changes as possible. After his death at Brundisium according to Donatus, or at Taranto according to some late manuscripts of Servius, Virgil's remains were transported to Naples , where his tomb was engraved with an epitaph that he himself composed: Mantua me genuit; Calabri rapuere; tenet nunc Parthenope. Cecini pascua, rura, duces ; " Mantua gave me life,

10465-549: 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

10580-474: The poet was around 35, and the work is thought to have been published in 91 or 92. The poem is divided into twelve books in imitation of Virgil 's Aeneid and is composed in dactylic hexameter. In the Silvae , Statius speaks of his extensive work in polishing and revising the Thebaid and his public recitations of the poem. From the epilogue it seems clear that Statius considered the Thebaid to be his magnum opus and believed that it would secure him fame for

10695-493: The poets Terence , Caecilius , Plautus and Lucius Varius are. Both Dante and Statius are curious about the souls in Hell and look to Virgil as a mentor. Furthermore, Dante's inventive portrayal of Statius embodies three elements of conversion important for the Comedy ' s tropology of exile. First, his conversion to Christianity symbolizes exodus as humanity was redeemed through Christ. Second, his aversion of vice exemplifies

10810-578: The reading "three" is not Egnazio's own conjectural correction of his manuscript to harmonize it with the Pietole tradition, and all other evidence strongly favours the unanimous reading of the other witnesses of "thirty miles." Other studies claim that today's consideration for ancient Andes should be sought in the Casalpoglio area of Castel Goffredo . By the fourth or fifth century AD the original spelling Vergilius had been changed to Virgilius , and then

10925-470: 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 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

11040-458: The scholarship on the Thebaid are the pervasive role of madness (furor), time, or the family. The Silvae were probably composed by Statius between 89 and 96. The first three books seem to have been published together after 93, Book 4 was probably released in 95, and Book 5 is thought to have been released posthumously in c. 96. The title of the collection ( silvae meaning "forest" or "raw material")

11155-469: The shade of his father Anchises in Aeneid 6.700–2. Dante also adds inventive details about Statius's life to fit with the narrative of the Divine Comedy . In addition to being a foil for Virgil, Dante's creative freedom allows him to establish Statius as a reflection of himself. Both Statius's and Dante's salvation is facilitated by Virgil. Statius's conversations with Virgil parallel Dante's conversations with Virgil. For example, Statius asks Virgil where

11270-408: The soul's conversion from sin to grace. Third, his completion of cleansing in Purgatorio allegorizes the soul's exodus from servitude to eternal glory. In addition, the idea that Virgil was the reason for his conversion simulates how Virgil was a rescuer for Dante in the first canto of Inferno . However, though Statius's conversion to Christianity is a key positive element in the Divine Comedy , it

11385-458: The stage for the development of Latin pastoral by Calpurnius Siculus , Nemesianus and later writers. 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: Well-known passages include

11500-529: The story of the Women of Lemnos (Book 5). While she is speaking, her ward, Opheltes , is killed by a snake; in Book 6, the Argives perform games for the dead child, instituting the Nemean Games . In 7, Jupiter urges the Argives to march on Thebes where battle breaks out during which Amphiaraus is swallowed in the earth. In 8, Tydeus, wounded and dying, kills Melanippus and eats his head; a battle over his body leads to

11615-552: The support of his patrons and the emperor. Some of Statius's works, such as his poems for his competitions, have been lost; he is recorded as having written an Agave mime, and a four line fragment remains of his poem on Domitian's military campaigns, the De Bello Germanico composed for the Alban Games in the scholia to Juvenal 4.94. Based on Statius's own testimony, the Thebaid was written between c. 80 and 92, beginning when

11730-436: The supposed biographic incident. Sometime after the publication of the Eclogues (probably before 37 BC), Virgil became part of the circle of Maecenas , Octavian's capable agent d'affaires who sought to counter sympathy for Antony among the leading families by rallying Roman literary figures to Octavian's side. Virgil came to know many of the other leading literary figures of the time, including Horace , in whose poetry he

11845-455: The throne of Thebes in alternate years, one ruling, the other in exile. Jupiter plans a war between Thebes and Argos , although Juno begs him not to incite it. Polyneices in exile fights with Tydeus , another exile at Adrastus ' palace; the two are entertained and marry Adrastus' daughters. In Book 2, Tydeus goes to Eteocles to ask him to lay down the throne and yield power, but he refuses and tries to kill Tydeus with an ambush. Tydeus slaughters

11960-616: The tradition, Virgil traveled to the senatorial province of Achaea in Greece in about 19 BC to revise the Aeneid . After meeting Augustus in Athens and deciding to return home, Virgil caught a fever while visiting a town near Megara . After crossing to Italy by ship, weakened with disease, Virgil died in Apulia on 21 September 19 BC. Augustus ordered Virgil's literary executors, Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca , to disregard Virgil's own wish that

12075-404: The tree at Atedius' villa (2.3), an antique statue of Lysippus 's Heracles (4.6) and a description of Pollius' villa at Surrentum (2.2). The rest of the Silvae consist of congratulatory addresses to friends, and poems for special occasions such as the wedding poem for Stella and Violentilla (2.2), the poem commemorating the poet Lucan 's birthday (2.7), and a joking piece to Plotius Grypus on

12190-480: The underworld. Critics of the Aeneid focus on a variety of issues. 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,

12305-700: Was a master poet – Saint Augustine , for example, confessing how he had wept at reading the death of Dido. The best-known surviving manuscripts of Virgil's works include manuscripts from late antiquity such as the Vergilius Augusteus , the Vergilius Vaticanus and the Vergilius Romanus . Gregory of Tours read Virgil, whom he quotes in several places, along with some other Latin poets, though he cautions that "we ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death". In

12420-419: Was a poet, through you a Christian" ( per te poeta fui, per te cristiano , Purg . 22.73). Statius' relationship with Virgil highlights the tragedy of Virgil, who may beget salvation, but cannot attain it. Though Statius converted to Christianity, he states that he kept his Christianity a secret ( Purg . 22.90) as he lived at a time where Christians were persecuted , which resulted him spending four centuries in

12535-605: Was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period . He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature : the Eclogues (or Bucolics ), the Georgics , and the epic Aeneid . A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana , were attributed to him in ancient times, but modern scholars generally regard these works as spurious, with the possible exception of

12650-438: Was familiar with the breadth of classical literature and displayed his learning in his poetry which is densely allusive and has been described as elaborate and mannerist. He was able to compose in hexameter , hendecasyllable , Alcaic , and Sapphic meters, to produce deeply researched and highly refined epic and polished impromptu pieces, and to treat a variety of themes with the dazzling rhetorical and poetic skill that inspired

12765-507: Was in his time equal to any literary task, whether in prose or verse. He mentioned Mevania , and may have spent time there, or been impressed by the confrontation of Vitellius and Vespasian in 69. Statius's father was a Roman eques , but may have lost his status because of money troubles. At Naples, he was a teacher of Greek and Roman literature who attracted many pupils who were destined for religious offices in Rome. He died in 79 AD. From Pliny

12880-469: Was not without his critics who apparently had problems with his ex tempore style. Juvenal is thought to extensively lampoon Statius's type of court poetry in his fourth satire on the turbot of Domitian, but he also mentions the immense popularity of Statius's recitations in Satire 7.82ff. In late antiquity, the Thebaid , which was by then a classic, received a commentary by a Lactantius Placidus . Throughout

12995-553: Was such that it inspired legends associating him with magic and prophecy. From at least the 3rd century, Christian thinkers interpreted Eclogue 4 , which describes the birth of a boy ushering in a golden age, as a prediction of Jesus's birth . In consequence, Virgil came to be seen on a similar level to the Hebrew prophets of the Bible as one who had heralded Christianity. Relatedly, The Jewish Encyclopedia argues that medieval legends about

13110-415: Was to sneak into at night by climbing into a large basket let down from a window. When he did so he was hoisted only halfway up the wall and then left trapped there into the next day, exposed to public ridicule. The story paralleled that of Phyllis riding Aristotle . Among other artists depicting the scene, Lucas van Leyden made a woodcut and later an engraving . In the Middle Ages, Virgil's reputation

13225-417: Was used to describe the draft of a poet's work which was composed impromptu in a moment of strong inspiration and which was then revised into a polished, metrical poem. This suggests that the Silvae are revised, impromptu pieces of occasional poetry which were composed in the space of a few days' time. There are thirty-two poems in the collection (almost all with a dedicatee), divided into five books, each with

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