The Life and Works of Publius Vergilius Maro

Vergil was born on October 15, 70 BC in the village of Andes in the region of Mantua, located in Cisalpine Gaul

He went to Rome to study: rhetoric astronomy medicine

He later abandoned these and studied philosophy in the Epicurean school of Siro

In 42 BC after the Civil War between Octavian and Brutus as a reward for the soldiers, land was confiscated from Roman landowners and redistributed to the veterans

One of these lands was Vergil’s family farm in Mantua

Vergil’s poetry first began to be published in the mid-30s with his Eclogues.

It is in the Eclogues where he explores the genre of pastoral poetry and the impact of the Civil War as well as the loss of his family estate

Vergil soon after became a member of Maecenas’ famed literary circle, which included members such as Horace and Varius Rufus

Horace Varius Rufus

From 37-29 BC Vergil worked on his work, the Georgics which is a literary analogy between farming and life

Soon after the publication of the Georgics and Octavian’s defeat over Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian (now called Augustus) requested a historical epic that praised his regime and Roman values from Vergil

Vergil responded with his Aeneid, which he composed during the last ten years of his life, from 29-19 BC

Vergil died before completing the epic and it is still debated whether or not he meant for the epic to end the way in which it does

We know that Vergil became very ill on a journey from Rome and his last words were for the epic to be burned along with him since it was not completed

Whether or not it was not completed because it still needed revisions or he wanted to rewrite certain ends-we will never know