Vergil

Publius Vergilius Maro, known more commonly as Vergil (sometimes spelled Virgil), was born in 70 BC near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul. His father was a farmer, and he took Vergil to Cremona for schooling. After his studies in Rome, he worked with his dad on their farm for a decade, all the while staying focused on his poetry and studies. In the year 41 BC, the farm was confiscated so some soldiers could have some land, so Vergil packed up and moved to Rome. He became part of the literary circle that included Maecenas and Augustus, and he completed his Bucolics. They embodied a style he learned from the Greek writer Theocritus, where he idealized farm life in his poetry. He turned to a more realistic story in his poetry after these writings, and, in the Georgics completed in 30 BC, he uses the style of Hesiod to interpret the charm of farm work. His ingenious poetic construction places him very high in a list of pastoral poets for many. In the ten years before his death in 19 BC, he worked on the Aeneid, which is regarded as one of the greatest epics in the history of the world as it tells the story of Aeneas, honors Rome, and foretells prosperity.