Virgil was born in Padua (northern Italy) and studied Latin, Greek, rhetoric and philosophy between the cities of Cremona, Milan, Rome and Naples where he spent most of his time. A powerful Roman, Maecenas, supports him financially, so Virgil can devote himself to writing. He writes the Bucoliques , in -37, a collection of pastoral poetry to promote the Nation, then the Georgics (-36 -29), which are a eulogy of peasant life in Italy and celebrate the work of the Earth. He finally writes the Aeneid , a 12-song epic poem he wrote for 11 years. This book traces the epic of Aeneas to the founding of Rome. Virgil travels through Italy and Greece to make corrections to his text. He meets the Emperor Augustus in Athens and both return to Italy but, ill, he is dying. He asks that we burn the Aeneid because his work is unfinished. But Augustus, on the contrary, publishes it, considering that the Aeneid is a national work to the glory of Rome… and the Emperor! Virgil is one of the most famous Latin poets of antiquity.
October 15, 70 BC - September 21, 19 BC
Status
Poet