Chapter 36

THE AUGUSTAN AGE.

VIRGIL.

(1) LIFE.

Our chief authority for the life of Virgil, apart from his own writings and those of his contemporaries, is Donatus, whose work is probably based on Suetonius' _De Poetis_. Donatus' work, though not free from romance, is much more valuable than the Life by Probus[41] or the metrical account given by Phocas.[42] Some important details are given in the Life wrongly attributed to Servius, and in an account preserved in a Berne MS. of the tenth century.

The poet's name is correctly given as P. Vergilius Maro in all the Lives. The balance of authority is decidedly in favour of the spelling 'Vergilius'; it is always so written in the early MSS. and in inscriptions of the Republic and of the early centuries A.D. The traditional form in modern literature, 'Virgil,' is here retained.

Virgil was born 15th October, B.C. 70, at Andes (identified traditionally with Pietole)[43] near Mantua. Donatus, _vit. Verg._, 'Natus est Cn. Pompeio Magno et M. Licinio Crasso primum coss. iduum Octobrium die, in pago qui Andes dicitur et abest a Mantua non procul.'

He was of humble extraction, his father being originally either a potter or a day-labourer.

Probus, _vit. Verg._, 'Matre Magia Polla, patre rustico.'

Donatus, 'Parentibus modicis fuit ac praecipue patre, quem quidam opificem figulum, plures Magi cuiusdam viatoris initio mercennarium mox ob industriam generum tradiderunt egregieque substantiae silvis coemendis et apibus curandis auxisse reculam.' (Cf. Virgil's treatment of bees in _Georgic_ iv.)

His early years were spent at Cremona, whence in B.C. 55 he went to Mediolanum and then to Rome for his higher education. He studied philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and rhetoric; but his shyness prevented his being a success at the bar, where, we are told, he appeared only once.

Donatus, 'Initia aetatis Cremonae egit usque ad virilem togam, quam xv. anno natali suo accepit isdem illis consulibus iterum duobus quibus erat natus, evenitque ut eo ipso die Lucretius poeta decederet. De Cremona Mediolanum et inde paulo post transiit in urbem ... Inter cetera studia medicinae quoque ac maxime mathematicae[44] operam dedit. Egit et causam apud iudices unam omnino nec amplius quam semel; nam et in sermone tardissimum ac paene indocto similem fuisse Melissus [a freedman of Maecenas] tradidit.'

The Berne MS. above referred to says: 'Ut primum se contulit Romam, studuit apud Epidium oratorem cum Caesare Augusto.'[45] For his studies under the Epicurean Siron cf. _Catal._ 7, 8,

'Nos ad beatos vela mittimus portus, magni petentes docta dicta Sironis, vitamque ab omni vindicabimus cura.'

Cf. also _Ecl._ 6, 31-40, where a brief sketch is given of the Epicurean theory of creation.

For a few years we hear nothing of his life, but we may suppose that he continued his studies in literature and philosophy, probably at his farm, if we can draw any inference from the language of _Ecl._ 1, especially l. 19 _sqq._ So far as is known, he took no part in the civil wars. In B.C. 41, when lands were assigned to the troops of Antonius, Virgil was dispossessed of his property. On the recommendation of Asinius Pollio, who was _legatus_ of Gallia Transpadana, he went to Rome and obtained from Octavian the restitution of his land. The poet expresses his gratitude in _Ecl._ 1, 42,

'Hic illum vidi iuvenem, Meliboee, quotannis bis senos cui nostra dies altaria fumant. Hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti: "Pascite ut ante boves, pueri, submittite tauros."'

Cf. also ll. 70-3.

Donatus, 'Ad bucolica transiit maxime ut Asinium Pollionem, Alphenum Varum, et Cornelium Gallum celebraret, quia in distributione agrorum qui post Philippensem victoriam[46] veteranis triumvirorum iussu trans Padum dividebantur, indemnem se praestitissent.'

Virgil was evicted a second time in the following year, after the Bellum Perusinum, by the troops of Octavian. Conflicting accounts are given by the Lives regarding the persons who seized his land.[47]

Servius, _vit. Verg._, 'Postea ortis bellis civilibus inter Antonium et Augustum, Augustus victor Cremonensium agros, quia pro Antonio senserant, dedit militibus suis. Qui cum non sufficerent, his addidit agros Mantuanos, sublatos non propter civium culpam, sed propter vicinitatem Cremonensium: unde ipse in Bucolicis (9, 28), "Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae."'

Virgil and his household found refuge on an estate which had once belonged to his old master Siron: _Catal._ 10,

'Villula, quae Sironis eras, et pauper agelle ... Tu nunc eris illi [patri] Mantua quod fuerat quodque Cremona prius.'

Whether he recovered his old farm is uncertain: at all events he spent most of his time in the south of Italy. Besides a house in Rome, he seems to have had a country house near Nola, and we know that the _Georgics_ (cf. iv. 563) were written at Naples.

Donatus, 'Habuit domum Romae Esquiliis iuxta hortos Maecenatis, quamquam secessu Campaniae Siciliaeque plurimum uteretur.'

Gell. vi. 20, 1, 'Scriptum in quodam commentario repperi ... Vergilium petivisse a Nolanis, aquam uti duceret in propinquum rus.'

He lived a retired life, seldom visiting Rome, and devoting most of his time to poetical composition, in which he was regular and painstaking.

Tac. _Dial._ 13, 'Securum et quietum Vergilii secessum, in quo tamen neque apud divum Augustum gratia caruit neque apud populum Romanum notitia: testes Augusti epistulae, testis ipse populus, qui auditis in theatro Vergilii versibus surrexit universus et forte praesentem spectantemque Vergilium veneratus est sic quasi Augustum.'

Quint. x. 3, 8, 'Vergilium paucissimos die composuisse versus auctor est Varius.'

Cf. his own expression, quoted by Gell. xvii. 10, 2, 'parere se versus more atque ritu ursino' (alluding to the notion that the bear licked its young into shape).

He was already an influential member of Maecenas' literary circle, to which, in B.C. 39, he introduced Horace. Cf. Hor. _Sat._ i. 6, 54,

'optimus olim Vergilius, post hunc Varius dixere quid essem.'

By Maecenas he was introduced to Augustus,[48] who treated him with liberality. Cf. Hor. _Ep._ ii. 1, 246,

'Munera quae multa dantis cum laude tulerunt dilecti tibi Vergilius Variusque poetae.'

He was on intimate terms with Horace, who addresses _Od._ i. 3 to him on the occasion of a proposed visit to Greece. Cf. ll. 5-8,

'Navis, quae tibi creditum debes Vergilium, finibus Atticis reddas incolumem, precor, et serves animae dimidium meae.'

In B.C. 37 he formed one of the party who travelled with Horace to Brundisium: Hor. _Sat._ i. 5, 40 (see under 'Horace,' p. 167).

For the rest of his life we hear little of Virgil in any public connexion. In B.C. 19 he started on a voyage to Greece and Asia, intending to spend three years on the revision of the _Aeneid_, but returned from Athens in bad health, and died at Brundisium on 21st September. His remains were buried near Naples. The epitaph quoted by Donatus is obviously not by Virgil: 'Anno aetatis lii. impositurus Aeneidi summam manum, statuit in Graeciam et in Asiam secedere triennioque continuo nihil amplius quam emendare, ut reliqua vita tantum philosophiae vacaret: sed cum ingressus iter Athenis occurrisset Augusto ab oriente Romam revertenti destinaretque non absistere atque etiam una redire, dum Megara vicinum oppidum ferventissimo sole cognoscit, languorem nactus est eumque non intermissa navigatione auxit, ita ut gravior aliquanto Brundisium appelleret, ubi diebus paucis obiit xi. Kal. Octobr. Cn. Sentio Q. Lucretio coss. (21st September, B.C. 19). Ossa eius Neapolim translata sunt tumuloque condita ... in quo distichon fecit tale:

"Mantua me genuit, Calabri rapuere, tenet nunc Parthenope: cecini pascua, rura, duces."'

His personal appearance and character are thus described by Donatus: 'Corpore et statura fuit grandis, aquilo colore, facie rusticana, valetudine varia: nam plerumque a stomacho et a faucibus ac dolore capitis laborabat, sanguinem etiam saepe reiecit.' (Cf. Hor. _Sat._ i. 5, 48,

'Lusum it Maecenas, dormitum ego Vergiliusque; namque pila lippis inimicum et ludere crudis.')

'Cibi vinique minimi, libidinis pronior ... cetera sane vita et ore et animo tam probum constat, ut Neapoli Parthenias volgo appellatus sit, ac si quando Romae, quo rarissime commeabat, viseretur in publico, sectantes demonstrantesque se suffugeret in proximum tectum.'

(2) WORKS.

MINOR POEMS.--According to Donatus, these were: 'In Balistam ... deinde Catalecton et Priapia et Epigrammata et Diras, item Cirim et Culicem, cum esset annorum xvi.' Servius omits the boyish production 'in Balistam,' and adds the 'Copa.' The 'Aetna,' mentioned with doubt by Donatus, is, of course, not by Virgil. (1) _Catalecta_.-This seems better than _Catalecton_; either would mean "a collection of poems." Some give _Catalepton_ (= "trifles," like Aratus' work +ta kata lepton+). Ribbeck thinks _Catalecta_ originally included the _Priapea_, _Epigrammata_, and _Dirae_, but came to be restricted to the fourteen short pieces given in our MSS. under that title. Some of these, _e.g._ No. 5, are spurious. Quint. viii. 3, 28 vouches for No. 2. Virgil's friends, Tucca and Varius, are addressed in 1 and 9, and 10 (on Siron's villa) refers to an event in Virgil's life. In the vein of Catullus are 3, 4, and 8, the last being an extremely close parody of Catullus, c. 4. (2) _Priapea_, three in number. (3) _Dirae_, spurious. (4) _Ciris_. The writer's reference to himself in l. 2, 'Irritaque expertum fallacis praemia volgi,' shows that Virgil is not the author. (5) _Culex_. That Virgil wrote a poem with this title is attested by Suetonius, Statius, and Martial; _e.g._ Mart. viii. 56, 19,

'Protinus Italiam concepit et arma virumque qui modo vix Culicem fleverat ore rudi.'

The poem in its present form is accepted by Ribbeck, but it does not correspond exactly to the account given by Donatus of the contents. (6) The _Copa_ Ribbeck accepts as genuine, but other critics find in it characteristics rather of Ovid or of Propertius. (7) The _Moretum_, though found in MSS., is not mentioned by Donatus or Servius, a strong argument against its being genuine.

BUCOLICA.--These ten poems are called in the MSS. _Eclogae_ ("selected pieces"), and were composed B.C. 43-39. Probus, 'Scripsit Bucolica annos natus xxviii., Theocritum secutus.'

Servius, 'Tunc ei proposuit Pollio ut carmen bucolicum scriberet, quod eum constat triennio[49] scripsisse et emendasse.'

They were doubtless published separately as they were written, and afterwards collected into a volume with _Ecl._ 1 (Tityrus) coming first. Cf. _Georg._ iv. 565,

'Carmina qui lusi pastorum, audaxque iuventa, Tityre, te patulae cecini sub tegmine fagi.'

The present order is certainly not the chronological order.

_Ecl._ 1 was written B.C. 41 as a thanksgiving to Augustus (see p. 150).

_Ecl._ 2 cannot be earlier than the end of 43 when Pollio was made governor of Gallia Transpadana, and possibly should not be put earlier than the summer of 42. The poem is written on his favourite slave Alexis (see Serv. _ad loc._).

_Ecl._ 3 was probably written soon afterwards. Virgil refers in l. 84 to his intimacy with Pollio,

'Pollio amat nostram, quamvis est rustica, Musam.'

_Ecl._ 2 and 3 are earlier than 5. Cf. 5, 86-7,

'Haec nos "Formosum Corydon ardebat Alexim," haec eadem docuit "Cuium pecus? an Meliboei?"'

_Ecl._ 4. The date is clear from l. 3,

'Si canimus silvas, silvae sint _consule_ dignae.'

It must have been written in 40, when Pollio was consul. This eclogue, which in the Middle Age was believed to be a prophecy of the Messiah's coming, cannot be satisfactorily explained as referring to Pollio's son Saloninus, or to the expected child of Augustus, Julia.

_Ecl._ 5. Spohn's view is highly probable, that it was written for the first celebration of Caesar's birthday in July, 42.

_Ecl._ 6, to Varus, probably written B.C. 40 from Siron's villa.

_Ecl._ 7 contains no allusion to contemporary events: the tone is purely pastoral.

_Ecl._ 8 was written while Pollio was on his way back to Rome from his victory over the Parthini in Illyricum, for his triumph in B.C. 39. Cf. ll. 6 and 12.

In _Ecl._ 9, written B.C. 40 at Siron's villa, the poet expresses his grief at the second expulsion from his farm.

_Ecl._ 10 entitled 'Gallus' was written B.C. 39. For details see under 'Gallus,' p. 182.[50]

_Sources of the Eclogues._--Several of the Eclogues are modelled on Theocritus (cf. 'Sicelides Musae' 4, 1; 'Syracosius versus' 6, 1), _e.g._ _Ecl._ 8 on Theocr. 2 and 3; and close imitations are found throughout. The poet Euphorion of Chalcis (of third century B.C.) is alluded to in _Ecl._ 10, 50 in connection with Gallus. The names of the shepherds are mostly from Theocritus, as Tityrus, Mopsus, Damoetas. They are 'Arcades' (7, 4, etc.), but, like the scenery, exhibit traits both of Sicily and of North Italy. Thus the scenery never gives an accurate picture of any one locality: _e.g._ _Ecl._ 9,