[Born at Andes, near Mantua, in Cisalpine Gaul, B.C. 70. Died at
Brundusium, in Italy, B.C. 19. Aged 51.]
The district in which Virgil was born not being then included in Italy,
he did not enjoy the native rights of a Roman citizen; and when Augustus
divided the lands in Cisalpine Gaul amongst his victorious veteran
soldiers, Virgil was ejected from his small patrimonial farm. Upon his
petitioning the emperor, however, the farm was restored to him. He was
the friend of Horace, whom he introduced to Mæcenas. Besides poetry, he
cultivated medicine and agriculture. He was tall, dark, rustic in
appearance, and feeble in body. He was drawn by the power of genius from
the obscure shade of a peasant’s life, to be the favoured poet and
friend of an emperor. In his verse the native majesty of the language
appears more perfectly tempered, than in any other, with grace and
sweetness. Virgil is the most pathetic of the Roman poets: the heart
speaks in his verse. He has the soul of the beautiful, like an earlier
Raffaelle in song. His poem on Husbandry--the most finished work of his
muse--is written with a cleaving of soul to the native theme. The
purport of the poem was to recall the luxurious Romans to the simple and
vigorous way of life of their ancestors, who lived cultivating the
earth. If the rural earth and free nature could have been endeared to
the voluptuous masters of the world by the charm of musical words, the
Georgics might have done this. We ourselves feel the pouring of a purer
atmosphere into the corrupted city. The epic poem of Virgil, “The
Æneid,” relating the transplantation of a Trojan colony from the flames
of falling Troy, to found (in Italy) future Rome, derives a high
poetical cast from the prophetic spirit that overshadows it. Both “The
Georgics” and the “Æneid” express love in the soul of the poet--love for
the scenes and vocation, in which he was born--love of Rome, which he
will purify or will glorify.
[From the marble in the Stanza dei Filosofi of the Capitol, at Rome.
The portraits of Virgil have been verified by Bellori. The tomb of
Virgil is a well-known object of interest near Naples. It is now an
ivy-grown, but venerated ruin, although so late as 1326 it was nearly
perfect.]