Vita P. Vergilii Maronis

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Known possibly as the greatest of Roman poets, Publius Vergilius Maro was born on his father's farm near Mantua and later in life was a resident of Rome. His early life on the farm was essential to his education and shaped the style of much of his literature. His Eclogogues (or Bucolics) idealize rural life in Mantua as well as contain undercurrents of political activity. After writing the Eclogogues Vergil turned to realistic and didactic rural poetry in the Georgics, seeking to convey the charm of real life and work on a farm. He spent the rest of his life working on his national epic, the Aeneid. The Aeneid is a paragon of Roman virtues, familial devotion, loyalty to the state, and piety. The twelve books follow the hero Aeneas from Troy's fall through his affair with Dido, the queen of Carthage, to the founding of Rome. The Aeneid is central to all Latin literature, and is modeled, as Vergil well intended, around the epics of Homer.