Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Life and times: the unity of Virgils work
- Bio
- Publius Vergilius Maro
- Born small town near Mantua
- 15th October 70BC ?
- Virgil was 21 when it was granted Roman Citizenship from Caesar
- Educated at Cremona and Rome
- Became accepted in literary court circle under patronage of Maecenas
- Played no part in political or military activities
- Died 19BC of fever
- The worst time to live in Rome
- Civil war, Caesar vs Pompey 49 to 46BC
- 63BC Catiline fell fighting vs Roman legions
- Riots paralysed processes of gov
- Caesar assassinated Ides of March 44BC
- 2nd civil war
- Proscriptions, murders, exile during first Triumvirate
- 42, 41 proscriptions, 150 senators (1/4 of 600) and 2,000 equites died
- 3rd Civil War
- Octavian vs Antony
- Virgil lives for 51 years, 29 war: 16 civil
- Augustus' victory at the Battle of Actium in 31BC, marks beginning of Pax Romana
- Virgils
predecessors
- Neoteric circle
- Scurrilous squibs- short rude
- Exquisite polish on remote mythological subjects- long stylish
- Cons
- No political focus
- No moralists
- No focus on contemporary life
- Lucretius
- On the nature of the universe
- The need for literature
- To catch up with Greek culture
- Augustus encouraged
- Virgil would take up
the fantastic Roman
style, but through it
concentrate on
contemporary issues
- To deal with the awful times he lived in
- To not lose the ground already gained by predecessors
- Audience reaction
- Roman times
- Supreme patriotic expression of nation's greatness
- Medieval
- Appreciate Christian values
- Renaissance
- Model of form and narrative technique
- 19th century critics
appreciate pathos
and sadness of
Virgil's "accents of
brooding sorrow"
- Works of Virgil
- Eclogues/Bucolics
- Based on Greek Theocritus
- Georgics
- Didactic poem on agriculture
- Aeneid
- Occupied the rest of his life 30-19BC
- Based on two deep desires
- To emulate Homer
- Express achievements and ideals of Rome