Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/94

* VERGIL. 68 VEBGIL. ■Virgo, either on account of the purity of his character, or because of the belief in later times • that he was born of a virgin. Among modern nations the spelling varies between Vergil and Virgil. The former is, strictly speaking, correct, but conservatism has preserved the latter in many cases, especially in England and America. Unlike liis friend and contemporary, Horace, Vergil gives us but little information about him- self in his own writings. Our knowledge of his life is derived from casual allusions in other Roman writers, and from three ancient biographies, of which the best is that of -Elius Donatus, a grammarian of the fourth century of our era. The account of Donatus is doubtless based on the Dc Viris lUiistiibiis of .Suetonius, and derived from good sources, but it has been amplified and distorted in many particulars. Some few details may, however, be regarded as authentic. Like nearly all, if not all, the great Roman writers, Vergil was not a native of Rome, and he was not even a Roman citizen by birth ; yet no writer in the history of Roman literature is more intensely patriotic or more thoroughly Roman in spirit than he. He was born in Cisalpine Gaul, near Mantua, in the district of Andes, which appears to have been the name of a people, rather than that of a town, on the loth of Oc- tober, in the year B.C. 70. His birthplace has been identified by some with Pietoia, three miles below Mantua, on the river Mincio; but the exact location must be regarded as a matter of ■uncertainty. He was thus a fellow countryman of Catullus, for whom he had a warm admira- tion, of Cornelius Gallus, and of Xepos; and the same region afterwards produced Li%y, the Plinys, and perhaps Tacitus. His parentage was humble and obscure. His father was said by some to have been a potter, by others the hired laborer of a certain Magius, whose daughter, JMagia Polla, he took to wife. In any event, Vergil's father became an independent land- holder, and he appears to have acquired a com- petency from farming and bee-keeping. He was certainly able to give his son a thorough educa- tion, following the usual curriculum of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy. Vergil studied first at home and in the neighboring town of Cre- mona. On his sixteenth birthday he assumed the manly gown Hoiin ririlis), and went to Medio- lauum (Milan) for further instruction. He con- tinued his studies at Naples under Parthcnius, who taught him Greek, and finally, in the year B.C. 53, he went to Rome, where he studied rhetoric and pliilosophy. Here the teacher who had the most influence on him seems to have been the Epicurean Siro. Through him he probably be- came acquainted with the work of l^ucretius, by which he was strongly influenced. He also ac- quired a love of pliilosojiliical study which lasted throughout his life and doubtless helpeil to give him that psychological insight which character- izes all his work. At Rome he seems to have busied himself also with the study of mathe- matics, natural philosophy, and medicine. At this point in his life we lose sight of Vergil for about ten years. Being of a delicate constitu- tion and a retiring disposition, instead of fol- lowing the usual military or political career, he appears to have returned to his native place, where he devoted himself to the management of his paternal estate and to study. Throughout his life he was a diligent student, and read widely in the Grecian literature, as well as in that of his own country. After the battle of Philippi (B.C. 42) Vergil's propert}' was included in the proscriptions which were made in Cisalpine Gaul for the benefit of the veterans of Antony and Octavian. The details of the affair are somewhat confused and uncertain. The inliuence of C. Asinius Pollio. who held an important military command in that region, and took a friendly in- terest in the gifted young man, seems to have saved the estate for a while. After Pollio was suc- ceeded by Alfenus Varus, although the latter was also a friend of Vergil's, the poet was driven from his home, and he is said to have had a nar- row escape from death at the hands of one of the soldiers. At the advice of his friend Cor- nelius Ciallus, Vergil moved to Rome, where he made the acquaintance of Miecenas and of Oc- tavian. He soon became a member of the for- mer's circle of literary friends, into which he was afterwards the means of introducing Horace. He did not succeed in recovering his property, but he was given another estate by way of com- pensation, perhaps the one which he is known to liave possessed near Nola in Campania. The patronage of Jliiecenas relieved him forever of financial cares and allowed him to devote himself wholly to literary pursuits and to study. In the year B.C. 19 Vergil .set out on a journey to Greece and Asia, with the intention of spend- ing three years in a revision of the JEnrkl, of which he had already completed a preliminary draft, and of then devoting the rest of his life to his favorite philosophical studies. It is not im- possible that lie may have formed the plan of writing a philosophical poem. In Athens h? met Augustus, who jirevailed on him to accompany him on his return to Italy. When he embarked, Vergil was ill with a fever caused by a visit to Megara on an intensely hot day. and shortly after landing at Brundisium he died, on the 21st of September of the year 19. He was buried near Naples, where his tomb is said to have been marked with the following epitaph, which briefly sums up his life and works : Mantua me rrcnuif : Calahri rapuere : tenet iiuiic Parthenope: ctcini pascua, rura, duces. These lines cannot lie regarded as written by Vergil himself, to whom tradition ascribed them, and the exact location of his place of burial must be regarded as uncertain. Vergil's life was a singularly quiet and un- eventful one. He suffered much from ill health, particularly dyspepsia and headache, but in all other respects he was fortunate. He counted among his friends the most distinguished men of his day. both in literature and in political life; and liis own position in the world of letters was generally and cordially reeognizeil during his own lifetime, lie is said to have accumulated a considerable fortune from the generosity of his patrons, and he possessed several country places, as well as a house on the Ksquiline Hill at Rome. On account of his ill healtli. lie spent the greater part of his time in Canqiania and in Sicily. Vergil never married, and in contrast to most of his contemporaries his name is asso- ciated with no love alTairs. nor has his morality been seriously questioned. He left his property to his half-brother. Valerius Proculus, and to