The Aeneid was written by Publius Vergilius Maro, commonly known as
Vergil, who was born at Andes, near Mantua, Oct. 15, 70 B. C., and died at
Brundusium, Sept. 22, 19 B.C.
He was educated at Cremona, Milan, Naples, and Rome. When the lands near
Cremona and Mantua were assigned by Octavianus to his soldiers after the
battle of Philippi, Vergil lost his estates; but they were afterwards
restored to him through Asinius Pollio.
He became a favorite of Augustus, and spent part of his time in Rome, near
his patron, Maecenas, the emperor's minister.
Vergil's first work was the Bucolics, in imitation of Theocritus. His
second work, the Georgics, treats of husbandry. The Aeneid relates the
adventures of Aeneas, the legendary ancestor of the Romans.
The Aeneid is in twelve books, of which the first six describe the
wanderings of Aeneas, and the last six his wars in Italy. Its metre is the
dactyllic hexameter.
Vergil worked for eleven years on the poem, and considered it incomplete
at his death.
The Aeneid tells the story of the flight of Aeneas from burning Troy to
Italy, and makes him an ancestor of the Romans. With the story of his
wanderings are interwoven praises of the Caesars and the glory of Rome.
It is claimed that because Vergil was essentially a poet of rural life, he
was especially fitted to be the national poet, since the Roman life was
founded on the agricultural country life. He also chose a theme which
particularly appealed to the patriotism of the Romans. For this reason,
the poem was immediately received into popular favor, and was made a
text-book of the Roman youths. It is often said of Vergil by way of
reproach, that his work was an imitation of Homer, and the first six books
of the Aeneid are compared to the Odyssey, the last six to the Iliad. But
while Vergil may be accused of imitation of subject matter, his style is
his own, and is entirely different from that of Homer. There is a tender
grace in the Roman writer which the Greek does not possess. Vergil also
lacks that purely pagan enjoyment of life; in its place there is a tender
melancholy that suggests the passing of the golden age. This difference of
treatment, this added grace and charm, which are always mentioned as
peculiarly Vergil's own, united with his poetical feeling, and skill in
versification, are sufficient to absolve him from the reproach of a mere
imitator.
The Aeneid was greatly admired and imitated during the Middle Ages, and
still retains its high place in literature.