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 _Encid, 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 he may have formed the plan of writing a philosophical poem. In Athens he met Augustus, who prevailed on him to accompany him on his return to Italy. When lie embarked, Vergil was ill with a fever caused by a visit tO \legara 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 mime genuit Calabri rapuere: tenet ?lane Parthenope: e.cirri pascua, earn, duces.
These lines cannot be 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. lie suffered much from ill health, particularly dyspepsia aml headache, but in all other respects he was fortunate. 111' Minted among his friends the most distinguished men of his day, both in literature and in political life; and his own position in the world of letters was generally and cordially recognized during his own lifetime. Ile is said to have accumulated a considerable fortune from the generosity of his patrons, and he possessed several country lams, as well as a house on the Esqniline TIM at Rome. On account of his ill health, he spent the greater part of his time in Campania and in Sicily. Vergil never married. and in contrast, to most of his contemporaries his name is asso cialod 11 no 1011' affairs, nor has his morality been seriously questioned. Ile left his property to his half-brother, Valerius Proculus, and to his literary executors, Varins and Tucca, with legacies to necenas and to Augustus.
In appearance he is described by Donates as of a large frame, a dark complexion, and a rustic air. No bust of the poet which can be regarded as genuine has been preservell, and the numerous portraits which appear in the editions of his works have little or no claim to authenticity, with the exception of some miniatures which are found in the earlier manuseripts, and two mosaics, one discovered at Treves in ISS4, the other at Susa, in Africa, in 1896. The latter, which seems to belong to the first century of our era, and probably gives its our best representa tion of the poet, shows him seated between the muses of tragedy and of history. holding in his hands a scroll, partly unrolled, on which are the words: The face and figure, while less attractive than some of the spurious portraits, agree much more closely with the description of Donatus than they. Vergil's most marked characteristics seem to have been modesty and gentleness. The prom inence which came to him early in life was a genuine cause of distress to him, and Ile is said to have taken refuge in the nearest shop or doorway to avoid what Borace glories in. being pointed out by the finger of the passer-by.
Like nearly all the poets of the Augustan Age except Dorace, Vergil was strongly influenced by the .Alexandrian school of Greek writers. His acquaintance with them doubtless began at the time of his studies at Naples under Parthenius. It was this influence which gave his works their cosmopolitan and modern tone, NvIlieh with their pathos, that note of brooding pity. as Naekail
happily expresses it, makes them mark a new era in the history of Roman literature. It is to these characteristics also that their general and lasting popularity is in a great measure due. But though a master in his treatment of the passion of love, he does not belong to the fol lowers of .Alexandria on whom Horace vents his scorn. As Cicero in oratory avoided the extremes of the Asianic and of tile Attic schools. and developed a characteristic style of his own, so Vergil combined the best features of the Alex andrian poets with those of what see may term the national school of Roman writers. During his early life Vergil is said to have written some short poems, which he appears afterwards to have suppressed: these will be considered later. His first serious work was in a field as yet un tried by Roman poets, that of pastoral poetry. He is said to have taken this up at the sugges tion of Asinius Pollio. although his fondness for country life and his love of nature must have made the task a thoroughly congenial one. The ten poems which have come down to us. the Et:fugues or Borolies (Erloga.Bncolica). appear to have been written between the years 43 and 37 and to have been published at first separately and afterwards in a body. The arrangement, which does not seem to be a strictly chronological one. is doubtless that of the poet himself. They fall into two general classes, the purely pastoral poems, in which he sings of the life and the loves of shepherds. and those in which Vergil himself and his contemporaries appear in the guise of country folk. To the former class belong the second, third, fifth, seventh, and eighth. The second sings of the hopeless love of Corydon for Alexis, his master's favorite. The others all represent in song between shepherds: in the third and seventh the singers are rivals who contend before a judge for a prize: in the fifth two shepherds meet and sing in turn the praises of Daphnis, the ideal shepherd, with many compliments to melt other: and in the eighth Iwo friends sing of unrequited love. Of the other class the first and ninth have to do with Vergil's loss of his paternal estate, and present not a few diffieulties of chronology and of interpretation. The ninth, which seems to be the earlier. refers to his expulsion from his prop erty and is supposed to have been designed to secure aid of Alfemts Faros in recovering it: the first represents the poet as restored to his home and sings the praises of his benefactor, Octavian. The fauna's fourth Eclogue celebrates the birth of a child, whom it seems impossible to identify, who is to bring back the Golden Age. The child is variously supposed to be the un born child of Octavian and Scribonia. the off spring of Antony and Octavia, and Asinius Gal lus, the son of C. Asinius l'ollio. The first view seems on the whole the most probable. although the last is supported by such high authority as Ribbed: and Sellars In Christian times this was regarded as a prophecy of the coining of the Messiah. In the sixth two shepherds capture Silenus by a clever stratagem. and compel him to sing to them. It is supposed to have the object of justifying a refusal to celebrate the ex ploits of his friend Alfenus Varo on the plea that Apollo bids him devote himself to the humble field of pastoral poetry. The tenth condoles with his friend Cornelius Gallus for the faithlessness of his mistress. It represents Gallus as dying of love and singing of his woes to the Arcadian shepherds.