His epic poem, the Aeneid, had long been meditated. To its composition he gave the last eleven years of his life; he purposed devoting three years more to polishing and elaborating the poem; but he died without having given it his final touches. On this account, it is said, he wished, in his last illness, to burn it; but his friends would not allow him, and it was preserved and published, without alteration, by Varius and Plotius. While composing his epic, Virgil occasionally recited passages from it to his companions, and the highest expectations were raised of the greatness of the work. (Cf. Propert. Eleg. II. 34, 65.) In the year 23 B. C. died Marcellus, the son of the Emperor's sister, Octavia, by her first husband; and as Virgil lost no opportunity of gratifying his patron, he introduced into the sixth book of the Aeneid (861-887) the well-known allusion to the virtues of this youth, who was cut off by a premature death. Octavia is said to have been present with the Emperor, when the poet was reciting this allusion to her son, and to have fainted from her emotions. She rewarded the poet munificently.* "The fortunes of a man, who, fleeing from a burning city and a kingdom overthrown, and borne by the fates over boundless and unknown seas, founds, on a foreign soil, held by men the most warlike, and most fiercely defended, a new realm, — that realm destined to become the greatest and the most enduring empire which the world has seen," what grander argument could poet have? Nor is the execution of the task unworthy of the theme. In language always elegant, often grand and sublime, in feeling sweet, pure, and noble, it is to no happy accident, but to its own intrinsic perfections, that the Aeneid owes the immortality of its fame. Needless complaint has been made that Virgil imitates Homer. Dryden gallantly denies that the Roman poet copies his master, and says "the Grecian had only the advantage of writing first." As Seneca well puts it, Virgil never stole, but only openly imitated. Whatever he took, he wrought over and made his own; it is the unmistakable air of Rome that breathes from every page; the stamp of Virgil is on the whole work. Again; had Homer himself no models? Nay, was he not a magnificent freebooter in the domain of the balladmakers who preceded him? Is Dante any the less original, in that he confesses to our Virgil, "Thou art my master, and my author thou"? 66 Virgil imitated Homer, but imitated him as a rival, not as a disciple." Next to Homer, his mind was powerfully influenced by the study of the Athenian drama, "which was in fact the only instance of a genius and culture commensurate with his own, operating in a sphere analogous to his."† *It is said that Octavia sent Virgil ten sestertia for each of the lines referring to Marcellus, making a total sum of about ten thousand dollars. † Conington. After finishing the first draft of his epic, Virgil contemplated a tour in Greece and Asia, that he might perfect it among the scenes in which many of its incidents are laid. With a dread almost prophetic, Horace prays for his safe return, in the beautiful ode addressed to the ship which bore his departing friend on his way. At Athens the poet met with Augustus, who was returning from Samos to Rome. Changing his former intention, Virgil determined to accompany his patron. On a visit to Megara, he was seized with a sudden indisposition, which his voyage increased, and he died a few days after his arrival at Brundusium, on the 22d of Sept., B. C. 19, in his fifty-first year. In accordance with his request his body was conveyed for burial to Naples, which had been his favorite place of residence, both on account of the extreme beauty of the scenery, and the mildness of the climate, congenial to his delicate health. His tomb still stands on the hill of Posilipo, and is visited by pilgrims from every land. In person, Virgil is said to have been tall, and stoutly made, of dark complexion, and with the appearance of a farmer. He was slow in speech, and his manners were shy and of almost feminine modesty. We are told that he read with great sweetness, and imparted even to dull matter a charm which gave it a life not its own. From his asthmatic tendency, and the weak eyes of Horace, arose the saying attributed to Augustus, that, with these poets on either hand, he was sitting between sighs and tears. His parents lived long enough to enable him to show his affection and gratitude by maintaining them in affluence, his father having become blind. Donatus rates his fortune at about ten thousand sestertia, (nearly four hundred thousand dollars,) and states that his house at Rome stood on the Esquiline Hill, near the gardens of Maecenas and the house of Horace. His fame, which was established in his life-time, was cherished after his death, as an inheritance in which every Roman had a share; and his works became school-books even before the death of Augustus, and have continued such ever since. In the Middle Ages, the belief was prevalent that he had been a great magician; and of his feats most wonderful things were related. But it needs not fiction to attest his powers of enchantment; for till civilization is no more, successive generations of readers shall confess a genuine magic in the spell of that P. VERGILI MARONIS AENEIDOS LIBER PRIMUS. Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono, Gratum opus agricolis, at nunc horrentia Martis. ARMA virumque cano, Trojae qui primus ab oris Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, Urbs antiqua fuit, Tyrii tenuere coloni, 9 5 10 15 Audierat, Tyrias olim quae verteret arces; Vix e conspectu Siculae telluris in altum Talia flammato secum dea corde volutans 20 25 30 335 40 45 50 Imperio premit, ac vinclis et carcere frenat. 55 Circum claustra fremunt; celsa sedet Aeolus arce, Sceptra tenens, mollitque animos et temperat iras. 60 "Aeole, namque tibi divûm pater atque hominum ex 65 Et mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento, Gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequor, Ilium in Italiam portans victosque Penates: Incute vim ventis submersasque obrue puppes, Aut age diversos et disjice corpora ponto. 70 Sunt mihi bis septem praestanti corpore Nymphae, 75 Aeolus haec contra: "Tuus, o regina, quid optes, Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem Una Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellis 80 90 |