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Publius Vergilius Maro was born on October 15, 70 B.C. near the city of Mantua in Italy. He was a very intelligent as a child and when he reached an age where he could attend school, he started to study the law in Rome, Italy. After working as a lawyer in Roman courtrooms he decided that working with the law did not suit him so he traveled to Naples, Italy to study philosophy and literature.
Publius Vergilius Maro or Virgil, as he later came to be known as when his literature was discussed, wrote his first major work around 43-37 B.C. It is not known exactly when he wrote this first piece. His first work was a collection of ten poems known by two different titles: Eclogues (select pieces) and Bucolics (pastoral poems). After the publication of this first work, Virgil had found himself a niche in the literary world in Rome, Italy.
After he saw that his career in literature had finally taken off, Virgil worked on his next piece entitled Georgics, which means “on agriculture.” This work was then published in 30 B.C. in Rome, Italy. It was the complete handbook about Italian agricultural methods and Italian agriculture in general. The Roman government was very pleased with this work and it became incredibly popular among the Roman people.
The last piece of literature that Virgil had worked on took him eleven years to draft. This composition was supposed to have been finished by him during a three year trip that he had planned. He was on his way to Greece and Asia. But Virgil became seriously ill during the very beginning of his journey and on the way back to Italy, Publius Vergilius Maro died on September 21, 19 B.C.
In his last will and testament, Virgil left orders to his executors that the unfinished composition be destroyed. But Augustus, the first Roman Emperor and old friend of Virgil’s, would not allow the piece to be destroyed. The composition Aeneid was saved and the government gave it to two poets to edit. These poets were also friends of Virgil. The poets were told to only edit what seemed to be ridiculous and out of place, but not to change anything else. They were also under strict orders not to add anything to the unfinished composition. The Aeneid was then published, as it was, and became a literary masterpiece. The Aeneid was, more than likely, the most important poem in the history of the western civilization. It has been read almost as much as the Bible and has had a lasting influence on scholars everywhere. The general theme of the Aeneid was that all civilization should be united into one single state under the rule of law. So even though the work was incomplete and faulty, the Roman government constantly had it studied. It later became a textbook for use in all of the schools in Rome.
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