Virgil


Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC-September 21, 19 BC), or Virgil in English, was the greatest poet of ancient Rome. He is best known for the Eclogues, the Georgics, and especially the Aeneid, considered the greatest national epic of Rome. The Aeneid was still unfinished at Virgil's death. He left instructions to have the work destroyed, but Augustus refused to destroy it and ordered its publication. After his death, Virgil's work was used in Roman schools as textbooks and European literature frequently imitated his style. Virgil’s work influenced such authors as John Milton, William Wordsworth, Lord Tennyson, and T. S. Eliot.