The most famous poet of the Augustan Age, Virgil is considered one of the geniuses of the pre-Christian era. Little information about his biography has survived: despite the variety of sources, many of them contradict each other. Although the Mantuan swan (this nickname was given to Virgil by his contemporaries) was a pagan poet, quotes and references to his work are often found in Christian books, and the images of the poet, albeit without a halo, are included in the iconostases.

Childhood and youth

The poet's full name is Publius Virgil Maron. He was born in 70 BC in Northern Italy, in the village of Andes, in the family of a wealthy landowner. The father sent the young man to study in Cremona. After receiving his education, the future literary figure lived in Milan, went to Naples to visit the poet Parfenia and take lessons in Greek language and literature from him, and in 47 he moved to the capital to take up politics.

City life did not like Virgil. With his soul, he longed for home, for his native nature in a remote province, and for political activity his health turned out to be too fragile. The young man returned to his small homeland to lead a quiet, secluded life, manage a household and study poetry - even then he began to write the famous "Bucolics" ("Eclogs"). Peaceful plans were prevented by fate in the person of the ruler.

After the Battle of the Philippines, he announced that he would grant land holdings to veterans. This required the seizure of part of the estates in favor of the state, and Virgil became one of those who were expelled from their native lands. By that time, the poet had already gained fame: his three works - "Polemon", "Daphnis" and "Alexis" - were favorably appreciated by his contemporaries, including local officials.

Virgil's friend Asinius Pollio asked the triumvir to help a young talent who found himself homeless. Augustus approved the poet's work and helped Virgil get a house in Rome and a new estate in Campania. In gratitude, he glorified the patron in the next eclog "Titir".

After the Perusian War, the story of the confiscation of property repeated itself once again. The warriors came to the poet's new estate and took it by force. Virgil was forced to flee, and again Octavian's intervention was required so that he could return home. The poet dedicated the seventh eclogue to the newborn son of the patron, calling him "a citizen of the golden age."

When calm times reigned in Italy, Virgil began to work seriously, spending part of the year in Rome, and part in Naples, which he loved for its mild climate. It was there that the famous Georgics were written, calling on the Romans to return to agriculture and restore the economy destroyed after the wars.

The poet strove to meet the expectations of fans and patrons and worked hard. He studied ancient poems, the works of Ennius, Nevi and Lucretius, the history of old cities. Later, these works inspired him to create the famous "Aeneid".

Death

In 29 BC. NS. Virgil decided to visit Greece to rest and work on the Aeneid, but Octavian, who met the poet in Athens, persuaded him to return to his homeland as soon as possible. The travel badly affected the poet's health. As soon as he set foot on his native shore, he fell seriously ill. Soon, a severe fever became the cause of death.

"Aeneid" by that time was almost ready, but Virgil did not have time to finally put it in order. Before his death, he wanted to burn the manuscript. According to one version, he simply did not want to leave unfinished work to his descendants, according to another, Octavian Augustus at the end of his life disappointed the poet with his actions as a ruler, and he decided that he had been praising the tyrant all his life.

Friends Variy and Tukka persuaded to keep the manuscript and promised to put it in order. Virgil ordered not to add anything from himself, but only to delete the unfortunate places. This explains the fact that the Aeneid contains many incomplete and fragmentary poems.

Literature and philosophy

Virgil, together with and are among the greatest poets of antiquity. In his youth, the poet adored Lucretius and was interested in the teachings of the Epicureans, but did not join him: Stoicism corresponded more to the character and inclinations of Virgil. In his poetry, as in his personal life, he was more a man of feelings than thoughts.

In the first major work "Bucolics", consisting of 10 eclogs, he first tried to imitate Theocritus, because he found the simplicity and naturalness of Greek poetry very attractive. Despite this aspiration and a simple, pure theme of rural life in ancient Rome (the concept of a bucolic genre was born from the title of the poem), the syllable turned out to be heavy and solemn.

In the narrative Virgil weaves enthusiastic praises to his benefactors. Christian writers see in "Bucolics" a prophecy of the birth of a savior, but some researchers argue that by the child who will change the world, Virgil meant Octavian's nephew Augustus.

As for the purity and completeness of the verse, here the peak of the poet's creativity is considered to be "Georgiki". They also most fully reflected the poet's views on life - in them Virgil condemns atheism, praises the virtues of honest labor and makes lyrical digressions in the spirit of natural philosophy.

In the patriotic epic "Aeneid", he acts as a champion of stoic ideas and a subtle lyric poet. The source of inspiration for the poet was the works of Homer. He has no rivals among the poets of that time in terms of describing tender feelings - it was the lyrical episodes that ensured the immortal glory of the poem. From the "Aeneid" comes the catch phrase Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes - "Fear the Danaans who bring gifts."

Memory

• Many manuscripts of Virgil have survived to our times, most of which do not raise doubts about their reliability.

• In the Middle Ages, Virgil was revered as an ancient philosopher and prophet, and his statements were quoted in religious works. In the famous "Divine Comedy" he portrayed him as his guide to hell. Many researchers today consider Virgil's work as a model for modern poets, and the Romance languages ​​retain the syntax and normative style with which he expressed himself in his poems.
• An astronomical object is named in honor of the poet - Virgil's furrow on Pluto.

Quotes

Any adversity should be overcome with patience.

The only salvation for the vanquished is not to hope for any salvation.

Love conquers everything, and we will submit to its power.

Any land cannot give birth to any plant.

Let our concern remain for our descendants.

Information about Virgil is scarce. Some messages about him were transmitted by his friends in oral and written form. Some of these messages have come down to us in the form of scattered quotations from later Roman authors, as well as in the form of seven short Biographies, or rather a sketch of a biography. The most complete of them is preserved in the manuscript of Elia Donatus, but in fact dates back to Suetonius. Some of the information we find in other texts comes from this biography; some information, such as contained in Biography from the Bernese manuscript, obtained independently, although, probably, all versions had a single source - the notes of Virgil's contemporaries.

As for the names of Virgil, the name Publius is quite common for a Roman, the other two are apparently of Etruscan origin, although many Latins bore the name Virgil. The poet's father was probably a Latin, whose family had settled several generations earlier in northern Italy, then called Cisalpine Gaul. We know almost nothing about his life. It is reported that he was a potter or a messenger, married the daughter of his master, and then traded in bee breeding and selling the forest. Undoubtedly, he had a small estate. Virgil's mother was called Magic Polla, which also sounds in the Etruscan style. Virgil had at least two brothers, but by the time he came of age, his relatives were apparently already dead.

Virgil was born on October 15, 70 BC. near Mantua, in the village of Andes, but it is not known exactly where this village was. He received a good education, until the age of 15 in Cremona, and then in Mediolana (Milan). At about the age of 19, Virgil came to Rome to study rhetoric, then an indispensable part of the higher education necessary for a political career. After staying in Rome for about a year, he settled in Naples, joining the circle of Epicureans founded by Philodemus, which was headed by Siron. In Naples itself, or near it, Virgil lived almost his entire life. He only occasionally visited Rome, visited Sicily and Tarentum, once visited Greece. In 19 BC. Virgil embarked on a long journey across Greece. Arriving in Athens, Virgil met here with Augustus, after which he decided to abandon the trip and return to Italy. On examination of Megar, he became seriously ill, the disease intensified on the ship, and soon after arriving at Brundisium, Virgil died on September 20, 19 BC.

WORKS

Virgil wrote three great works of poetry, all in hexametric (or "heroic") verse - Bucolics or Eclogs, 42–39 (or 37) BC; Georgiki(about 36-30 BC) and Aeneid, in 29-19 BC. In antiquity, several more small poems were attributed to Virgil, all or almost all of them date back to earlier years than Eclogs... Usually these poems appear under the collective name Appendix Vergiliana(lat. Virgilievo application). Most of them, including the three longest ones, are obviously not genuine. it Ciris(Gull), a love story ending with the transformation of characters into birds; Etna dedicated to the description of the famous volcano, and Mosquito- a story about a shepherd who was bitten by a mosquito in a dream to wake him up and save him from a snake; the shepherd, without understanding, kills a friendly insect that migrates to the afterlife.

The rest of the poems are much shorter. One, two-line epigram for the robber, is considered the very first fruit of Virgil's work. Another group of poems, written in different sizes, is combined under the Greek name Catalepton(which can be roughly conveyed as Miniatures). One of these poems, 10th, an extremely subtle parody of Catullus's 4th poem, may indeed belong to Virgil. The other two poems are also very likely to be considered authentic. 5th conveys the feelings of Virgil, who renounces the hated rhetoric and is about to move to Naples to study Epicurean philosophy; at the end of the poem, he also asks the Muses to leave him and return henceforth only occasionally and observing prudence. The eighth poem, presumably, conveys the poet's grief at parting with relatives and farewell to the estate confiscated by Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) among the lands intended for the settlement of veterans who won a victory under Philippi in 42 BC.

There are serious enough reasons to reject all other poems. Applications as inauthentic, but the discussion on this issue is undoubtedly not yet complete.

Bucolics.

Bucolics(Greek. Shepherding, i.e. Pastoral poetry), also called Eclogs(Greek. Favorites) are ten short pastorals containing mainly dialogues between imaginary villagers. They are based on Idylls Theocritus, also written in hexameter in Greek pastorals. In starting this work, Virgil had already reached maturity. He completely mastered the method of widespread use of literary sources, from where he extracted words, phrases and even accords, creating new combinations from them, as well as from the allusions arising on their basis, so that as a result, a completely new work, belonging to Virgil himself, appeared. In the early stages of the development of literature, this approach to verbal creativity is found everywhere, but it became especially widespread in Rome in connection with the active translation and adaptation of Greek authors that took place here. However, Virgil, and this is his greatest uniqueness, developed this method to such an extent that in his hands it became a technical innovation. Like many other innovations of Virgil, this method spread in later poetry, especially in the work of S. Coleridge.

V Eclogs Virgil creates unique music of consonances, which is also one of the most important features of his work. Even in this relatively light form, the poet discusses the most important problems of life. Some eclogs contain hints of the confiscation of his father's estate, and then the return of it by Octavian Virgil - as a sign of respect for his poetic merits and thanks to the intercession of an influential friend. Prominent statesmen and writers such as Alfen Var, Guy Asinius Pollio, Varius Rufus and Guy Cornelius Gallus are named in Eclogs by the name. However, for the most part, Virgil prefers to hide their true faces behind collective characters. So, he himself, a young free man, appears here as an elderly slave who has just received his freedom (1st eclogue). And in general, the whole thing with confiscation, in all its undoubted historicity, in Eclogs is not affected in any way: he is allowed to become here only the source of thoughts and feelings that contribute to the creation of these poems. Landscape in Eclogs also collective. It seems to us that we are located near Naples or in Sicily, but some details point to northern Italy. There are many vivid observations, but there is not a single integral and direct description of the scene.

The 4th eclogue is different from the others. It's a mix of a wedding hymn and a birth ode. The infant referred to here must once again bring the Golden Age to earth with him. There is endless controversy about who this baby is. This short, defiant, but significant poem was used by Emperor Constantine, who established Christianity in his empire, as evidence that even a pagan Roman predicted the birth of Christ. It was mainly due to this eclogue that Virgil became famous in the Middle Ages as the "Prophet of the Gentiles".

In the 1st eclogue, Virgil praises the benefactor (this is almost undoubtedly Octavian), calling him a god. From the very beginning, the poet believed in Octavian, in his vocation to grant peace and prosperity to Rome. He soon became a close friend of Octavian, probably even closer than the lyricist Horace. The emperor's bounty eventually enriched Virgil, but the poet managed to maintain his personal independence and creative freedom.

Georgiki.

The next poetic work of Virgil was Georgiki(Greek. Poem about agriculture) in four songs. The urgent task of the Roman state then (or should have become in the near future) concern for the encouragement and revitalization of agriculture in order to restore public morality and well-being, as well as economic recovery. Virgil enthusiastically supported this policy. In one place in the poem, he even mentioned that he was writing "at the behest" (or at least "on the advice") of Maecenas, a close friend of Virgil and Horace, a kind of "minister of the interior" under Octavian. The praises addressed to Octavian in this poem are conventional. And nevertheless, when writing the poem, Virgil was absolutely sincere. Indeed, it is possible that official agricultural policy itself was partly prepared and inspired by the poetry of Virgil.

The themes covered in the four songs of the poem are field cultivation, horticulture, animal husbandry and beekeeping. However, the material feed varies subtly. From time to time, passages are interwoven into the poem, which contain a reminder of how necessary the knowledge about agriculture communicated here is to man, obedient to the will of the gods. The connection of lyrical digressions with the main theme is sometimes very free, and nevertheless, they never fall out of the general presentation, but invariably reinforce a sophisticated and insightful view of things.

However, the special advice offered in the poem is valuable in itself, they are directly and successfully applied even in modern agriculture. Of course, Virgil had predecessors in literature, including the great Greeks - Hesiod, Theophrastus, Aratus, Nicander, as well as the treatise of the Carthaginian Magon in Latin translation and the works of the Romans, especially Cato the Elder. In addition, Virgil introduces into the poem his own carefully verified observations of nature and agriculture.

One of the main sources of Virgil was the philosophical poem De rerum natura (About nature), belonging to his older contemporary Lucretius, where he was a passionate champion of epicurean materialism. The echoes of this poem are heard in Eclogs, and in the last two great works of Virgil they are quite frequent, sometimes repeated after a few lines. V Georgikakh he borrows many of the poetic phrases of Lucretius, but turns them in such a way that they serve to express views that are opposite to materialism. For Virgil himself defends a deeply religious view of a world in which spiritual forces and goals rule. A person here finds the highest bliss not through epicurean calmness and detachment, but in hard rural work, in moral and physical health, enjoying the beauty of nature, relying on patriotic love for Italy and faith in divine providence.

Aeneid.

V Aeneid, i.e. The "history of Aeneas", the experience already acquired is used, here Virgil is given the opportunity to put his worldview to the test in connection with the presentation of dynamic political and military events. An epic narration in 12 songs describes the capture of Troy by the Greeks, the journey of the Trojan prince Aeneas to Italy, his diplomatic and military ventures. As a result, Aeneas unites the Trojans and Latins into a single people, which in the future, after the founding of Rome, several centuries later, will have to become Romans.

When working on the last, greatest work, Virgil's general views on the world and his creative method remained the same as before, except that his constant growth was observed. The author's readability and research work that he had to do while working on Aeneid are truly colossal. He must have covered almost all of modern Greek and Roman literature, of which only a small part has come down to us. Aeneid relies primarily on the works of Homer, Greek tragic poets and representatives of early Roman poetry, the authors of the epics and tragedies of Nevius and Ennius. The influence of Lucretius continues to be felt, the influence of more modern Greek "Hellenistic" poetry, as well as the newest Latin poetry of Catullus and other authors, primarily representatives of neoterics or "modernists", makes itself felt. Traces of Latin comedy, prose works and, perhaps, oral tradition can also be traced. There are suggestions that Virgil used sources outside the Greek and Roman world, from the East.

In an antique commentary by Servius on Bucolics it is reported that initially Virgil conceived a historical poem about the ancient kings of Latius, but then preferred the mythological epic, choosing the widespread legend about Aeneas, who escaped after the capture of Troy and went west. The first half of the poem, describing the wanderings of the Trojans, is based on Odyssey Homer, the second, describing the battles in Italy, follows the model of Homeric Iliads... First Virgil wrote Aeneid in prose, breaking it down into 12 books. Then he proceeded to gradually transpose it into poetry, and he did this not in a row, but referring each time to the passage that most corresponded to his mood. When Virgil worked, the inexhaustible sources of his memory and mind rained down poetic lines, which were then subjected to critical analysis and finishing.

Generally Aeneid in structure, it freely follows the Homeric model, and some of its episodes are interpreted according to Homeric rules. Like Homer, Virgil portrays the gods as interfering with the lives of people, both of them use comparisons, especially in tense moments. On the other hand, Virgil very rarely reproduces a line or even a poetic phrase verbatim, while Homer constantly resorts to epic formulas and repetitions. Virgil never lingers for a long time on the same source, sometimes in one line we can find allusions to several texts. So, using the Homeric comparison for his own purposes, Virgil immediately uses the variations of this comparison that were already encountered in previous poets. He combines the structure of Homeric poetry with the compositional laws of smaller works created in Hellenistic Greek and "neoteric" Latin poetry. Though Aeneid as a whole, it has an epic structure, its individual songs are likened not only to the Greek tragedy as such, but also to quite definite works of Greek tragedians, and sometimes not even one tragedy, but several tragedies are used within the same song.

According to Virgil, after the decisive battle and the death of Troy, Aeneas sails to Italy. On the way, he finds himself in various regions, in particular in Carthage, where Aeneas and Queen Dido fall in love with each other. However, fate forces Aeneas to continue on his way to Italy, and Dido, in despair, lays hands on himself. Arriving in Italy, Aeneas visits the Cuman Sibyl, the oracle of Apollo (near Naples) and gets permission to go underground, into the world of the shadows of the dead. Here the secrets of the judgment on the dead are revealed to him, awaiting their punishment or bliss and a new bodily incarnation of souls. In particular, Aeneas sees many Romans who have yet to play a role in the history of the city when their turn comes to light. Enriched with this experience, Aeneas enters into an alliance with Latina, king of Latius, but very soon this world collapses at the will of the gods. A war breaks out, which ends only after Aeneas kills Thurn, the brave leader of the enemy forces. Throughout the poem, Aeneas receives divine instructions, and when he manages to understand them, he invariably obeys them and he is accompanied by success. Aeneas is patronized by his mother, the goddess of love Venus, he also enjoys the favor of the supreme deity Jupiter, whose will corresponds to the dictates of fate. However, Juno, the powerful wife of Jupiter, opposes Aeneas, helping his enemy Thurnus. At the end of the poem, Jupiter and Juno make a compromise: the Trojans and the Latins must unite, later they will be given power over Italy and the whole world.

A similar ending is typical for Virgil. Indeed, the principle of reconciliation through compromise permeates both his worldview and poetry. He applies it both to small problems and to large ones: any phrase of four words can turn out to be a compromise between two phrases already used before - one by a Greek, the other by a Latin poet. Even in matters of religion, Virgil has both Greek and Roman religious beliefs, with Plato's more spiritual beliefs counterbalancing Homer's humanistic theology. Virgil invariably tries to approach the problem from both sides. Stylistically, Virgil begins with the accessible and clear Latin of the mature Cicero, but at the same time expresses it with a distinct conciseness, which already resembles the style of his contemporary, the historian Sallust. In modern Latin, Virgil carefully introduces new elements, including, when it suits his tasks, uses archaisms. The highest skill allowed the poet to convey several diverse thoughts at once in one short phrase and thus, skillfully using all the possibilities provided by the Latin language, to communicate to the reader a skillful system of meanings. The same trend is evident on a wider scale. All points of view must be taken into account, and the claims of all parties must be remembered. As a result, Aeneas turns out to be a hero completely different from those of Homer, his goal is much higher than personal success. Therefore, he is constantly referred to in the poem as pius Aeneus, which does not mean at all "pious" Aeneas, as it is incorrectly translated, but "faithful Aeneas". He must remain faithful to family and friends, to his fellow citizens and to his deities - this is in accordance with the moral standards on which the greatness of Rome is based.

Aeneas can be weak, unreasonable, cruel. Here we are dealing with another example of Virgil's approach. It is not enough for him to glorify the legendary past; the poem must also contain the historical past and the present. In particular, Aeneas (and by no means in his best manifestations) may be like Augustus, whom Virgil supported, with reservations and disappointments. It is widely believed, and there is nothing incredible in it, that by forcing Augustus to look in the mirror in this way, Virgil was able to influence the emperor. Resorting to subtle allusions to the story of the beginnings of Rome, Virgil makes it clear that in the civil war won by Augustus, the truth was not only on the side of the future emperor.

The principle of reconciliation that flows from deep and unbiased compassion remains fundamental to Virgil. Equally important for a poet is sensitivity to the musical sound of words, a passion for creating harmonious consonances. Sound predominates, often it is the first to be born to Virgil, and from it is the meaning. During the life of Virgil, the Latin hexameter had not yet lost its significance. The poet made a lot of efforts in order to reach the peak of perfection in this verse. According to sources, during the morning Virgil managed to write many lines, and during the day he revised and trimmed them, leaving several lines in the evening, and sometimes just one. So, when creating Georgiki Virgil wrote only one line a day.

- 15.X.70 BC NS. (Andes near Mantua) - 9/21/19 BC BC (Brindisi)

One of the most famous and significant ancient Roman poets; creator of a new type of epic poem.

Virgil received his first education in Cremona; at the age of sixteen received the toga of maturity. This celebration coincided with the year of Lucretius' death, so that contemporaries looked at the aspiring poet as a direct successor to the singer De Natura Rerum. Virgil received his further education in Milan, Naples and Rome; there he studied Greek literature and philosophy. Despite his interest in Epicureanism and deep admiration for Lucretius, Virgil did not adhere to the Epicurean teaching; he was attracted by Plato and the Stoics. By this time, his small poems belong, of which the most reliable is Culet, recognized as Virgilian by Martial, Suetonius and Statius. After Caesar's death, Virgil returned to Mantua and devoted himself there to the study of Theocritus; but his peace was disturbed by civil wars. During the distribution of land to veterans - supporters of the Triumvirs after the Battle of Philippi, Virgil was twice in danger of losing his possessions in Mantua; but each time he was saved by the personal intervention of Octavian, to whom the grateful poet soon dedicated two laudatory eclogs (I and IX). In Rome, where Virgil often came to bother about his possessions, he became friends with Maecenas and the poets who surrounded him; later he introduced Horace into this circle, and both poets, together with their patron, made the journey to Brundusium, which they both glorified. In 37 were completed Bucolica, the first mature work of Virgil, and at the request of Maecenas for Georgica, written in Naples in 30, In 29, after many preliminary works, Virgil began to work on the Aeneid and, after working on it for several years in Italy , went to Greece and Asia to study on the spot the theater of action of his poem and give his work more truth in life. In Athens, he met Augustus, who persuaded him to return to Italy. On the way to Rome, Virgil fell ill and died in Brundusia in 19 BC. Before his death, he asked that his unfinished and, in his opinion, imperfect epic be burned. Some scholars (Bartenstein, for example) explain this request as follows: the reign of Augustus convinced Virgil that he had glorified the tyrant all his life, and he felt remorse before death that his epic would give him immortality.

In his first work - "Bucolica" (consisting of 10 eclogs and written in 43-37) - Virgil wanted to introduce Greek features into Latin poetry, its simplicity and naturalness, and began by imitating Theocritus. But he completely failed to achieve the goal, despite the direct translation in many places of the Sicilian poet - it is simplicity and naturalness that are absent in the Bucolics of Virgil. While the shepherds of Theocritus do live the unassuming lives of children of nature, whose whole interest is in the prosperity of the flocks and the love of the shepherdesses, the shepherds of Virgil are a poetic fiction, an artistic image that covers the laments of the Romans about the hardships of civil wars. In some of them, Virgil represents the prominent figures of that era; so, for example, Caesar is represented in Daphnis. The most famous and in fact the most interesting in terms of solemnity of mood and subtlety of details is eclogue IV (Pallio), in which Virgil predicts a future golden age and the imminent birth of a child that will change the course of life on earth. The poet paints a picture of this future happy life, when any work will be superfluous and a person will find everything that he needs everywhere (omnis fert omnia tellus), and ends with a glorification of the future benefactor of people. Christian writers saw in this eclogue a prophecy of the birth of Christ, and on it is based mainly the belief in Virgil as a magician, widespread in the Middle Ages. Most likely, Virgil had in mind in this poem the son of Augustus, Marcellus, whose early death he later glorified in the poetic episode of Canto VI of the Aeneid. In the general character of the X-th eclogue, its hatred of war and thirst for a quiet life, Virgil reflected the desire for peace that swept the entire Roman society. The literary significance of Bucolic lies mainly in the perfection of the verse, surpassing everything previously written in republican Rome.

The Georgics, Virgil's second poem, were written with the aim of arousing the love of agriculture in the souls of veterans who were awarded lands. Taking Hesiod as a model, Virgil, however, does not enter, like his Greek model, into all the details of agricultural business - his goal is to show in poetic images the delights of rural life, and not to write rules for how to sow and reap; therefore, the details of agricultural labor occupy him only where they are of poetic interest. From Hesiod, Virgil took only indications of happy and unhappy days and some agricultural practices. The best part of the poem, that is, the digressions of a natural philosophical nature, are for the most part drawn from Lucretius.

The Georgics are considered the most perfect work of Virgil in terms of the purity and poetic completeness of the verse. They, at the same time, deeply reflected the character of the poet, his outlook on life and religious convictions; these are poetic studies on the dignity of labor. Agriculture in his eyes is the holy war of people against the land, and he often compares the details of agricultural life with military life. The Georgics also serve as a protest against the atheism that has spread recently in the republic; the poet helps Augustus to awaken in the Romans a faded belief in the gods and he himself is sincerely imbued with the conviction of the existence of a higher Providence that governs people. "Aeneid" - an unfinished patriotic epic of Virgil, consists of 12 books, written between 29-19 years. After Virgil's death, the Aeneid was published by his friends Varius and Plotius without any changes, but with some abbreviations. In all likelihood, the Aeneid was calculated, like the Iliad, for 24 songs; The 12th ends only with a victory over Thurn, while the poet wanted to tell the very settlement of the hero in Latium and his death. The plot of the epic is Aeneas, founding a new Ilion in Rome and becoming the ancestor of gens Julia, from which Augustus originated. Virgil took up this plot at the request of Augustus, in order to arouse national pride in the Romans with legends about the great destinies of their ancestors and, on the other hand, to protect the dynastic interests of Augustus, supposedly a descendant of Aeneas through his son Julius or Ascania. Virgil in the Aeneid is close to Homer; in the Iliad, Aeneas is the hero of the future. The poem begins with the last part of Aeneas' wanderings, his stay in Carthage, and then it tells episodically the previous events, the destruction of Ilion (II p.), Aeneas's wanderings after that (III p.), Arrival in Carthage (I and IV p.), Travel through Sicily (V p.) to Italy (VI p.), where a new series of adventures of a romantic and warlike nature begins. The very execution of the plot suffers from a general defect in the works of Virgil - the lack of original creativity and strong characters. Particularly unsuccessful is the hero, "pious Aeneas" (pius Aeneas), devoid of any initiative, ruled by the fate and decisions of the gods, who patronize him as the founder of a noble family and the executor of the divine mission - to transfer Lar to a new homeland. Moreover, the Aeneid bears the imprint of artificiality; in contrast to the Homeric epic, which emerged from the people, the Aeneid was created in the mind of the poet, without any connection with the people's life and beliefs; Greek elements are confused with Italic, mythical legends - with history, and the reader constantly feels that the mythical world serves only as a poetic expression of the national idea. But Virgil used all the power of his verse to finish the psychological and purely poetic episodes, which constitute the immortal glory of the epic. Virgil is inimitable in the descriptions of gentle shades of feelings. One has only to recall the pathetic, despite its simplicity, description of the friendship of Nizus and Erial, the love and suffering of Dido, the meeting of Aeneas with Dido in hell, in order to forgive the poet for his unsuccessful attempt to exalt the glory of Augustus at the expense of the legends of antiquity. Of the 12 songs of the Aeneid, the sixth, which describes the descent of Aeneas into hell to see his father (Anchises), is considered the most remarkable in terms of philosophical depth and patriotic feeling. In it, the poet expounds the Pythagorean and Platonic doctrine of the "soul of the universe" and recalls all the great people of Rome. The outer structure of this song is taken from the XI p. "Odyssey". In the rest of the songs, borrowings from Homer are also very numerous.

Of the minor poems, in addition to the above-mentioned Culet, Ciris, Moretum and Sora are also attributed to Virgil. Virgil in his poetry, as well as in his personal life, is more a man of feelings than thoughts. "Bonus", "optimus", "anima candida" - these are the epithets that constantly accompany his name in Horace, Donatus and others. In his poetry Virgil is least of all a philosopher, although he is greatly carried away by the philosophical problems that occupied republican Rome, and he would like to follow in the footsteps of Lucretius. But he feels his powerlessness and sadly exclaims to Lucretius (Geor. ​​II):

Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas ... Fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestos ...

Everything concerning the philosophical systems in the Aeneid and Georgics is directly borrowed from various Greek authors. In politics, Virgil is one of the most sincere supporters of Augustus. Full of enthusiasm for the great past of Rome, he wholeheartedly praises the founder of peace in Italy. August for him is a representative of the national idea, and he worships him without any shade of ingratiation, alien to his pure soul.

The worship that surrounded the name of Virgil during his lifetime continued after the death of the poet; already from the Augustan century, his writings were studied in schools, commented on by scholars and served to predict fate, like the oracles of Sibyll. The so-called "Sortes Virgilianae" were in great use during the time of Hadrian and the North. The name of Virgil was surrounded by a mysterious legend that turned into the belief in him as a magician in the Middle Ages. Numerous legends about his miraculous power are based on some incomprehensible passages of his writings, such as the IV and VIII eclogs. The story of the afterlife in the 6th paragraph of the "Aeneid", etc. and, in addition, the interpretation of the hidden meaning of his name (Virga - magic rod) and the name of his mother (Maia - Maga). Already in Donatus there are hints of the supernatural significance of Virgil's poetry. Fulgentius ("Virg. Continentiae") gives the "Aeneid" an allegorical meaning. Then the name of Virgil is found in Spanish, French and German folk books (see Simrock, "Eine sch öne Hi storie von dem Zauberer Virgilius"), which date him either to the time of the fabulous King Octavian, or King Servius; Brittany legends speak of him as a contemporary of King Arthur and the son of a knight from Campagna in the Forest of Arden. Rome and Naples always serve as the theater of his exploits. The highest manifestation of the meaning attributed to Virgil in the Middle Ages is the role that Dante gives him in Divina Comedia, choosing him as the representative of the deepest human wisdom and making him his leader in the circles of hell.

V.'s writings have come down to us in a large number of manuscripts, of which the most remarkable are: the Medici, written probably before the fall of the Western Roman Empire (published by Foggini in Florence in 1741), and Codex Vaticanus (published by Bottari, Rome, 1741 G.). From edid. princ. note the small folio of 1469, published by Swingheim and Panartz, the Aldin edition in Venice in 1501, several editions of the 15th and 16th centuries. with comments by Servius et al., ed. I. L. de la Cerda, Madrid, 1608-1617, ed. Nick. Helsius in Amsterdam., 1676, Burkman in 1746, Wagner in 1830, corrected from manuscripts and provided with notes on the spelling of many words of Virgil - "Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie" Schweigger'a contains a listing of all other editions and an indication of them merits.

The primary sources for information about the life and writings of Virgil are Donat's "Vita Vergilii", some other vitae with which the manuscripts are supplied, Servius 'comments and Virgil's biography in Fotsius' verses. Of the critical and historical books about Virgil, the following are remarkable: an etude about Virgil in Paolli's Real Encyclop é die; Sainte Boeuve, Virgile; separate articles by G. Boissier in "Religion des Romains", "Promenades arch éologiqu es etc.", introduction to German. published. Wagner, Vorbiger and others. On Virgil in the Middle Ages: Comparetti, "Virgil im Mittelaller" (translated from Italian, 1875).

XI. VERGILY

1. Life and works.

Publius Virgil Maron was born in 70 BC. in Northern Italy, in the village of Andes, near Mantua. Educated in Cremona and Rome. However, already in 42, he returned home, as he was not disposed to city life, but loved a simple life in a remote province. At 41-40. his estate was confiscated by the Caesarians, who, after the Battle of Philippi, were given the opportunity to reward themselves with land plots in Italy. Having been expelled from his native estate, he, with the assistance of Maecenas, received an estate in Campania and a house in Rome. His relation to the empire of Augustus is deep and sincere, and he praises his patron heartily in the first eclogue from the collection Bucolics. These "Bucolics" are preceded by early poems included in the collection "Catalepta" ("Trinkets"), in which we find heterogeneous miniatures of epicurean, idlillic, literary-critical and epistolary-everyday character. In his early youth, Virgil was indeed close not only to neoterics, but also to the epicurean philosophers Siron and Philodemus. The authorship of both the entire collection and his individual poems was often not attributed to Virgil.

World fame was made to Virgil by other, already undoubtedly his works: "Bucolics" ("Shepherd's Poems") or "Eclogi" ("Selected Poems"), and then "Georgics" ("Agricultural Poems") and especially "Aeneid". "Bucolics" were written in 42-39, "Georgics" - in 37-30. and "Aeneid" - in 29-19. Virgil died at 19. BC. after traveling in Greece, where he went to collect materials.

Sources portray Virgil as a modest man devoid of any ambition, spiritually devoted to rural life and a completely sincere ardent supporter of the Augustus empire. Emperor Augustus, who ended the turmoil in Rome and dreamed of the revival of the primordial simple Roman virtue and, in addition, did not tolerate any political groupings that could be dangerous for him, had in the person of Virgil just such a suitable person who loved agriculture above all and poetic creativity and far away from any political struggle.

His modesty was so popular that later his name began to be written not "Virgil", but "Virgil", deriving it from the Latin word virgo - "girl" (this etymology, of course, is the result of fiction).

2. "Bucolics" or "Eclogies".

a) As the title of the collection shows, this is shepherd's poetry. The collection contains 10 eclogs, which can be classified as follows. First of all, we have actually bucolic eclogs, and then allegorically-bucolic eclogs. The first depict poetic contests of shepherds with couplets (III), quatrains (VII) and whole songs (VIII). Allegorical-bucolic eclogs (I, IV, IX, X) allegorically express important social and political phenomena and philosophical ideas: the peaceful and happy life of Titirus (I), blessed by the "young god", cosmogony in the mouth of a drunken Silenus (IX), "prophecy" about the birth of a baby for the salvation of the world (IV).

b) Artistic style. Despite his great dependence on Theocritus, whose verses Virgil sometimes fancifully combines, he creates his own style. The fact that the shepherds of Virgil are experiencing love longing and are engaged in poetry or music is very similar to Theocritus. But the very attitude of Virgil to the shepherds depicted by him is completely different. Theocritus' shepherds are little individualized, everyone speaks in a city-like manner, and Theocritus paints them rather condescendingly and even critically or, at least, ironically. Virgil's shepherds are presented as real shepherds, no irony about their characters and occupations is imperceptible in Virgil; although his shepherds also speak a highly poetic language and speak learnedly, one still feels that for Virgil this is real realism, that he really saw such people and he himself shared their feelings and hopes.

Thus, from the point of view of the plot, the eclogs of Virgil are a depiction of the shepherd's life, from the point of view of the ideological meaning, it is the propaganda of the ideology of small land tenure or the idealization of rural work and simple village poetry. From the combination of this kind of plot with such an ideological content, the artistic style of the eclog is born, which is also represented quite diversely.

c) First of all, we note the style in the proper sense of the bucolic, which can be observed in almost every eclog, but especially in eclogs II, III, V, VII, VIII. Eclogue II - love languor surrounded by a dense forest, violets, poppies, daffodils, aniseed color, cinnamon, laurel, quince, chestnuts, myrtle, mallow, lilies. Cicadas sing, lizards hide from the heat in the grass. There are many sheep and kids, and there is no shortage of fresh milk. Images of a calm and mirror-motionless sea, a sultry day and the setting sun flash. Eclogue III features beech goblets with vines, ivy, and human faces carved on them. In the eclogue V, there is a song about the death of the mythical shepherd Daphnis among delicate flowers and smiling nature, among grateful and enthusiastic admirers. None of these eclogs, including VII and VIII, contain a single hint of politics or philosophers. It simply depicts shepherds with their love feelings, with their poetic contests, surrounded by a gentle, abundant and blooming nature.

d) However, the serene idyllic calm depicted by Virgil, far from literary disputes and city life, still differs in different literary and social tendencies. Thus, at the beginning of eclogue VI, we find a dedication to the proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul Alphen Var, who assisted Virgil during the agrarian turmoil. This Vara, says the poet, is celebrated by all nature. Eclogue X is dedicated to the poet's friend, elegiac poetry and civic leader Cornelius Gallus. It depicts the unsatisfied love of this Gallus, who is also sad among the tender, fragrant and blooming nature. This love interests Sylvanas, Pan and even Apollo himself. Gallus is also mentioned in eclogue VI together with Hesiod. In eclogue III, Asinius Pollio and his literary work are sympathetically remembered and, unsympathetically, two mediocre poets, Bavius ​​and Mevius. Eclogue IV is also dedicated to Asinius Pollio.

e) Among the idyllic moods of Virgil, mythological motives also appear. In eclogue IX, the tipsy Silenus, held back by the flower bonds of the Satyrs, sings in a cave about the emergence of the world from traditional ancient elements - earth, water, air and fire, about the appearance of solid earth, forests, beasts in the forests, sun and rain.

Eclogs are generally interspersed with various mythical images - naiads, nymphs, muses, Galatea, Bacchus, Orpheus, Jupiter, Apollo, etc.

The mythological utopia developed in eclog IV deserves special mention. Here Virgil says that he wants to narrate more important matters. It depicts the birth of a certain wonderful baby who will bring peace to the whole earth with him: the earth will itself deliver everything necessary for man, all wars will stop not only among people, but also mutual devouring among animals, all poisonous snakes and poisonous plants will die, and in general a new golden age will be reborn on Earth. This eclogue caused a lot of controversy, as everyone wanted to establish what kind of baby Virgil was talking about. Various assumptions were made about different famous people who were born at the time of the creation of "Bucolic". With the development of Christianity, when its forerunners were established in the pagan world, the idea arose that Virgil was here prophesying about the birth of Christ. At the turn of the old and new era in the ancient world in general there were many different legends and prophecies about the onset of the golden age; this is quite understandable in connection with the crisis of society and the ensuing hopes for a new order of the world. Virgil, living in an atmosphere of this kind of disappointment and hope, introduced his idyllic moods also into the image of this expected earthly paradise.

f) Finally, "Bucolics" are not alien to the political element, which, however, in the entire work only slips twice, and even then in terms of the purely personal and everyday interests of the author. Thus, in eclogue I, the shepherd Tythir, who received his estate back after confiscation, recalls with reverence the "god" who arranged this return for him and brought him back to a quiet life. The other shepherd depicted here, Melibey, in a heavy mood must leave his site, taken from him by the soldiers. This, of course, refers to the protection given to Virgil by Augustus. The confiscation of the estate from the poet is also referred to in the eclogue IX. In "Bucolics" there is no doubt the ideology of a small or average landowner, far from any politics and hardly enduring its dangers and anxieties.

g) Let us note the great progress of the poetic technique "Bucolic". Virgil, already in this early work, is quite a classic of Roman poetry. A more detailed analysis of the work reveals an abundant terminology in the field of botany and zoology, a clear syntactic structure, some sophistication and rhetoric, but always graceful softness and sincerity of the depiction of nature, the simplicity and realistic attitude of the author when describing his characters, the absence of lengths, brevity of characteristics and genuine sincerity and the warmth of artistic images. In all this, Virgil sharply differs from the Alexandrian scholarship, which is characteristic of works of this kind in the era of Hellenism.

h) The four main sources "Bucolic" were revised by Virgil beyond recognition. From the first source - Theocritus - an idyllic mood is taken. The second source - neoteric - gave Virgil the feeling of a graceful small form. The third source is Epicureanism. But Virgil does not even have a hint of any anti-religiousness; he excludes any enlightenment at all. Finally, the learned-didactic poetry of Hellenism, abundantly represented by Virgil, is completely devoid of the dryness and formalism that it distinguished in Greece. All these four Greek sources, in addition, are imbued with Roman sentiments in Virgil, associated with the ideology of small or medium land tenure and are distinguished by a sincere idealization of simple rural life.

3. "Georgics".

Georgics means nothing more than Agricultural Poems. Not surprisingly, after the shepherd's poetry, Virgil turned to agricultural poetry. This, again, was fully consistent with both his own sincere sympathies and the policy of Augustus, who tried to restore and improve the small and medium-sized economy of the village, ruined after so many decades of civil war.

With great warmth, sincerity and sincerity, the poet paints various pictures of agriculture. This didactic poem consists of four books, several hundred verses each, of which the first is devoted to agriculture, the second to gardening, the third to cattle breeding and the fourth to beekeeping.

a) The plot of "Georgik" is simple and clear. In book I, after addressing Maecenas and Octavian and invoking the rural gods Ceres, Libera (Bacchus), fauns, dryads, Neptune, Pan, Minerva, Sylvanas, Virgil talks about plowing and fertilizing the land and, in general, about the necessary prerequisites for a harvest, about agricultural implements, about seeds, about the time of year in connection with field work, about autumn weather and about the weather in general. At the end of Book I, he speaks of the death of Caesar and praises Augustus (466-514).

Book II, devoted to gardening, sets out the question of the reproduction of trees, as well as their varieties in connection with the nature of the soil. Speaks in particular about the care of grapes. Here are also admonitions addressed to the Maecenas, the praise of Italy, a description of spring and pictures of the happy life of a farmer (458-540).

In Book III, after a long introduction dedicated to the gods, Octavian, Maecenas and himself, the author touches on the breeding of cattle and horses and talks about caring for these animals, and later on, about small ruminants (sheep and goats) and about diseases among livestock. There are also two inserted episodes in the book - about the bullfighting and about the life of the shepherds in the south and in the north.

In Book IV, after the usual appeal to the Maecenas and reflections on our own work, we find a discussion about beekeeping: about the life of bees and their breeding, about their properties and about their diseases. The myths about Aristeus, as well as about Orpheus and Eurydice (315-558) adjoin these arguments about beekeeping. At the end all the Georgics are summed up.

b) The ideological meaning of the poem "Georgiki" is so simple that it does not require any commentary at all. This is the same ideology of small and cozy agriculture, which the poet loves with all his sincerity. Frequent mentions of Octavian Augustus might even be absent - to such an extent it is understandable that this ideology of Virgil was quite in the spirit of the social and political measures of Augustus, who resettled the impoverished townspeople to the countryside to work on the land. Virgil inspired this policy and with all his heart strove to restore Italy, ravaged by centuries of wars. He speaks out against incessant wars (490-514), idealizing rural life.

c) Artistic and style "Georgik" is distinguished by the combination of the most prosaic, practical and even scientific advice on agriculture with a very complacent tone that turns all works on agriculture into something beautiful and pleasant. When describing the fertility of the land, Virgil talks about what the different lands produce. Giving advice on planting different plants in different order, he gives the names of these plants poetic epithets. And if any difficulties await the farmer, then Jupiter himself arranged it for the good of the farmer. Those who work on the land, away from the bustle of the city and the excessive luxury of life, away from wars and politics, themselves do not understand their own happiness. Blessed are those people to whom the earth gives everything they need, who deal with goats, pigs, cows, pick strawberries, compete in throwing darts, pick grapes, watch the udders of cows resting on the grass full of milk. How sweet it is when the owner nibbles a torch and sings songs on a winter evening, and the hostess is engaged in weaving, or when both of them boil grape juice and use the foliage to remove the foam from the boiling liquid. This good-natured but at the same time inspired idealization and downright poeticization of rural life is found, for example, in Book II; Virgil lists numerous grape varieties and praises them poetically.

Virgil loves Italy's rich, flourishing and productive nature. Abundant olives, warlike horses and white herds, invariable spring, every year twice a year of livestock and twice-bearing plants, the absence of predatory animals, fortified cities, numerous lakes and seas, abundant deposits of silver, gold and copper, the homeland of strong youth and great heroes - this is a picture full of the benefits of Italy.

In particular, the poet is inspired by nature and especially by the picture of the luxury of spring with its fruitful rains, the reproduction of offspring among animals and birds, the first growth of useful plantations, with a general resurrection of life everywhere. A very dramatic depiction of a bullfight over a heifer is also noteworthy. The pictures of the life of African and Scythian shepherds are also rich and dramatic.

In general, Virgil's nature is depicted in the Georgics in very rich colors, in which there is a lot of drama, not to mention the poetry in the detailed descriptions. The future author of "Aeneid" is already felt here. Virgil's picture of a wealthy Italy, of course, contradicts the devastated state of this country, to which she came as a result of a prolonged socio-political crisis.

A notable element of the artistic style of "Georgik" is mythology. It is expressed by the constant mention of numerous gods and demons, but it is especially vividly represented at the end of book IV in the myth of Aristeas and Orpheus.

The son of Apollo and the nymph Cyrene, Aristeus, the demon of cattle-breeding and agriculture, died from a sudden illness of the bees, which he loved very much. He turns to his mother for help, and she directs him to the werewolf Proteus. Proteus tells him about how Orpheus's wife Eurydice fled from the pursuit of Aristeus to the sea, how she was stung by a poisonous snake and died. Orpheus, with his singing, forced the underground gods to return Eurydice to him, but she disappeared when Orpheus looked back at her. The yearning Orpheus was torn to pieces by the Bacchantes, and the nymphs sent pestilence to the bees of Aristeas. On the advice of Cyrene, Aristeus then made abundant atoning sacrifices to the nymphs and received the bees back. This myth, which takes about two and a half hundred verses from Virgil, told to deepen his reasoning on beekeeping, has, of course, a completely independent meaning. He, too, is a mixture of great scholarship, replete with rare names and titles, and heartfelt lyrics depicting the feelings of Aristeus, Orpheus and Cyrene. The description of Aristeus's journey into the depths of the Peneus River for a meeting with his mother is distinguished by its plasticity (the waters of Peneus parted before him and formed a vault for his free descent), and Orpheus's melancholy and his being torn apart are depicted without details. The shape-shifting of Proteus is quite reminiscent of the picture of his transformations into songs IV of the Odyssey. G

) Sources "Georgik". First of all, this is Hesiod, with whom Virgil shares didacticism here, but is sharply distinguished by the good-natured idealization of rural life, which we find instead of those heavy pictures that are drawn in "Works and Days". But Virgil borrowed most of all from the Hellenistic authors.

"History of animals" by Aristotle, "History of plants" and "Reasons" by Theophrastus, "Heavenly phenomena" by Aratus, "Hermes" by Eratosthenes, "About animals" by Nikandr Kolofonsky, "About agriculture" by Cato the Elder, "About agriculture" and "About bees" Gigin, "On the Village Life" by Varro Reatinsky - these are the works that Virgil used in the poem.

In poetic terms, the influence of Ennius, Lucretius, Catullus, Varro Atatsinsky, not to mention Homer and Hesiod, is undoubtedly. All these small poetic borrowings drown in the general artistic style of "Georgik", which is as independent, original and sincere as the "Bucolics".

4. "Aeneid".

World fame was brought to Virgil especially by his third great work - the heroic poem "Aeneid". As the title of this work shows, here we find a poem dedicated to Aeneas. Aeneas was the son of Anchises and Venus, while Anchises was a cousin of the Trojan king Priam. In the Iliad, Aeneas appears many times as the most prominent Trojan leader, the first after Hector. Already there he enjoys the invariable disposition of the gods, and in the Iliad (XX, 306 et seq.) It is said about the subsequent reign of him and his descendants over the Trojans. In the Aeneid, Virgil depicts the arrival of Aeneas with his companions after the fall of Troy in Italy for the subsequent foundation of the Roman state. All this mythology, however, is not given in the "Aeneid" in full, since the foundation of Rome is related to the future and only prophecies are given about it. The twelve songs of the poem created by Virgil bear traces of incomplete work (for example, some lines of poetry remained unfinished). There are a number of contradictions in content. Virgil did not want to publish his poem in this form and before his death ordered to burn it. But by order of Augustus, the initiator of this poem, it was still published after the death of its author.

a) The plot of the poem consists of two parts: the first six songs of the poem are devoted to the wanderings of Aeneas from Troy to Italy, and the second six - to the wars in Italy with local tribes. Virgil imitated Homer in many ways, so that the first half of the Aeneid can be called an imitation of the Odyssey, while the second half is the Iliad.

Canto I, after a short introduction, tells about the pursuit of Aeneas by Juno and about the sea storm, as a result of which he and his companions arrive in Carthage, that is, to North Africa. Venus asks Jupiter to help Aeneas establish himself in Italy, and he promises her this. In Carthage, Aeneas is encouraged by Venus herself, who appeared to him in the form of a hunter. Mercury prompts the Carthaginians to kindly receive Aeneas. Aeneas appears before Dido, queen of Carthage, and she arranges a solemn feast in honor of the new arrivals.

Canto II is dedicated to the stories of Aeneas at Dido's feast about the death of Troy. Aeneas tells in detail about the treachery of the Greeks, who could not take Troy for 10 years and in the end resorted to an unprecedented trick with a wooden horse. Troy was burned by Greek soldiers who emerged from the inside of a wooden horse at night (1-199). The song is replete with many dramatic episodes. Laocoon, a priest of Neptune in Troy, who objected to the admission of a wooden horse into the city and who himself threw a spear at it, died along with his two sons from the bite of two snakes that emerged from the sea (199-233). The recently deceased Hector appears in a dream to Aeneas and asks him to resist his enemies. And only when the royal palace was already on fire and Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, brutally killed the defenseless elder Priam, the king of Troy, near the altar in the palace, did Aeneas stop fighting, and even then after the exhortation of Venus and after a special miraculous sign. Together with his penates and companions, together with his wife Creusa and son Askania (Creusa immediately disappears), carrying the aged father Anchises on his back, Aeneas finally gets out of the burning city and hides on the neighboring mountain Ida.

Canto III is a continuation of Aeneas's story of his journey. Aeneas goes to Thrace, to Delos, to Crete, to the Strophada Islands; but under the influence of various frightening events, he cannot find a refuge for himself anywhere. Only at the Cape of Aktion were games in honor of Apollo arranged, and only in Epirus he was touchingly greeted by Andromache, who had married Helen, another son of Priam. Various circumstances prevent Aeneas from establishing himself in Italy, although he will safely bypass Scylla and Charybdis, as well as the Cyclops. Anchises dies in Sicily.

Canto IV is dedicated to the famous novel by Dido and Aeneas. Dido, delighted with the exploits of Aeneas, seeks to marry him, in which Juno helps her. Aeneas has a great future in Italy, where the gods themselves direct him, and he cannot stay with Dido. When Aeneas' fleet sails off the coast of Africa, Dido, cursing Aeneas and foreshadowing future wars between Rome and Carthage, throws himself into a blazing fire and impales himself with the sword that Aeneas gave her.

In Song V, Aeneas arrives in Sicily for the second time, where he arranges games in honor of the deceased Anchises. However, Juno does not stop his intrigues against Aeneas and through Iris encourages the Trojan women to set fire to his fleet; by the prayer of Aeneas to Jupiter, this fire stops. Having founded the city of Segesta in Sicily, Aeneas went to Italy.

Canto VI depicts the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, his meeting with the prophetess Sibyl in the temple of Apollo in Kumah and receiving advice from her for descending into the underworld to learn from Anchises a prophecy about his future (1-263). Led by the Sibyl, Aeneas descends into the underworld, which is depicted in Virgil in great detail. They are met first by various monsters, then Charon, a terrible carrier across the Acheron River, then they have to put Kerber to sleep and meet innumerable shadows, and among other things, the shadows of the well-known dead. In Tartarus, in the deepest place of the underworld, famous mythological sinners such as the daring Titans, the rioters of the Aloads, the atheist Salmoneus, the dissolute impudent Titius and Ixion, and others, experience eternal torment. Passing the palace of Pluto, Aeneas and Sibyl find themselves in Elysium, that is, in the area where the righteous spend their lives blissfully and where Aeneas meets Anchises, who shows all his future descendants and gives advice regarding the wars in Italy. After that - the return of Aeneas to the surface of the earth.

The second part of the Aeneid depicts the wars of Aeneas in Italy for his establishment there for the sake of founding the future Roman state.

In Canto VII, Aeneas, who entered Latium, receives the consent of the king of this country Latina to marry his daughter Lavinia. However, Juno, a constant enemy of Aeneas, upsets this marriage and turns against the Latins another Italic tribe, the Rutuls, with their leader Turk. Latin leaves power, and due to the machinations of Juno, a break occurs between Aeneas and the inhabitants of Latium, to whose side 14 other Italic tribes go over.

In Canto VIII, Thurnus concludes an alliance with Diomedes, the Greek king in Italy, and Aeneas with Evandros, the Greek from Arcadia, who founded the city that would later become Rome. The son of Evandros Pallas, together with Aeneas, asks for help from the Etruscans, who rebelled against their king Mecenzius. At the request of Venus, her husband Vulcan makes for Aeneas brilliant weapons and a shield of highly artistic work with pictures of the future history of Rome.

Canto IX is a description of the war. Rutulas, led by Turn, break into the Trojan camp to burn the ships, but Jupiter turns these ships into sea nymphs.A very important episode with two Trojan warriors - friends Nys and Eurial, who bravely defend the entrance to the Trojan camp, but die after the reconnaissance undertaken by them in the Rutul camp. After that, Thurn again breaks into the Trojan camp and after a fierce battle returns home unharmed (176-502).

Song X - a new fierce battle between enemies, this time with the participation of Aeneas, who until that time was with the Etruscans. Even Jupiter cannot stop the battle. Thurn resists Aeneas' landing and kills Pallant. Turna is protected by his patroness Juno. But Aeneas kills Mezentius and his son.

Song XI contains the burial of the slain Trojans, the meeting and the quarrel between Latina and Turnus. As a result, the warlike Thurnus takes over the Latina, who offered a truce with the Trojans. Further - the performance of the Amazon Camilla on the side of the Rutuls, which ends with her death and the retreat of the Rutuls (445-915).

Canto XII is mainly devoted to the single combat of Aeneas and Thurn, which is depicted in solemn colors, with various slowdowns and retreats. Juno stops pursuing Aeneas, and Thurnus is killed by the latter.

The Aeneid was not completed by Virgil, it does not depict the events that followed the war between the Trojans and the Rutuls: the reconciliation and unification of the Latins with the Trojans, from where the history of Rome began; Aeneas's marriage to Lavinia; the appearance of their son Iul (who, according to other sources, was identified with the former son of Aeneas, Askanias); the appearance in the offspring of Iul of the brothers Romulus and Remus, from whom the first Roman kings went.

b) The historical basis for the emergence of the "Aeneid" was the grandiose growth of the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire, a growth that imperatively required for itself both historical and ideological justification. But historical facts alone in such cases are not enough. Here mythology always comes to the rescue, the role of which is to turn an ordinary story into a miracle. Such a mythological basis for the entire Roman history was the concept that Virgil used in his poem. He was not its inventor, but only a kind of reformer, and most importantly, its most talented exponent. The motive of Aeneas' arrival in Italy is found even in the Greek lyric poet of the 6th century. BC. Stesichora. The Greek historians Gellanicus (V century), Timaeus (III century) and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (I century BC) developed a whole legend about the connection of Rome with the Trojan settlers who arrived in Italy with Aeneas. Roman epic writers and historians also did not lag behind the Greeks in this respect, and almost each of them paid one or another tribute to this legend (Nevi, Ennius, Cato the Elder, Varro, Titus Livia). It turned out that the Roman state was founded by representatives of one of the most venerable peoples of antiquity, namely the Trojans, that is, the Phrygians; while Augustus, as adopted by Julius Caesar, ascended to Julu, the son of Aeneas. And regarding Aeneas, the whole ancient world never doubted that he was the son of Anchises and Venus herself. This is how Rome justified its power. And mythology came in handy here, since the impression of the grandiose world empire suppressed the minds and did not want to put up with the low and, so to speak, "provincial" origin of Rome.

The whole ideological meaning of the Aeneid follows from this. Virgil wanted to glorify the empire of Augustus in the most solemn form; and Augustus really comes out from him as the heir to the ancient Roman kings and has Venus as his progenitor. In "Aeneid" (VI), Anchises shows Aeneas who came to him in the underworld of all the glorious descendants who will rule Rome, kings and public and political figures. And he ends his speech with elephants, in which he opposes to Greek art and science purely Roman art - military, political and legal (847-854):

Let them forge more subtle than others, let them lively brass, I believe still, they will make living faces from marble, They will speak more beautifully in courts, they will determine the movements of the sky with a Compass, they will call the rising stars. You do rule over nations with authority, Roman, remember! Behold - yours will be arts: conditions to impose peace, To spare the overthrown and to overthrow the proud! (Bryusov.)

These words, like many other things in Virgil, testify that the "Aeneid" is not just a praise for Augustus and the foundation of his empire, but also a patriotic and deeply national work. Of course, there is no patriotism without any socio-political ideology; and this ideology in this case is the glorification of the empire of Augustus. Nevertheless, this glorification is given in the Aeneid in such a generalized form that it already refers to the whole of Roman history and to the entire Roman people. According to Virgil, Augustus is only the brightest representative and spokesman for the entire Roman people.

Note that from a formal point of view, the idea of ​​the Trojan origin of Rome is in complete contradiction with the Italic idea. According to one version, the Roman kings come from Aeneas and, therefore, from Venus, and according to another version, they are from Mars and Rhea Sylvia. Let us add to this that in the "Aeneid" itself, purely Italian patriotism is presented extremely expressively. Strength, power, courage, battle-hardenedness, devotion to the homeland among the Italians are sharply opposed in Numan's dying speech to Phrygian effeminacy, a penchant for aesthetic pleasures, lethargy and laziness. Jupiter himself, both in song I and in song XII, intends to create a Roman state on the basis of a mixture of Italians and Trojans, but with a clear superiority of the Italians, since the Roman people will not perceive the customs and customs, language, or name of the Trojans, but will, according to the words Jupiter, only their blood ... (The rudeness and hardenedness of the Italians are successfully demonstrated, for example, by the fact that the Italianized Greek Evandros puts Aeneas to sleep on dry leaves and bearskin.) Therefore, in the final form, the ideology of Virgil produces the Roman kings also from Mars and Rhea Sylvia , but he understands this latter already as a descendant of Aeneas, and not as an original Italic woman (after Nevi and Ennius, who made Rhea Sylvia not even a distant descendant of Aeneas, but directly his daughter). Thus, Virgil wants to unite a healthy, strong, but rude Italic people, led by Mars, with a noble, sophisticated and cultured Trojan world led by Venus.

c) The artistic reality of Virgil's "Aeneid" is distinguished by purely Roman and even emphatically Roman features. Roman poetry is distinguished by a style of monumentality combined with a huge detail, reaching naturalism. However, both were sufficient in ancient literature before Virgil. We find the features of monumentality in Homer, Aeschylus and Sophocles, in the Roman epics and Lucretius, just as affective psychology is well represented in them. But in Rome, and especially in Virgil, these features of the artistic style are brought to such a development that it translates them into a new quality. Monumentality is brought to the image of the world Roman power, and individualism is embodied here in an extremely mature and even overripe psychology, depicting not only titanic feats, but hesitation and uncertainty, reaching deep conflicts, heat of passions and forebodings of catastrophes. This complex Hellenistic-Roman style of Virgil can be observed both in the artistic reality of his poems, including things, people, gods and fate, and in the form of depicting this reality, including epic, lyrics, drama and oratory in their incredible intertwining.

d) Let's point to the image of things by Virgil. These items are shown to be luxurious and are designed to make a deep impression. Song XII depicts how, before the duel between Aeneas and Turnus, the Latin king rides in a four-horse chariot and his brow is surrounded by 12 golden rays. Thurn arrives in a white pair and whacks with two broad spears. Aeneas sparkles with a star shield and heavenly weapons.

About the work of Hephaestus (Vulcan) in Homer, we read only a mention of the hammer with an anvil, tongs, furs and the worker's clothes and speaks of a strong back, chest and his sinewy arms. Virgil depicts a grandiose and terrible underground factory, striking with its thunder, brilliance and its cosmic works like thunders, peruns, clouds, rains, winds, etc. Virgil (VIII, 617-731) depicts the entire grandiose history of Rome, shows its greatest figures and the world power of Rome, and all this sparkles and shines, and all Aeneas' weapons are compared to how a gray cloud lights up from the sun's rays. The monumentality and brilliance of the image is evident here.

Virgil's nature also bears the features of Roman poetry. Here, great detail is often mixed with grandeur, accompanied by a detailed analysis of various psychological experiences. It is worth reading at least the image of a storm at sea in Song I (50-156).

In contrast, the peaceful silence of the nighttime, and also with different details, is depicted in Canto IV (522-527).

Evander, walking with Aeneas near the future Rome, shows his companion groves, rivers, cattle; in general, a peaceful idyllic situation is drawn (VIII). Particular attention is drawn to the idyllic nature of Elysium in the underworld (VI, 640-665). Here ether and fields are clothed with purple light. People here and there are reclining on the grass and feasting. Fragrant laurels are in the forest. It has its own sun and its stars. Many people spend time in games and competitions in the bosom of nature. Horses graze in the meadows. However, the image of the Sibyl's cave (VI), as well as the dirty and stormy underground river Acheron and the underground city in Tartarus surrounded by a fiery river with a triple wall, adamant pillars and an iron tower to the sky (VI, 558-568), is fanned with gloomy horror. Pictures of this kind are almost always given in the context of the depiction of powerful heroes, the founders of Rome.

e) People in their relationship with the gods - this main subject of artistic reality in Homer - in Virgil is always depicted in positions full of drama. It is not for nothing that Aeneas is often called here "pious" or "father". He is entirely in the hands of the gods and does not do his own will, but the will of fate. In Homer, the gods also constantly influence the lives of people. But this does not prevent Homeric heroes from making their own decisions, which often coincide with the will of the gods, and often contradict them. In Virgil, everyone lies prostrate before the gods, and the complex psychology of the heroes, if portrayed, is always at odds with the gods.

The historical paintings of Rome on the shield, made by Vulcan, give Aeneas pleasure, but, according to Virgil, he does not know the events themselves (VIII, 730). Aeneas leaves Troy in a direction that is completely unknown to him. He gets to Dido, having no intention of meeting the Carthaginian queen. He arrives in Italy - no one knows why. Only Anchises in the underworld tells him about his role, but this role does not make him happy either. He wanted to stay at Troy; and when he got to Dido, he would like to stay with Dido; when he got to Latina, he wanted to stay with Latina and marry Lavinia. However, fate itself is predetermined that he became the founder of Rome, and he can only ask for oracles, offer prayers and make sacrifices. Aeneas, against his own will, obeys the gods and fate.

The poet shows at the same time how much simple and direct religious faith was lost in his time. He forcibly forces the reader to recognize this faith and see its ideal examples at every step.

Dido, another protagonist of The Aeneid, for all his opposition to Aeneas, again repeats the religious concept of Virgil. This woman is domineering and strong, feeling her duty to her deceased husband; she is blinded by the heroic fate of Aeneas and feels deep love for him, so that for this alone she is torn apart by an internal and, moreover, the most severe conflict. Ancient literature did not know such an internal conflict until Euripides and Apollonius of Rhodes. But Virgil deepened and exacerbated this conflict even more. When Aeneas leaves Dido, she, full of love for him and at the same time cursing him, throws herself into the fire and immediately pierces herself with a sword. Virgil sympathizes with Dido's feelings, but as if he wants to say what this is what disobedience to the gods leads to.

Thurn is another confirmation of Virgil's religious and psychological concept. As a leader and warrior, and even as an orator, he is distinguished by a restless character. He was assigned to destroy the Trojans who came to Italy. He loves Lavinia and goes to war because of her. Consequently, his personal feelings coincide with the destiny of rock. He evokes constant sympathy for himself. But here we read about Thurn's unwillingness to fight the Trojans and about the influence of the Allecto fury on him (VII, 419-470). This fury appears to Turnus in the form of an old prophetess, but soon reveals her true face:

Erinia hissed in so many Serpents, so her face appeared; burning, rotating Gaze, while he hesitated and tried to say more, She pushed him away, raised two serpents out of her hair, Slammed with a whip and so fiercely added her mouth ... (Bryusov.)

With a formidable speech, she throws a torch at Thurn and pierces his chest with a light that breathes black flame. He is seized with immeasurable horror, drenched in sweat, tossed about on his bed, looking for a sword and begins to burn with the fury of war. Even heroes devoted to deities and fate still experience violence from them. Natural gentleness of the soul made Virgil find attractive features in another enemy of the Trojans - old man Latina. Virgil has a gentle and humane attitude towards both sides at the same time. He paints with great sorrow the death of Priam from the hand of the boy Pyrrhus. Positive and negative heroes (Mezentius, Sinon, Drank) are represented from both the Greek and Italian sides, and all do the will of rock.

The gods of Virgil's wife are in a calmer form. Roman discipline was troLoil, so that Jupiter was not as powerless and insecure as Zeus in Homer. In the "Aeneid" he is the only master of human destinies, while other gods in this respect are incomparable with him. In song I, Venus addresses Jupiter as the absolute ruler, and he solemnly declares to her: "My decisions are unchanging" (260). Indeed, the painted picture of the future destinies of Rome and the collision of entire nations is predetermined by him to the smallest detail. Venus addresses him with the words (X, 17 et seq.): "Oh, eternal power of both people and events, my father! Besides, who should we beg?" An almighty ruler, but at the same time noble and merciful, he turns out to be in a conversation even with the ever-present rebel Juno, who dares nothing to object to him (XII). In contrast to the softer and more peaceful Venus, Juno is depicted as restless, malevolent. One has only to read about how Jupiter tries to reconcile Venus and Juno (X) in order to be convinced of the relatively docile nature of Venus. Demonic, brutally merciless is Rumor, sowing discord among people and not distinguishing between good and evil (IV).

Apollo, Mercury, Mars and Neptune are depicted flawlessly. The highest deities in Virgil are depicted more or less sublimely, in violation of traditional polytheism. In addition, they (in contrast to Homer) are highly disciplined and do not act at their own risk and fear. Everything is ruled by Jupiter, and all the gods are divided, so to speak, into some kind of estates. Each has its own function and its own specialty. They are characterized by a purely Roman subordination, and, for example, Neptune, the god of the sea, is indignant at the fact that not he, but some small deity Aeolus should pacify the winds.

The intervention of gods, demons and the dead in the lives of living people not only fills the entire "Aeneid", but almost always has an extremely dramatic, violent character. In addition, all these phenomena of the gods, predictions and signs almost always have in the Aeneid not some narrow-minded or even simple military character, but they are always historical in the sense of contributing to the main goal of the entire Aeneid - to depict the coming power of Rome. The gods entering the battle during the fire of Troy behave violently. Among fire, smoke, chaos of stones and destruction of houses, Neptune shakes the walls of the city and the entire city at its very foundation. Juno, girding herself with a sword and occupying the Skean Gate, shouts furiously, calling on the Greeks. Pallas Athena, illuminated by a halo and frightening everyone with her Gorgon, sits on the walls of Troy. Jupiter himself awakens the troops (II, 608-618). During the fire of Troy, Aeneas appears in a dream a ghost shortly before that Hector, killed by Achilles. After Achilles' abuse of him, Hector is not only sad, he is black with dust, bloodied, his swollen legs are entangled in belts, his beard is muddy, and his hair is glued together with blood, and wounds gape on him. With deep groaning, he orders Aeneas to leave Troy, entrusting him with the holy things of Troy (And, 270-297).

When Aeneas appears in Thrace and wants to pluck a plant from the ground for the sake of sacrifice, he sees black blood on the trunks of the plant and hears a mournful voice from the depths of the hill. It was the blood of Polydorus (son of Priam), who was killed by the Thracian king Polymestor (III, 19-48).

Fate is against the marriage of Aeneas and Dido, and now, when Dido makes sacrifices, the sacred water turns black, the brought wine turns into blood, a voice is heard from the temple of her deceased husband, a lonely owl groans on the towers. In Homer, Zeus sends Hermes to Kirk with the order to let Odysseus go, and she lets him go only with some displeasure. In Virgil, Jupiter also sends Mercury to Aeneas with a reminder of his departure (IV). After that, the tragic story of Dido is played out. And when Aeneas, having boarded the ship, fell asleep peacefully, Mercury appears to him in a dream for the second time. Mercury hurries Aeneas and speaks of the possible intrigues of Dido (IV, 5.53-569).

Homer's Odysseus descends to Hades to find out his fate. Virgil's Aeneas descends to Hades to find out the fate of millennial Rome. In a conversation with Aeneas, Sibyl is presented completely frenzied (VI, 33-102):

When she spoke like this Before the doors, her appearance, a single cheeky color, And in a mess of hair - changed; And in a frenzy, the wild heaves the heart; and thinks, Above she, she speaks not like people, is fanned by the will of the Close God already (46-51). (Bryusov.)

In a more peaceful form, Tiberinus, the god of the Tiber River, appears to Aeneas, among the thickets of poplar, covered with azure muslin and with reeds on his head, but he again announces the creation of a new kingdom (VIII, 31-65).

In Crete, Aeneas is presented with the Penates and announced that it is Italy that is the ancient homeland of the Trojans and that he must go there to create Trojan power (III). Venus gives a sign to Aeneas about war, again among the terrible phenomena (VIII, 524-529):

For suddenly the ether trembled, a radiance flashed With thunder and clanging, and everything suddenly disappeared from sight, And the howl of the Tyrrhenian trumpet was heard in the ether. They looked, again and again there was a huge roar. They see, as among the clouds, where there is a clear sky, the weapon Is glowing in the azure distance and thunders, rattling against each other. (S. Soloviev.)

Especially often the intervention of gods in the affairs of people in songs IX-XII, which depicts war; Virgil wants to portray something wonderful or unusual everywhere. If Homer wants to make everything supernatural completely natural, ordinary, then with Virgil it is just the opposite. In Homer, Pallas Athena, in order to hide Odysseus from the Faecians, envelops him in a thick cloud, but this happens in the evening (Od., VII). In Virgil, Aeneas and Ahat are shrouded in a cloud in broad daylight, so the miraculousness of this phenomenon is only emphasized. When people are portrayed by Virgil outside of any mythology, they are also distinguished by heightened passion, often reaching hesitation and uncertainty, to insoluble conflicts. Love of Dido and Aeneas ignites in a cave, where they hide from a terrible storm and sudden mountain streams (IV). Aeneas is full of hesitation. In this difficulty, he prays to the gods, makes sacrifices and asks for the oracles.In the decisive moment of victory over Thurn, when this latter in touching words begs him for mercy, he hesitates whether to kill him or keep him alive, and only Pallant's belt with badges, noticed im on Tourne, forced him to finish off his adversary (XII, 931-959).

The main protagonists of the "Aeneid" are, strictly speaking, Juno and Venus. But they, too, constantly change their decisions, hesitate, and their enmity is devoid of adherence to principles and often becomes petty. Touching is the unfortunate Creusa, the disappeared "wife of Aeneas, who, even after her death, still cares about Aeneas himself and about their boy Askania (I, 772-782). Andromache, who also survived endless calamities and still yearns for her Hector, is touching." , even after marrying Gehlen (III). Palinur's request for his burial grabs his heart, since he remains unburied in a foreign country (VI). Eurial's mother, who learned about the death of her son, gets cold feet, knitting needles fall out of her hands, falls yarn; in madness, with her hair torn to pieces, she runs away to the troops and fills the sky with groans and lamentations (IX, 475-499). Evandros falls almost senseless on the body of his deceased son Pallant and also moans violently and laments passionately and helplessly (XI) In contrast, the Trojans Nis and Eurial, two soldiers devoted to each other, are depicted with exalted, simple features; they perish as a result of mutual devotion (IX, 168-458).

Not only Dido resorts to suicide, but also Latina's wife, Amata, shocked by the defeat of her relatives (XII). Virgil did not pass by the simple life of ordinary workers, which, obviously, was also well known to him (VIII, 407-415).

f) The genres in the "Aeneid" are very diverse, which was the norm for Hellenistic-Roman poetry. First of all, it is, of course, an epic, that is, a heroic poem, the source for which was Homer, as well as the Roman poets Nevi and Ennius, together with the Roman annalists. From Homer, Virgil borrows a lot of individual words, expressions and whole episodes, differing from his simplicity in enormous psychological complexity and nervousness.

The epic genre also manifests itself in Virgil in the form of a multitude of epillia, in which one cannot fail to see some influence of neo-thetics. Almost every song of the Aeneid is a complete epillium. But here, too, the socio-political ideology once and for all separated Virgil from the carefree small forms of the neo-therics, who often wrote in the style of art for art.

Virgil's lyric poetry is also vividly represented, examples of which are seen in the weeping of Evandros and Eurial's mother. But what distinguishes the epos of Virgil especially sharply from other epics is the constant, acute drama, the tragic pathos of which sometimes reaches the level of tragedy.

As for prosaic sources, the influence of stoicism (stoic obedience of Aeneas to fate) is undoubted in the Aeneid. The Aeneid is further overflowing with rhetoric (a mass of speeches, many of which are very skillfully composed and require special analysis). Virgil, as we have seen, is also no stranger to descriptions, which are also very far from his calm and balanced epic and are interspersed with dramatic and rhetorical elements. These descriptions apply to nature, and to the appearance of a person, and to his behavior, and to his weapons, and to numerous battles. Rhetoric, like Virgil's various Hellenistic scholarships in general, testifies to the poet's long-term study of numerous prose materials. He also made his trip to Greece for the sake of studying various materials for his poem. All of these genres are by no means represented by Virgil in an isolated form - this is an integral and unique artistic style, which is often epic only in form, and in essence it is impossible to even say which of these genres prevails in such, for example, a picture as the capture of Troy. in such, for example, a novel as in Dido and Aeneas, and in such, for example, a duel as between Aeneas and Turk. This is Hellenistic-Roman variegation, accompanied, moreover, by a typically Hellenistic learning.

g) Artistic and the style of the "Aeneid", resulting from this variety of genres, is also extremely far from the simplicity of the classics and is full of numerous and contradictory elements that make an indelible impression on the reader.

All the originality of Virgil's artistic style is that his mythologism is indistinguishable from historicism. Everything in Virgil is filled with history. The origin of Rome, its growing power and the principate that emerged in the end are the ideas to which almost every artistic device in it is subordinated, even such, for example, as description or speech.

However, this historicism should not be understood as only an objective ideology or as only an objective picture of the history of Rome. All these methods of objective depiction were deeply and passionately experienced by Virgil; his emotions often reach an ecstatic state. Therefore, psychologism, and, moreover, psychologism of an amazing character, is also one of the most essential principles of the artistic style of the poem.

The construction of artistic images in the "Aeneid" is distinguished by great rationality and organizational power, which could not but be here, since the whole poem is a glorification of a powerful world empire. There is nothing frail or unbalanced in Virgil's psychology. All hysterical characters (Sibyl, Dido) are complex psychological, but they are strong in their organization and logical consistency in actions. Virgil also builds on this the entire positive ideological side of his artistic style.This style often pursues educational goals, since the whole poem was only written to preach ancient ascetic ideals, to restore strict antiquity in this age of debauchery, to restore an ancient and harsh religion with everyone her wonders and signs, oracles, her social and ancient morality. Virgil in his poetics is one of the greatest ancient moralists. His moralism is filled with the most sincere and most heartfelt condemnation of war and love for a simple and peaceful rural life. In Virgil, all heroes not only suffer from the war, but also perish from it, except perhaps only Aeneas. However, Aeneas also gives instructions to his son (XII, 435 et seq.):

Valor, boy, learn from me tireless labors, Happiness - alas! - other's. (S. Soloviev.)

Anchises says to Aeneas (VI, 832-835):

Do not accustom your souls to such strife, O children, Do not turn your fatal power to your homeland heart. You are before everyone else, you leave your family leading from Olympus, Drop the sword from your hands, who is my blood! (Bryusov.)

Not only Thurnus asks Aeneas for mercy, but Drack also addresses Turnus with these words (XI, 362-367):

There is no salvation in battle, and we all demand peace, Thurn, from you and to seal the world with an unbreakable pledge. I myself am the first, whom you regard as an enemy, and I will not argue with this, I come with a prayer. Have mercy on yours! Drop your pride and walk away amazed. We have seen enough, broken, funerals and devastation of huge villages. (S. Soloviev.)

Thus, Virgil is a man of a gentle soul, warm and peaceful moods not only in "Bucolics" and "Georgics", but also in "Aeneid", and here, perhaps, most of all. One of the wrong views regarding the artistic style of The Aeneid is that it is a contrived and fantastic work, far from life, overflowing with mythology, in which the poet himself does not believe. Therefore, the alleged artistic style of the "Aeneid" is the opposite of any realism. But realism is a historical concept, and antique realism, like any realism in general, is quite specific. In the eyes of the builders and contemporaries of the rising Roman Empire, the artistic style of the Aeneid is undoubtedly realistic. Did Virgil believe in his mythology or not? Of course, there can be no question of any naive and literal mythological belief in this age of high civilization. However, this does not mean that Virgil's mythology is pure fantasy. Mythology is introduced in this poem solely for the purpose of generalization and substantiation of Roman history. According to Virgil, the Roman Empire arose as a result of the immutable laws of history. He expressed all this immutability with the help of the invasion of mythical forces into history, since the ancient world was not at all able to substantiate this immutability in any other way. Thus, the artistic style of the "Aeneid" is the real realism of the period of the rising Roman Empire.

To this must be added the fact that the gods and demons of Virgil ultimately themselves depend on fate, or fate (the words of Jupiter in Song X, 104-115).

Finally, all those nightmarish visions and hysteria, of which there are so many in The Aeneid, also reflect the bloody and inhuman reality of the last century of the Roman Republic with its proscriptions, the mass destruction of innocent citizens, the unprincipled struggle of political and military leaders.

Quite a few texts from Roman historiography could be cited that portray the last century of the Roman Republic in even more nervous and nightmarish tones than we find in the Aeneid.

In the same sense, it is necessary to speak about the "Aeneid" people. Nationality is also a historical concept. In the strictly defined and limited sense in which one can speak of the realism of the Aeneid, one must also speak of its nationality. "Aeneid" is a work of ancient classicism, complex, learned and overloaded with psychological detail. But this classicism is a reflection of the same complex and confusing period of ancient history.

The "Aeneid" cannot be placed on the same plane with the poems of the so-called "pseudo-classicism" of new literature.

Finally, its outer side is in full accordance with all the noted features of the artistic style of the "Aeneid".

The style of the "Aeneid" is distinguished by a compressed-tense character, which is noticeable in almost every line of the poem: either it is an artistic image itself, ardent and restrained at the same time, then it is some kind of short, but sharp and apt verbal expression. Numerous expressions of this kind became proverbs already in the first centuries after the appearance of the poem, entered world literature and remain so in literary use to this day. This strong, artistically expressive verse of the poem masterly uses longitudes for semantic purposes where we would expect a short syllable, or puts a monosyllabic word at the end of the verse and thus sharply emphasizes it; there are numerous alliterations and verbal sound recording, of which only those who have read the "Aeneid" in the original have an idea. Such tension and maximum conciseness, lapidarity of stylistic devices are characteristic of "Aeneid".

5. The historical significance of Virgil.

Despite the presence of various critics and censors of Virgil, we can say that in the history of world literature, Virgil's path was, as it were, his triumphal march. Propertius said during Virgil's lifetime:

Away here, you are all Roman writers, away, you and the Greeks: More is growing and the Iliad itself. (Fet.)

Ancient literature is already full of admiration for Virgil. He is imitated by epic poets (for example, Cilius Italic, Valerius Flaccus), Ovid in his "Heroines", the playwright Seneca, the historians Titus Livia and Tacitus. In later times, a whole genre was born in literature, whose representatives composed poems on any topic from individual expressions and parts of Virgil's poems. Even tragedians, even Christian writers, did not avoid this technique when compiling their religious works. Already under Augustus, Virgil became a subject of study in schools, and the famous theorist of oratory Quintilian praised the custom of starting the reading of poets with Homer and Virgil. Virgil early became popular among the broad masses of the population of the Roman Empire. Certain poems of Virgil could often be found written on household items, on walls, on works of art, on signs. They were used both as epigraphs and as epitaphs; and on the themes of his works, the paintings of the walls inside the houses were created. They guessed according to Virgil's poems, turning his writings into some kind of sacred books. Some Roman emperors argued their claim to power by referring to various verses of Virgil. It was also translated into Greek. There was no shortage of scientific commentaries on Virgil's works (such are, for example, the huge comments of Donatus and Servius).

With the advent of Christianity, Virgil did not lose his significance at all, but rather even became even more popular. Eclogue IV, with her prophecy of the coming of a new world in connection with the birth of some wonderful baby in the Middle Ages, was understood as a prophecy of the coming of Christ. Virgil is interpreted many times as a wizard and sorcerer, as the guardian of cities and entire nations, is included in the circle of knightly legends and court poetry. Dante speaks of himself in The Divine Comedy as being led by Virgil on his journey through Hell and Purgatory. Fairy tales about Virgil flourish especially during the 12th-15th centuries.

With the onset of modern times, the image of the prophet and sorcerer Virgil begins to recede into the past, but Virgil becomes the subject of constant imitation by the largest representatives of the epic (Ariosto, T. Tasso, Camões, Milton). The largest French philologist of the 16th century. Scaliger and the most prominent ruler of thoughts in Europe in the 18th century. Voltaire ranked Virgil clearly above Homer. And only with Lessing begins a critical attitude towards Virgil as a poet devoid of Homeric naturalness, a poet too artificial. Such an attitude towards Virgil, however, did not mean his complete denial, but, on the contrary, only put Virgil in a certain historical framework.

Our assessment of Virgil is also strictly historical. There can be no abstract comparison of Virgil with Homer, since each of them is great in a different sense, for different ages and from different points of view. Only such a historical assessment of both these works themselves and their world role is able to eliminate all those one-sidedness of understanding that were in the past, and create a correct idea of ​​them for the present time.

Publius Virgil Maron
70 -19 BC

Virgil, Publius Vergilius Maro (Publius Vergilius Maro) (70-19 BC) the greatest poet of Ancient Rome, the author of the Aeneid, an epic that glorifies the legendary origin of the Roman people.
Life.
Information about Virgil is scarce. Some messages about him were transmitted by his friends in oral and written form. Some of these messages have come down to us in the form of scattered quotations from later Roman authors, as well as in the form of seven short Biographies, or rather, sketches of a biography. The most complete of them is preserved in the manuscript of Elia Donatus, but in fact dates back to Suetonius. Some of the information we find in other texts comes from this biography; some information, for example, contained in the Biography from the Bernese manuscript, was obtained independently, although, probably, all versions had a single source - the notes of Virgil's contemporaries.
As for the names of Virgil, the name Publius is quite common for a Roman, the other two are apparently of Etruscan origin, although many Latins bore the name Virgil. The poet's father was probably a Latin, whose family had settled several generations earlier in northern Italy, then called Cisalpine Gaul. We know almost nothing about his life. It is reported that he was a potter or a messenger, married the daughter of his master, and then traded in bee breeding and selling the forest. Undoubtedly, he had a small estate. Virgil's mother was called Magic Polla, which also sounds in the Etruscan style. Virgil had at least two brothers, but by the time he came of age, his relatives were apparently already dead.
Virgil was born on October 15, 70 BC. near Mantua, in the village of Andes, but it is not known exactly where this village was. He received a good education, until the age of 15 in Cremona, and then in Mediolana (Milan). At about the age of 19, Virgil came to Rome to study rhetoric, then an indispensable part of the higher education necessary for a political career. After staying in Rome for about a year, he settled in Naples, joining the circle of Epicureans founded by Philodemus, which was headed by Siron. In Naples itself, or near it, Virgil lived almost his entire life. He only occasionally visited Rome, visited Sicily and Tarentum, once visited Greece. In 19 BC. Virgil embarked on a long journey across Greece. Arriving in Athens, Virgil met here with Augustus, after which he decided to abandon the trip and return to Italy. On examination of Megar, he became seriously ill, the disease intensified on the ship, and soon after arriving at Brundisium, Virgil died on September 20, 19 BC.
Artworks
Virgil wrote three great works of poetry, all in hexametric (or "heroic") verse - Bucolics or Eclogies, 42–39 (or 37) BC; Georgics (about 36-30 BC) and the Aeneid, in 29-19 BC. In antiquity, several more small poems were attributed to Virgil, all or almost all of them date back to earlier years than the Eclogy. Usually these poems appear under the collective title Appendix Vergiliana (lat. Virgil's appendix). Most of them, including the three longest ones, are obviously not genuine. This is Ciris (The Seagull), a love story ending with the transformation of characters into birds; Etna, dedicated to the description of the famous volcano, and Komar - the story of a shepherd who was bitten by a mosquito in a dream in order to wake him up and save him from a snake; the shepherd, without understanding, kills a friendly insect that migrates to the afterlife. The rest of the poems are much shorter. One, two-line epigram for the robber, is considered the very first fruit of Virgil's work. Another group of poems, written in various sizes, is grouped under the Greek name Catalepton (roughly translated as Miniatures). One of these poems, 10th, an extremely subtle parody of Catullus's 4th poem, may indeed belong to Virgil. The other two poems are also very likely to be considered authentic. 5th conveys the feelings of Virgil, who renounces the hated rhetoric and is about to move to Naples to study Epicurean philosophy; at the end of the poem, he also asks the Muses to leave him and return henceforth only occasionally and observing prudence. The eighth poem, presumably, conveys the poet's grief at parting with relatives and farewell to the estate confiscated by Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) among the lands intended for the settlement of veterans who won a victory under Philippi in 42 BC.
There are serious enough reasons to reject all the other poems of the Appendix as inauthentic, but the discussion on this issue is certainly not yet complete.
Bucolics.
Bucolics (Greek Shepherd, ie Pastoral poetry), also called Eclogy (Greek Selected) are ten short pastorals containing mainly dialogues between imaginary villagers. They are based on the Idylls of Theocritus, also written in hexameter in Greek pastorals. In starting this work, Virgil had already reached maturity. He completely mastered the method of widespread use of literary sources, from where he extracted words, phrases and even accords, creating new combinations from them, as well as from the allusions arising on their basis, so that as a result, a completely new work, belonging to Virgil himself, appeared. In the early stages of the development of literature, this approach to verbal creativity is found everywhere, but it became especially widespread in Rome in connection with the active translation and adaptation of Greek authors that took place here. However, Virgil, and this is his greatest uniqueness, developed this method to such an extent that in his hands it became a technical innovation. Like many other innovations of Virgil, this method spread in later poetry, especially in the work of S. Coleridge.
In the Eclogs, Virgil creates a unique music of consonances, which is also one of the most important features of his work. Even in this relatively light form, the poet discusses the most important problems of life. Some eclogs contain hints of the confiscation of his father's estate, and then the return of it by Octavian Virgil - as a sign of respect for his poetic merits and thanks to the intercession of an influential friend. Prominent statesmen and writers such as Alfen Var, Guy Asinius Pollio, Varius Rufus, and Guy Cornelius Gallus are named in the Eclogs by name. However, for the most part, Virgil prefers to hide their true faces behind collective characters. So, he himself, a young free man, appears here as an elderly slave who has just received his freedom (1st eclogue). And in general, the whole matter of confiscation, in all its undoubted historicity, is not touched upon in the Eclogs: he is allowed to become here only a source of thoughts and feelings that contribute to the creation of these poems. The landscape in the Eclogs is also collective. It seems to us that we are located near Naples or in Sicily, but some details point to northern Italy. There are many vivid observations, but there is not a single integral and direct description of the scene.
The 4th eclogue is different from the others. It's a mix of a wedding hymn and a birth ode. The infant referred to here must once again bring the Golden Age to earth with him. There is endless controversy about who this baby is. This short, defiant, but significant poem was used by Emperor Constantine, who established Christianity in his empire, as evidence that even a pagan Roman predicted the birth of Christ. It was mainly due to this eclogue that Virgil became famous in the Middle Ages as the "Prophet of the Gentiles".
In the 1st eclogue, Virgil praises the benefactor (this is almost undoubtedly Octavian), calling him a god. From the very beginning, the poet believed in Octavian, in his vocation to grant peace and prosperity to Rome. He soon became a close friend of Octavian, probably even closer than the lyricist Horace. The emperor's bounty eventually enriched Virgil, but the poet managed to maintain his personal independence and creative freedom.
Georgiki.
The next poetic work of Virgil was Georgiki (Greek. Poem about agriculture) in four songs. The urgent task of the Roman state then (or should have become in the near future) concern for the encouragement and revitalization of agriculture in order to restore public morality and well-being, as well as economic recovery. Virgil enthusiastically supported this policy. In one place in the poem, he even mentioned that he was writing "at the behest" (or at least "on the advice") of Maecenas, a close friend of Virgil and Horace, a kind of "minister of the interior" under Octavian. The praises addressed to Octavian in this poem are conventional. And nevertheless, when writing the poem, Virgil was absolutely sincere. Indeed, it is possible that the official agricultural policy itself was partly prepared and inspired by poetry. Virgil.
The themes covered in the four songs of the poem are field cultivation, horticulture, animal husbandry and beekeeping. However, the material feed varies subtly. From time to time, passages are interwoven into the poem, which contain a reminder of how necessary the knowledge about agriculture communicated here is to man, obedient to the will of the gods. The connection of lyrical digressions with the main theme is sometimes very free, and nevertheless, they never fall out of the general presentation, but invariably reinforce a sophisticated and insightful view of things.
However, the special advice offered in the poem is valuable in itself, they are directly and successfully applied even in modern agriculture. Of course, Virgil had predecessors in literature, including the great Greeks - Hesiod, Theophrastus, Aratus, Nicander, as well as the treatise of the Carthaginian Magon in Latin translation and the works of the Romans, especially Cato the Elder. In addition, Virgil introduces into the poem his own carefully verified observations of nature and agriculture.
One of the main sources of Virgil was the philosophical poem De rerum natura (On Nature), belonging to his older contemporary Lucretius, where he was an ardent champion of Epicurean materialism. Echoes of this poem are heard in the Eclogs, and in the last two great works of Virgil they are very frequent, sometimes repeated a few lines later. In Georgiki, he borrows many of the poetic turns of Lucretius, but turns them in such a way that they serve to express views that are opposite to materialism. For Virgil himself defends a deeply religious view of a world in which spiritual forces and goals rule. A person here finds the highest bliss not through epicurean calmness and detachment, but in hard rural work, in moral and physical health, enjoying the beauty of nature, relying on patriotic love for Italy and faith in divine providence.

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In the Aeneid, i.e. The "history of Aeneas", the experience already acquired is used, here Virgil is given the opportunity to put his worldview to the test in connection with the presentation of dynamic political and military events. An epic narration in 12 songs describes the capture of Troy by the Greeks, the journey of the Trojan prince Aeneas to Italy, his diplomatic and military ventures. As a result, Aeneas unites the Trojans and Latins into a single people, which in the future, after the founding of Rome, several centuries later, will have to become Romans.
When working on the last, greatest work, Virgil's general views on the world and his creative method remained the same as before, except that his constant growth was observed. The author's reading and research work, which he had to do while working on the Aeneid, are truly colossal. He must have covered almost all of modern Greek and Roman literature, of which only a small part has come down to us. The Aeneid relies primarily on the works of Homer, Greek tragic poets and representatives of early Roman poetry, the authors of the epics and tragedies of Nevius and Ennius. The influence of Lucretius continues to be felt, the influence of more modern Greek "Hellenistic" poetry, as well as the newest Latin poetry of Catullus and other authors, primarily representatives of neoterics or "modernists", makes itself felt. ... Text is hidden

Traces of Latin comedy, prose works and, perhaps, oral tradition can also be traced. There are suggestions that Virgil used sources outside the Greek and Roman world, from the East.
In the antique commentary of Servius on Bucolics, it is reported that initially Virgil conceived a historical poem about the ancient kings of Latius, but then preferred the mythological epic, choosing the widespread legend about Aeneas, who escaped after the capture of Troy and went west. The first half of the poem, describing the wanderings of the Trojans, is based on Homer's Odyssey, the second, describing the battles in Italy, follows the model of Homer's Iliad. First, Virgil wrote the Aeneid in prose, breaking it down into 12 books. Then he proceeded to gradually transpose it into poetry, and he did this not in a row, but referring each time to the passage that most corresponded to his mood. When Virgil worked, the inexhaustible sources of his memory and mind rained down poetic lines, which were then subjected to critical analysis and finishing.
In general, the Aeneid structure freely follows the Homeric model, and its individual episodes are interpreted according to Homeric rules. Like Homer, Virgil portrays the gods as interfering with the lives of people, both of them use comparisons, especially in tense moments. On the other hand, Virgil very rarely reproduces a line or even a poetic phrase verbatim, while Homer constantly resorts to epic formulas and repetitions. Virgil never lingers for a long time on the same source, sometimes in one line we can find allusions to several texts. So, using the Homeric comparison for his own purposes, Virgil immediately uses the variations of this comparison that were already encountered in previous poets. He combines the structure of Homeric poetry with the compositional laws of smaller works created in Hellenistic Greek and "neoteric" Latin poetry. Although the Aeneid as a whole has an epic structure, some of its songs are likened not only to Greek tragedy as such, but also to quite definite works of Greek tragedies, and sometimes not even one tragedy, but several tragedies are used within one song.
According to Virgil, after the decisive battle and the death of Troy, Aeneas sails to Italy. On the way, he finds himself in various regions, in particular in Carthage, where Aeneas and Queen Dido fall in love with each other. However, fate forces Aeneas to continue on his way to Italy, and Dido, in despair, lays hands on himself. Arriving in Italy, Aeneas visits the Cuman Sibyl, the oracle of Apollo (near Naples) and gets permission to go underground, into the world of the shadows of the dead. Here the secrets of the judgment on the dead are revealed to him, awaiting their punishment or bliss and a new bodily incarnation of souls. In particular, Aeneas sees many Romans who have yet to play a role in the history of the city when their turn comes to light. Enriched with this experience, Aeneas enters into an alliance with Latina, king of Latius, but very soon this world collapses at the will of the gods. A war breaks out, which ends only after Aeneas kills Thurn, the brave leader of the enemy forces. Throughout the poem, Aeneas receives divine instructions, and when he manages to understand them, he invariably obeys them and he is accompanied by success. Aeneas is patronized by his mother, the goddess of love Venus, he also enjoys the favor of the supreme deity Jupiter, whose will corresponds to the dictates of fate. However, Juno, the powerful wife of Jupiter, opposes Aeneas, helping his enemy Thurnus. At the end of the poem, Jupiter and Juno make a compromise: the Trojans and the Latins must unite, later they will be given power over Italy and the whole world.
A similar ending is typical for Virgil. Indeed, the principle of reconciliation through compromise permeates both his worldview and poetry. He applies it both to small problems and to large ones: any phrase of four words can turn out to be a compromise between two phrases already used before - one by a Greek, the other by a Latin poet. Even in matters of religion, Virgil has both Greek and Roman religious beliefs, with Plato's more spiritual beliefs counterbalancing Homer's humanistic theology. Virgil invariably tries to approach the problem from both sides. Stylistically, Virgil begins with the accessible and clear Latin of the mature Cicero, but at the same time expresses it with a distinct conciseness, which already resembles the style of his contemporary, the historian Sallust. In modern Latin, Virgil carefully introduces new elements, including, when it suits his tasks, uses archaisms. The highest skill allowed the poet to convey several diverse thoughts at once in one short phrase and thus, skillfully using all the possibilities provided by the Latin language, to communicate to the reader a skillful system of meanings. The same trend is evident on a wider scale. All points of view must be taken into account, and the claims of all parties must be remembered. As a result, Aeneas turns out to be a hero completely different from those of Homer, his goal is much higher than personal success. Therefore, he is constantly referred to in the poem as pius Aeneus, which does not mean at all "pious" Aeneas, as it is incorrectly translated, but "faithful Aeneas". He must remain faithful to family and friends, to his fellow citizens and to his deities - this is in accordance with the moral standards on which the greatness of Rome is based.
Aeneas can be weak, unreasonable, cruel. Here we are dealing with another example of Virgil's approach. It is not enough for him to glorify the legendary past; the poem must also contain the historical past and the present. In particular, Aeneas (and by no means in his best manifestations) may be like Augustus, whom Virgil supported, with reservations and disappointments. It is widely believed, and there is nothing incredible in it, that by forcing Augustus to look in the mirror in this way, Virgil was able to influence the emperor. Resorting to subtle allusions to the story of the beginnings of Rome, Virgil makes it clear that in the civil war won by Augustus, the truth was not only on the side of the future emperor.
The principle of reconciliation that flows from deep and unbiased compassion remains fundamental to Virgil. Equally important for a poet is sensitivity to the musical sound of words, a passion for creating harmonious consonances. Sound predominates, often it is the first to be born to Virgil, and from it is the meaning. During the life of Virgil, the Latin hexameter had not yet lost its significance. The poet made a lot of efforts in order to reach the peak of perfection in this verse. According to sources, during the morning Virgil managed to write many lines, and during the day he revised and trimmed them, leaving several lines in the evening, and sometimes just one. So, when creating Georgica, Virgil wrote only one line a day Text is hidden