VERGIL (also spelled Virgil; Publius Vergilius Maro; 70–19 BCE) was born in Andes, near Mantua, and educated in Cremona and Milan before coming to Rome. His youthful poems include Catalepton 5 and 8. After publication of the Eclogues in about 39 to 38 BCE, he joined the literary circle of Maecenas, the close friend and ally of Octavian (the future Augustus).

Vergil's early poems reflect his Epicurean orientation, and evidence of his participation in the Epicurean community at Naples is found in a papyrus from Herculaneum, where he is mentioned by name (Gigante, 1983). The Eclogues reflect the turbulence during the civil wars following the death of Julius Caesar, the defeat of the tyrannicides, and the narrow avoidance of war between Octavian and Antony by the signing of the Treaty of Brundisium. In Eclogue 4, Vergil celebrates this treaty, proclaiming that an unnamed child is about to be born, and his birth will usher in...