Publius Vergilius Maro
70-19 B.C.
Vergil was born in Mantua, north
of Rome; the son of a well-to-do farmer, he was sent to Rome for his education.
During the civil wars following the death of Julius
Caesar, all of the lands of Mantua were confiscated
by Octavian. Vergil's
poetry, however, was shown to Maecenas, the unofficial "minister of
culture" to Octavian,
who issued Vergil a reprieve and encouraged Vergil in his poetry writing.
Under the patronage of Maecenas (and Octavian, later known as Augustus), Vergil wrote some of the greatest poetry in the Western
tradition. Particularly significant was his epic poem, the Aeneid.
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