Kenney_and_Clausen B.M.W.(eds.) - Get a Free Blog

APPENDIX OF AUTHORS AND WORKS
possibly well-connected. Educ. Cremona, Milan and Rome. Chronology of early life
uncertain; renunciation of rhetoric for philosophy and adherence to Epicurean circle
under Siro at Naples rests on dubious authority {Catal. 5). Story (current early in
antiquity) that family estate was involved in confiscations after Philippi and restored by
Octavian is ostensibly supported both by poems {Catal. 8, Eel. 9, 1) and by Servius
auctus {Eel. 9, 10; cf. L. P. Wilkinson, Hermes 94 (1966) 320-4), but this too may be
plausible fiction. With pub. of Eel. passed from ambit of C. Asinius Pollio to that of
Maecenas (to whom he introd. Horace) and Octavian. Rest of life uneventful; d. 20
September 19 B.C. at Brundisium (Brindisi) on way back from Greece. Buried at
Naples. Main sources: poems, esp. Catal. 5, 8; Eel.passim; Geo. 3.1—48; Horace, esp.
Sat. 1.5; ancient Vitae (ed. J. Brummer, BT, 1912; C. Hardie, OCT 2nd ed., 1957)
and commentators (Servius ed. G. Thilo-H. Hagen, 3 vols., Leipzig 1881-7; E. K.
Rand et al., Harvard-Oxford 1946-); cf. Buchner, under Studies below, 1-41 (pagination
of independently printed ed. of RE article).
WORKS
Juvenilia: of the poems in the so-called Appendix Vergiliana (q.v., pp. 859—61) one
or two of the short pieces in various metres entitled Catalepton ( = Korrd AETTT6V ' miniatures',
'trifles') have been identified as V.'s. See (ed.) R. E. H. Westendorp Boerma, 2
vols. (Assen 1949—63). Eclogues (JBiuolicd): book often pastorals generally accepted as
having been written and pubd c. 42—37, but precise order and dating still controversial.
See G. W. Bowersock, H.S.C.Ph. 75 (1971) 73-80; W. Clausen, ibid. 76 (1972) 201-6;
R. J. Tarrant, ibid. 82 (1978) 197-9; Bowersock, ibid. 201-2. Georgics: didactic poem
in four books, seven years in the writing, completed by 29 B.C. (Vit. Don. 85).
Aeneid: epic in twelve books begun immediately after Geo. {Vit. Don. 85), incomplete
at V.'s death; pubd on Octavian's orders by his literary executors Varius
and Tucca 'lightly corrected' (summatim emendata: see Vit. Don. 140-65, raising
controversial problems).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(see Williams (1967) under Studies (1) below; ANRW 11 31.1, 2 (1981))
TEXTS AND COMMENTARIES: TEXTS: O. Ribbeck (Leipzig 1859-68; 2nd
ed. 1894-5); E. de Saint-Denis, H. Goelzer, R. Durand, A. Beilessort (Bude, 1925-
56); H. R. Fairclough, 2nd ed. (Loeb, 1934—5); R. Sabbadini (Rome 1930), repr. with
minor alterations L. Castiglioni (Paravia, 1945—52); M. Geymonat (Paravia, 1973);
R. A. B. Mynors (OCT, 1969; 2nd ed. 1972), replacing F. A. Hirtzel (OCT, 1900).
For Servius' commentary see under Life, COMMENTARIES: (I) Complete. J. L. de la
Cerda (repr. Cologne 1642); C. G. Heyne, G. P. E. Wagner, 4th ed. (Leipzig 1830-
41); J. Conington, H. Nettleship, F. Haverfield (London 1858-98); T. E. Page (London
1894-1900); F. Plessis, P. Lejay (Paris 1919); R. D. Williams (London 1972—9).
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