THE EVOLUTION OF ALLEGORY IN THE PASTORAL ... - Repositories

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In the fourth century, Aelius Donatus explained
the overall meaning of Virgil's works as an allegorical
method indicating the three stages in man's development.
According to Donatus' investigation, the Bucolics represent
the pastoral condition of man; the Georgics convey agricultural
man; and the Aeneid stands for the martial side
of man.
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From this point until the eighteenth century,
every eclogue was thought to have allegorical significance.
As previously mentioned, the first and ninth are
considered personal allegories, primarily because they express
a much deeper thought than the allegory conveyed
through the pastoral masquerade.
Both of these peoms deal
with the land confiscations which personally involved
Virgil, who lost his estate at Mantua as a result of this
political action, but he is believed to have received compensation
land in Campania as the result of his friendship
with Pollio, Gallus and Varus.
These eclogues possess an
important political function because they stress the paramount
need for peace after the disastrous anarchy of civil
wars.
The ninth eclogue further developes Virgil's idea
of "pastoral."
He comments specifically on the place of
poetry amid the results of civil war.
Poetic creativity is
stifled when the shepherd is deprived of his otium (leisure)
, which Virgil appears to equate with libertas (freedom)
.
As in the first eclogue, Virgil again grapples with