Vergil's Influence On Catullus The Aeneid

Romans left behind many literary and historical works that provide insight into the ancient civilization. Roman literature prospered under Augustus, but was lost with the fall of the Western empire. Virgil and Catullus, famous Roman poets, lived in Golden Age of Roman literature. Historians and rhetoricians, like Livy, lived during the later Republican period. Romans also built huge libraries to hold all their works and works from conquered territories (“ANCIENT ROMAN LITERATURE AND POETRY”).

Gauis Valerius Catullus, otherwise known as Catullus, was believed to have been born in Verona, Rome in 84 B.C.E. to a very wealthy and all around well known family. He passed away in Rome in 54 B.C.E. What is known of Catullus is pieced together from

The Aeneid is Virgil's most famous work, an epic poem based on the Roman tradition that Aeneas, a Trojan hero, and his Trojans settled in Italy and founded the Roman name (“Roman Literature”). The Aeneid was influenced by Homeric poems, like many others of its time (“Virgil”). The Romans consider the Aeneid to be their national epic (“Vergil - Ancient Rome - Classical Literature). It is around 10,000 lines long and can be separated into twelve books, or divided into two parts with six books or three parts with four books (“Virgil Biography). The Aeneid tells the tale of Aeneas and his journey to find a new home for him and his followers after leaving Troy and how he eventually founded Lavinium, the parent city of Rome. Augustus contracted Virgil to write the Aeneid to glorify Rome and its people(“Vergil - Ancient Rome - Classical Literature). As said in the Aeneid, “You remember to guide the peoples with power, Roman, (theses will be your arts), to impose the way of peace, to spare the conquered and to battle down the proud.” (Virgil, Book 6, lines 852-853). Vergil had wanted the Aeneid to be burned because it wasn’t finished and he was dying, but Augustus made Vergil’s literary executors, Lucius Varius Rufus and and Plotius Tucca, to complete it with as little changes as possible (“Vergil - Ancient Rome - Classical Literature). The Aeneid is recognized as a literary masterpiece and a testament to the splendor of the Roman Empire (“Vergil - Ancient Rome - Classical Literature). The Georgics are another important work by Virgil. The Georgics are a didactic poem that acclaim the wonders of agriculture, show the ideal farmer’s life, and the creation of a golden age through hard work and sweat (“Vergil - Ancient Rome - Classical Literature). The Eclogues, also known as the Bucolics, are