Why did Virgil Want to Burn The Aeneid?

Why did Virgil Want to Burn The Aeneid?

Publius Vergilis Maro, known to us as Virgil, was born Oct 15, 70 BC in Northern Italy. Octavius, who had always been a friend of Virgil, became Emperor in 27 BC, adopting the name of Augustus. He made Virgil in a sense, a court poet, "although [Virgil] always retained his independence of thought and expression" (Milch 7). However it was the Emperor's initial idea, and not Virgil's own, for him to write the Aeneid. Virgil accepted the project although he later wrote that "he thought he must have been just about mad to attempt the task" (Quinn 73).

In the end, after working on the project for eleven years, Virgil thought he had failed in the attempt. He planned a three year trip to Greece and Asia to try to fix what he thought was wrong with the Aeneid. But he died before he could finish, and on his deathbed Virgil asked for the manuscript to be burned. It is puzzling that the author of such a masterpiece, hailed by many as the best piece of literature ever written, and certainly one of the most influential, could look upon his work this way. Not just that it hadn't lived up to his expectations, but that it was bad enough that it should be burned. It doesn't seem to me that Virgil would have asked this simply because he didn't want people to read his work unless it was perfect. He must have thought that there was something actually dangerous about the Aeneid in its present form.

In order to try to guess why Virgil believed the Aeneid to be such a failure, it is important to first be familiar with what Virgil was trying to accomplish with the story. Augustus wanted it to be an epic which glorified Rome and ultimately himself. Virgil himself had a passion for Italy and the peace, order, and security that could come as a result of the Augustan age. He had grown up in the midst of civil war and experienced first hand the pain and suffering that it caused. Uniting all Italy under one rule would put an end to civil war and this was Augustus' plan. So in that sense Virgil shared Augustus' vision and was an ideal choice to write the epic.

But Virgil also had a deep hatred for all wars and battles, a sentiment which is hinted at in the text of the Aeneid many times.