Georgics / Edition 1

by Virgil, R. A. B. Mynors

Overview

Virgil's Georgics, considered to be one of the great poems of Western literature, is ostensibly a didactic poem on agriculture. Challenging this idea, the late Sir Roger Mynors argues that the poem's true subject is humanity and its place in nature and society. The poem is also a landmark in the use of the natural world as material for literature and of special interest because the poet draws not only on his own experience but also on his wide reading of Greek poetry. This commentary examines Virgil's meaning and choice of expression to provide a fuller understanding of the poetry.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198149781
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/02/1994
Series:	Clarendon Paperbacks
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	8.51(w) x 5.46(h) x 1.03(d)

About the Author

Virgil (70 BC-19 BC) was a Roman poet. He was born near Mantua in northern Italy. Educated in rhetoric, medicine, astronomy, and philosophy, Virgil moved to Rome where he was known as a particularly shy member of Catullus’ literary circle. Suffering from poor health for most of his life, Virgil began his career as a poet while studying Epicureanism in Naples. Around 38 BC, he published the Eclogues, a series of pastoral poems in the style of Hellenistic poet Theocritus. In 29 BC, Virgil published his next work, the Georgics, a long didactic poem on farming in the tradition of Hesiod’s Works and Days. In the last decade of his life, Virgil worked on his masterpiece the Aeneid, an epic poem commissioned by Emperor Augustus. Expanding upon the story of the Trojan War as explored in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the Aeneid follows the hero Aeneas from the destruction of Troy to the discovery of the region that would later become Rome. Posthumously considered Rome’s national poet, Virgil’s reputation has grown through the centuries—in large part for his formative influence on Dante’s Divine Comedy—to secure his position as a foundational figure for all of Western literature.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	vii
Book I	Works and Days	1
Book II	The Care of Plants and Vines	41
Book III	Livestock	77
Book IV	The Race of Bees	117
	Select Bibliography	149

Editorial Reviews

"Will be an important reference for this complex poem....The commentary itself is invaluable."—The Classical Outlook

"I can only note how fortunate we are to have this commentary at last. It will obviously be indispensable to everyone seriously interested in the Georgics."—Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Mynors' knowledge of the textual tradition and the ancient and modern commentators on the poem is encyclopedic, and his exhaustive research on both the literary antecedents and the technical literature that Vergil used and the linguistic parallels in the contemporary and subsequent authors is marshalled for the task of exegesis with taste and precision. The explication of the poem in light of the natural history of the Mediterranean world is particularly rich. Mynors' formidable scholarship is never heavy-handed, and in it lurks a certain puckish wit....Every library and every Latin scholar should own this book."—The Classical World

"Mynors' enviable knowledge of ancient technology and everyday life—not to mention his familiarity with the scientific, literary, and philological writings that inform or were informed by the poem—make this commentary an indispensable companion piece to Thomas' edition. Anyone who does serious work on the Georgics will have to have access to Mynors' exacting commentary; anyone who cherishes a warm affection for Vergil's exquisite portrait of the Italian countryside will want to."—Vergilius

From the Publisher

To translate the Latin poem on Italian agriculture by the renowned first-century Roman poet, Chew draws on modern nature guides, gardening handbooks, how-to-manuals, and scientific treatises. She bases the style on 20th-century poetry. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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