Virgil's relationship to Augustus and his regime

• Virgil was born in 70 BC in the north of Italy, just outside Mantua
• the area was in Cisalpine Gaul - received Roman citizenship from JC in 49
• JC was about to embark on a civil war, and he was keen to attract as much support as possible
• Virgil not taken his citizenship for granted and his awareness of what it was to be a Roman could have had influence on the Aeneid
• brought up in the countryside
• love of nature is obvious in his Eclogues, Pastoral poems, Georgics, and in the Aeneid
• he moved to Rome to study rhetoric, law and philosophy
• witnessed the effects of political unrest in Rome caused by Pompey's controversial appointment as sole consul
• JC's crossing of the Rubicon and the beginning of the CW
• the dictatorship and assassination of JC
• the defeat of the conspirators at Philippi and death of Cicero
• the wars between Octavian and MA, and his defeat at Actium in 31
• his poetry brought him to the attention of Maecenas, adviser of Augustus and wealthy patron of the arts
• the first poem in his Eclogues, published in 37, is thought to express his thanks to Octavian for retoring him with his family farm, which had been appropriated for war veterans
• in his Georgics, published in 29, he acknowledges Maecenas' support and anticipates the Aeneid
• Virgil was not a politician and preferred to have a peaceful life
• he moved from Rome to Naples
• civil war was raging for most of his life
• natural that he is grateful to Augustus for bring a period of peace as well as patronage