Due to either the sudden heatwave or my own vast technological ignorance, the photocopier jammed up on Tuesday and I was unable to bring in copies of the Vergil poems. And so, to save paper for those not interested while simultaneously hoarding my precious, precious photocopy quota, I thought I'd post some links instead.
Both the eclogue (a short, pastoral poem) and the georgic (a "how-to" farming guide translated into verse) are classical genres that Vergil is adapting to his own time. I picked out Eclogue I and IX for their political content, more specifically how the rural landscape is threatened by the repossession and civil war from the city. Georgic IV, which concerns bee-keeping, is interesting in that political allegory is read onto the landscape (the two warring kings). These translations are by J.W. MacKail. To see the poems in the original language, click the "Latin" tab at the top of the page.
Eclogue I:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/virgil/ecl/ecl01.htm
Eclogue IX:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/virgil/ecl/ecl09.htm
Georgic IV (pp. 339-40):
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/virgil/geo/geo04.htm
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Matthew--would you be prepared to talk about these in class when we're finished with the American component and transition to the other, mostly participant-selected texts? I could give half a meeting to this at least.
ReplyDeleteSure! I would love any feedback from other classicists in our seminar, since this isn't my main area. Anything in particular you guys think I should emphasize or avoid?
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