Excerpt from P. Vergili Maronis Aeneidos: Lib, XI, Edited for the Use of SchoolsIn the Opening lines of the third Georgie Virgil had already announced his intention of attempting a loftier theme and producing a great national epic, of which Augustus should be the central figure, and the Emperor himself is said to have written to him from Spain (27 encouraging him to publish the poem, which he was known to have in hand, and which Propertius a year or two later heralds as 'something greater than the Iliad.' 2 While he was engaged on its composition in 23 b.c., Marcellus, the nephew and destined heir of Augustus, died, and Virgil intro duced into the sixth Book the famous passage (860 887) in which he is described, and of which the story is told that when the poet recited it in the presence of Octavia, the bereaved mother fainted away.3 In 20 he visited Greece and met Augustus, who was returning from Samos, at Athens, whence he accompanied him homewards, but his health, which had been long weak, broke down, and he died at Brundisium Sept. 22, 19 bc.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.