Classical Poetry PDF EPUB Audio

The Eclogues

by Virgil

Pages: 50

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1 h 8 min · 10 parts

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Eclogue 01
7:26
Eclogue 02
6:02
Eclogue 03
7:58
Eclogue 04
5:29
Eclogue 05
6:36
Eclogue 06
7:11
Eclogue 07
5:51
Eclogue 08
9:55
Eclogue 09
5:08
Eclogue 10
6:45

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About this book

Written as Virgil was establishing himself as Rome's leading poet, these ten short pastoral poems imagine shepherds singing, competing, and grieving in an idealized Italian countryside. Beneath the rustic surface run the real anxieties of the age, above all the land confiscations that followed Rome's civil wars and uprooted farmers from their homes. The famous fourth poem prophesies the birth of a child who will bring back a golden age, a passage later Christians read as foretelling Christ. Virgil borrows the form from the Greek poet Theocritus but makes it entirely his own, blending song, politics, and a longing for lost peace. Compact and musical, the collection announced a major new voice in Latin literature. This free PDF and EPUB edition presents John Dryden's celebrated verse translation.

About the author

Virgil

Virgil (70-19 BC) was the greatest of the Roman poets, author of the Aeneid, the Eclogues, and the Georgics. His epic became the defining poem of Rome and a cornerstone of Western literature.