The Eclogues

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.