SOURCE: “Virgil and the Evictions,” Hermes: Zeitschrift Für Klassiche Philologie, Vol. 94, No. 3, July, 1966, pp. 320-24.

In the essay below, Wilkinson examines the relationship between the subject of Eclogues One and Nine and political events in Vergil's life. Wilkinson stresses that despite the influence of Vergil's personal situation (such as the threat of eviction of his family) on his writing, these Eclogues should not be read as straight allegories.

An apology is needed for returning to the question of the Ninth and First Eclogues. But it does seem that an intelligible story emerges if we interpret the poems in the light of pastoral convention and with the aid only of a few pieces of what seem really reliable external evidence, disregarding anything that may be based on conjecture by later commentators and biographers.

After Philippi, at the end of 42, it was agreed that Antony should go and pacify...