The Aeneid Criticism

This Study Guide consists of approximately 67 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Aeneid.

The Aeneid Criticism

This Study Guide consists of approximately 67 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Aeneid.
This section contains 827 words
(approx. 3 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Aeneid Study Guide

Virgil's earliest critics concentrated on discussing the style in which he wrote and the sources from which he drew his material. The Aeneid was written for a cultured and educated, extremely well-read audience, and almost immediately became a school text. Many Roman critics wrote treatises explaining the book's historical, religious, philosophical, and literary allusions to make it easier for teachers and students alike to understand. Others wrote explanations of difficult words or unusual grammar. In the fourth century, a teacher named Donatus published excerpts from many of these works to produce a kind of general reader's guide. A generation later, another teacher, Servius, relying in part on Donatus, produced a similar commentary for schools.

Macrobius's Saturnalia written in the first half of the fifth century, treated Virgil as a Roman bible. Macrobius depicted actual historical figures, including Servius, discussing the Aeneid. These figures were members of...

(read more)

This section contains 827 words
(approx. 3 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy The Aeneid Study Guide
Copyrights
Gale
The Aeneid from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.