VIRGIL, VIRGILE, VIRGILIUS. Publius Vergilius Maro, 70-19 B.C., was born at Andes near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul. His clan name Vergilius and his family name Maro are Etruscan. He is commonly known as Virgil, although the Roman Vergil is being used increasingly. His Eclogues, his first work in ten pastoral poems, became very famous during the Middle Ages, especially the Fourth, which was held to be a prophecy of Christ's birth. Besides several shorter poems, his other main works are the Georgics, consisting of four books on agriculture, and his great work, Aeneid, an epic in twelve books begun about 26 B.C. and left almost unfinished at his death in 19 B.C. He was buried near Naples, where his tomb became a shrine and a place of pilgrimage shortly afterward.

During his lifetime Virgil's poetry was highly esteemed. As the study of grammar became highly developed, his work was used to illustrate the categories of rhetoric, in which form it was generally known during the medieval period, when his poetry became the backbone of medieval Latin studies. In the fourth century there appeared Vita Vergili, published by Aelius Donatus, Jerome's teacher, followed by Interpretationes Vergilianae, a commentary in twelve books by Tiberius Claudius Donatus, and a detailed commentary on all Virgil's work by Marius Severus Honoratus. In the early fifth century Macrobius devoted Books 3-6 of his Saturnalia to Virgilian criticism; in the later fifth century Fabius Planciades Fulgentius wrote his Expositio Vergilianae continentiae secundum philosophos moralis (Exposition of the Content of Virgil According to Moral Philosophy) giving allegorical interpretation to the Aeneid. In Dante's Commedia Virgil is called the supreme virtue, Reason (Inf X.4). In the twelfth century, John of Salisbury presented the first six books of the Aeneid as the development of the human soul (Policraticus VIII.24). The story of Aeneas developed into romance with the Eneas, written by a Norman cleric between 1150 and 1160, a poem that exerted enormous influence on poets of the time and was imitated by the Flemish poet Heinrich von Veldeke in his German Eneide (1170-1185). Virgil himself appeared as clerk, poet, and astrologer in the Dolopathos (late twelfth century). Virgil also developed the attributes of a magician, especially in Naples near his tomb, then throughout Europe. In Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival (twelfth century) Klingsor the magician is Virgil's descendant, and Virgil the magician appears in Cléomades, written near the end of the thirteenth century, and in Renart le Contrefait, written in the fourteenth century.

Although Virgil's name appears only eight times in Chaucer's works, his influence is pervasive. The fiend tells the accursed summoner that, after he has experienced hell, he will be able to hold a chair in the subject, better than Dante or Virgile, FrT 1517-1520. The story of Dido held Chaucer's imagination more than any other in Virgil; he recounts it in HF I.140-378 and gives it fuller treatment in The Legend of Dido, but there he follows Ovid rather than Virgil. Whoever wants to know the torments of hell must read Virgile, or Claudian, or Daunte, HF I.445-450, a reference to Aeneid VI, De raptu Proserpinae, and Inferno. The poet hears Messenus's trumpet, which Virgilius has mentioned, HF III.1243-1244, referring to Aeneid VI.162-176. Virgile stands on a pillar of "tynned iren," HF III.1481-1485. Tin is Jupiter's metal, and iron belongs to Mars. E. Nitchie interprets this image to mean that Jupiter controls Mars in the Aeneid. The narrator bids his little book to kiss the steps of "Virgile, Ovyde, Omer, Lucan, and Stace," Tr V.1786-1792. The narrator gives glory and honor to "Virgil Mantoan" at the beginning of Dido's story, LGW 924-925. The narrator says he could follow Virgile but then the story would be too long, LGW 1002-1003.

Chaucer refers to Eneydos, the Aeneid, three times: the death of Priam in Aeneid II.532-558, NPT 3355-3361; and two references for the story of Dido, HF I.377-378 and LGW 928. [Achate: Ascanius: Dido: Eneas: Iulo: Venus]

Virgil, the English contraction of Latin Vergilius, occurs once, medially, LGW 924; Virgile, with syllabic final -e, occurs in FrT 1519; with silent final -e, in HF I.378, 449; and twice in final rhyming position, HF III.1483; LGW 1002. Virgilius, the English variant of Latin Vergilius, occurs once, in final rhyming position, HF III.1244.