06-16-2011, 01:55 PM
I’ve been reading Virgil’s Eclogues (brilliant, by the way) and noticed that Eclogue VI addresses a Varus. In the notes of my very old copy the translator / commentator wonders if this is Publius Quinctilius Varus who famously lost the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
I can’t quite figure out why this Varus would be the one mentioned in the poem, but evidently a fourth-century commentator on Virgil also considered the possibility.
Virgil would have been over 20 years older than this Varus, I think, and the Eclogues were an early work (that linked page suggests it was written in 37 BC!) so I’m doubtful. Does anyone know any more about this?
I can’t quite figure out why this Varus would be the one mentioned in the poem, but evidently a fourth-century commentator on Virgil also considered the possibility.
Virgil would have been over 20 years older than this Varus, I think, and the Eclogues were an early work (that linked page suggests it was written in 37 BC!) so I’m doubtful. Does anyone know any more about this?
David J. Cord
www.davidcord.com
www.davidcord.com