Eclogues and Georgics

Introduction

The ten Eclogues made Virgil's name. Behind their pastoral scenes of singing contests, longing and lament among shepherds lies the reality of the civil-war years, when land was confiscated and farmers driven from their homes; the fourth foretells the birth of a child who will bring back the golden age, and the Middle Ages believed it prophesied Christ. The four books of the Georgics, on ploughing, trees, livestock and bees, turn the farmer's toil into a hymn to order and peace, and many count them Virgil's most perfect work. The story of Orpheus and Eurydice in the last book is especially moving.