iii

THE CAMBRIDGE
C O M PA N I O N TO

VIRGIL
SECOND EDITION

EDI TED BY

F IACH R A MAC G ÓRÁI N

University College London

CH A R LES MART I NDALE

University of York

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iv

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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107170186
DOI: 10.1017/9781316756102
© Cambridge University Press 1997, 2019
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1997
Sixth printing 2008
Second edition 2019
Printed in <country> by <printer>
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mac Góráin, Fiachra, editor. | Martindale, Charles, editor.
Title: The Cambridge companion to Virgil / edited by Fiachra Mac Góráin,
Charles Martindale.
Description: Second edition. | Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018049105 | ISBN 9781107170186 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781316621349 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Virgil – Criticism and interpretation.
Classification: LCC PA6825.C35 2019 | DDC 873/.01–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018049105
ISBN 978-1-107-17018-6 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-316-62134-9 Paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of URL s for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

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C O N T E N TS

List of Illustrations page viii

List of Contributors xi
Preface to the Second Edition xiii
Preface to the First Edition xv

1 Introduction: ‘The Classic of All Europe’ 1

Ch ar l e s M a rt i nda l e

P a rt I R e ce pti o ns

2 Modern Receptions and their Interpretative Implications: The

Case of T. S. Eliot 23
Du n c an F .  K e n n e dy

3 Aspects of Virgil’s Reception in Antiquity 43

Ri c ha r d T a r r a nt

4 The Appendix Vergiliana 63

S cot t M c G i l l

5 Augustine’s Virgil 77
Gillian Clark

6a The Virgil Commentary of Servius 88

Don Fowler (revised by Sergio Casali and Fabio Stok)

6b Post-classical Commentary 95
S e rg i o C asal i a nd F a b i o S to k

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C o n te n ts

7 Virgil in English Translation 109

Col i n Bu r row

8 Virgils from Dante to Milton 128

C ol i n B u r row

9 Virgil in Art 141

L . B . T . Hou ghton

P art I I Fo rm s

10 Green Politics: The Eclogues 173

C ha r l e s Ma rt i n da l e

11 Virgilian Didaxis: Value and Meaning in the Georgics 193

W i l l i a m W. B at s ton e

12 Virgilian Epic 216

D un c a n F . K e nn e dy

13 Closure and the Book of Virgil 226

E l e n a T h e odor a kop o u lo s

P a rt I I I C o n t ex ts

14 Poetry and Power: Virgil’s Poetry in Contemporary Context 243

R i ch a r d T a r r a nt

15 Rome and its Traditions 263

J am e s E . G . Z e t z e l

16 Virgil and the Cosmos: Religious and Philosophical Ideas 279

S u san na B r au n d

17 Virgil’s Intertextual Personae 299

J ose p h F a r re l l

18 Virgil and Tragedy 326

P h i l i p Ha rd i e

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C o n te n ts

P a rt I V T h eme s

19 Virgil as a Poet 345

V i c to r i a M oul

20 Virgil’s Style 368

Ja m e s J .  O’Ha r a

21 Character in Virgil 387

He l e n L ovat t

22a Virgilian Narrative: Storytelling 400

Do n F owl e r (r e v i s e d b y A l e ssa nd ro B a rch ie si )

22b Virgilian Narrative: Ecphrasis 413

A l e ssa nd ro B a rc hi e si

23 Sons and Lovers: Sexuality and Gender in Virgil’s Poetry 425

E l l e n Ol i e nsi s

24 Authority 445
F i ac h r a M ac G ór á i n

E nvo i s

25 The Death of Virgil 461

F i o n a C ox

26 Virgil: The Future? 472

F i ac h r a M ac G ór á i n

Dateline Compiled by Genevieve Liveley 479

Works Cited 483
Locorum Index 531
Nominum et Rerum Index 539

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6a
D ON F OW L ER ( R EV I S E D B Y S ER G IO CASA LI A N D FA B IO STO K )

The Virgil Commentary of Servius

Servius (called Marius or Maurus Servius Honoratus in manuscripts from

the ninth century onwards) was a grammarian active in Rome in the late
fourth and fifth century ad . His celebrated commentary on Virgil is gen-
erally held to be based on a commentary (now lost) by the earlier fourth-
century commentator Aelius Donatus (the teacher of St Jerome). Some
manuscripts contain an enlarged version of Servius’ commentary, the so-
called Servius Danielis (Servius auctus, DServius or DS), published in 1600
by Pierre Daniel and thought to be a seventh- to eighth-century expansion
made on the basis of material from Donatus’ commentary not used by
Servius himself.
We know little about Servius’ life. He appears as a young man in
Macrobius’ dialogue the Saturnalia (dramatic date 383–4) as a respectful
follower of the pagan leader Aurelius Symmachus (Sat. 1.2.15). But Servius’
speeches in the Saturnalia have little to do with the commentary of the real
Servius:1 Macrobius shaped the figure of the famous grammarian for his
own purposes (and probably wrote his work after the death of Servius).
It is true that Servius was a pagan, but he was not as strong an advocate
of Neoplatonism as Macrobius; Alan Cameron includes him among the
‘centre-pagans’, people with no deep investment in the pagan cults.2
Interestingly, Servius uses the past tense in referring to pagan cults, where
his source, that is Donatus, had used the present tense. We can observe this
change of tense by comparing Servius with DS;3 for example, in his note
on Aeneid 8.641, Servius writes that for sacrifices endorsing treaties and
alliances, porcus adhibebatur (‘a pig was used’). Referring to the same type
of sacrifice DS on Aeneid 12.170 refers to those who porcum adserunt … in
foederibus … solere mactari (‘affirm it is customary to sacrifice a pig when

1
Cf. Kaster (1980).
2
Cameron (2011: 176–7).
3
Cf. Murgia (1988: 496 n. 5); Cameron (2011: 555–7).
88

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