Species Virgilia grandis

For Publius Vergilius Maro (70–19 BCE), known as Virgil or Vergilus, regarded as one of the greatest Roman poets. He studied mathematics, medicine and rhetoric in Rome and Naples, and thereafter entered literary circles, writing Eclogues (or Bucloics), the Georgics and the Aeneid, considered Virgil’s finest work and one of the most important poems in the history of Western literature. This work, commissioned by Augustus Caesar, depicted the glories of Rome and the Roman Empire. It took 11 years to write (29–19 BCE). According to the tradition, Virgil travelled to Greece in about 19 BCE in order to revise the Aeneid. While there, he caught a fever, returned to Italy by ship, but weakened with disease and died on reaching Brundisium harbour.