Donatus, ‘Initia aetatis Cremonae egit usque ad virilem togam, quam xv. anno natali suo accepit isdem illis consulibus iterum duobus quibus erat natus, evenitque ut eo ipso die Lucretius poeta decederet. De Cremona Mediolanum et inde paulo post transiit in urbem ... Inter cetera studia medicinae quoque ac maxime mathematicae[44] operam dedit. Egit et causam apud iudices unam omnino nec amplius quam semel; nam et in sermone tardissimum ac paene indocto similem fuisse Melissus The Berne MS. above referred to says: ‘Ut primum se contulit Romam, studuit apud Epidium oratorem cum Caesare Augusto.’[45] For his studies under the Epicurean Siron cf. Catal. 7, 8, ‘Nos ad beatos vela mittimus portus,
magni petentes docta dicta Sironis,
vitamque ab omni vindicabimus cura.’
Cf. also Ecl. 6, 31-40, where a brief sketch is given of the Epicurean theory of creation.
For a few years we hear nothing of his life, but we may suppose that he continued his studies in literature and philosophy, probably at his farm, if we can draw any inference from the language of Ecl. 1, especially l. 19 sqq. So far as is known, he took no part in the civil wars. In B.C. 41, when lands were assigned to the troops of Antonius, Virgil was dispossessed of his property. On the recommendation of Asinius Pollio, who was legatus of Gallia Transpadana, he went to Rome and obtained from Octavian the restitution of his land. The poet expresses his gratitude in Ecl. 1, 42,
‘Hic illum vidi iuvenem, Meliboee, quotannis
bis senos cui nostra dies altaria fumant.
Hic mihi responsum primus dedit ille petenti:
“Pascite ut ante boves, pueri, submittite tauros.”’
Cf. also ll. 70-3.
Donatus, ‘Ad bucolica transiit maxime ut Asinium Pollionem, Alphenum Varum, et Cornelium Gallum celebraret, quia in distributione agrorum qui post Philippensem victoriam[46] veteranis triumvirorum iussu trans Padum dividebantur, indemnem se praestitissent.’
Virgil was evicted a second time in the following year, after the Bellum Perusinum, by the troops of Octavian. Conflicting accounts are given by the Lives regarding the persons who seized his land.[47]
Servius, vit. Verg., ‘Postea ortis bellis civilibus inter Antonium et Augustum, Augustus victor Cremonensium agros, quia pro Antonio senserant, dedit militibus suis. Qui cum non sufficerent, his addidit agros Mantuanos, sublatos non propter civium culpam, sed propter vicinitatem Cremonensium: unde ipse in Bucolicis (9, 28), “Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae.”’