Chronological Table
| B.C. | |
| 98. | Birth of Lucretius. |
| 87. | Birth of Catullus. |
| 70. | Virgil is born. |
| 69. | Birth of Mæcenas; Cicero is ædile. |
| 66. | Cicero is prætor. |
| 65. | Horace is born. |
| 63. | Birth of Octavius (afterward Gaius Julius Cæsar Octavianus Augustus). Cicero’s
consulship and Orations against Catiline. |
| 60. | First Triumvirate (Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus). |
| 58. | Cicero banished. Cæsar begins conquest of Gaul. |
| 57. | Cicero recalled from exile. |
| 55. | Virgil assumes the toga virilis. Death of Lucretius, Cæsar in Britain. |
| 54. | Virgil studies in Milan. Death of Catullus. Cicero edits Lucretius’ On Nature,
and (perhaps) Catullus’ Odes, and begins his essay On the State. |
| 53. | Virgil goes to Rome: Horace is also taken there. Cicero is augur. Parthians
defeat Romans at Carrhæ. |
| 52. | Cicero’s Oration for Milo. |
| 51. | Cicero proconsul in Cilicia. |
| 49. | Civil War. Cæsar marches on Rome, bestowing Roman citizenship on Italians
north of the Po. Pompey leaves Italy. |
| 48. | Battle of Pharsalia. Assassination of Pompey. |
| 46. | Battle of Thapsus. Suicide of Cato at Utica. |
| 45. | Horace goes to Athens. |
| 44. | Cæsar assassinated: Octavius, adopted in his will, assumes his name.
Cicero’s Philippics. |
| 43. | Birth of Ovid. Second Triumvirate (Octavianus, Antony, and Lepidus).
Assassination of Cicero. Civil war with Brutus and Cassius. Horace a tribune
in Brutus’ army. |
| 42. | Battles of Philippi. Death of Brutus and Cassius. |
| 41. | Confiscations by the triumvirs. Virgil introduced to Mæcenas and
Octavianus. Horace returns to Rome. |
| 40. | Virgil restored to his estate. |
| 39. | Horace introduced to Mæcenas by Virgil and Varius. |
| 37. | Virgil publishes Eclogues. Phraates king of Parthia. |
| 36. | Antony invades Parthia. |
| 35. | Horace publishes First Book of Satires. |
| 33. | Phraates attacks Armenia and Media. |
| 31. | Battle of Actium. Overthrow of Antony. Octavianus visits the East. |
| 30. | Horace publishes Second Book of Satires and his Epodes. |
| 29. | Octavianus returns from the East and celebrates threefold triumph.
Temple of Janus closed in sign of peace. Virgil publishes Georgics. |
| 27. | Octavianus receives the title of Augustus. |
| 26. | Augustus in Spain corresponds with Virgil. |
| 24. | Horace (probably) publishes first Three Books of Odes. |
| 23. | Death of Marcellus. Virgil reads portions of the Æneid to Augustus. |
| 20. | Expedition of Augustus to the East. Parthians restore standards taken at Carrhæ. |
| 19. | Virgil journeys to Greece. Returns with Augustus. Dies at Brundisium.
Augustus directs Virgil’s friend Varius and Tucca to edit the Æneid. |
| 18. | Horace publishes First Book of Epistles. |
| 17. | The Secular Festival. Horace writes the Secular Hymn. |
| 13. | Horace publishes Fourth Book of Odes. |
| 8. | Death of Mæcenas and Horace. |
Verse Translations Recommended
Dryden; Conington (Crowell, New York); William Morris (Roberts Brothers, Boston); Cranch; Long (Lockwood Brooks & Co., Boston); Crane (Baker & Taylor Co., New York); Howland (D. Appleton & Co., New York), Rickards (Books I.-VI., Blackwood & Sons, London); Rhoades (Longmans); Billson (Edward Arnold, London).
Books for Reference
Roman Poets of the Augustan Age, Sellar (Oxford, Clarendon Press); Virgil, Nettleship (Appletons), and in his Lectures and Essays (Oxford); Classical Essays, F. W. H. Myers (Macmillan); Studies in Virgil, Glover (Edward Arnold, London); Country of Horace and Virgil, Boissier (Putnam); Master Virgil, Tunison (Robert Clark & Co., Cincinnati); Vergil in the Middle Ages, Comparetti (Sonnenschein, London); Legends of Virgil, Leland (Macmillan); Histories of Roman Literature by Teuffel (George Bell & Sons, London), Browne (Bentley, London), Cruttwell (Scribners, N.Y.), Simcox (Harpers, N.Y.). Æneas as a Character Study, Miller (Latine, Vol. IV., p. 18).
Subjects for Investigation
(Miller, in Latine for January, 1886.)
(1) Virgilian Proverbs. (2) A Word Study. (3) Fatalism in Virgil. (4) Virgil’s Pictures of Roman Customs. (5) Pen Pictures. (6) Astronomy in Virgil. (7) Virgil’s Debt to Homer. (8) Milton’s Debt to Virgil. (9) Virgil’s Gods and Religious Rites. (10) Omens and Oracles. (11) Virgil’s Influence upon Literature in General. (12) Figures in Virgil. (13) Virgilian Herbarium. (14) Detailed Account of the Wandering of Æneas. (15) The Geography of Virgil. (16) Virgil as a Poet of Nature. (17) Virgil’s Life as gleaned from his Works. [(18) The Manuscript Texts of Virgil.] (19) Virgilian Translators and Commentators. (20) Some Noted Passages—why? (21) The Platonism of the Sixth Book. (22) Dryden’s Dictum Discussed, (23) Dante—The Later Virgil. [(24) The Prosody of Virgil.] (25) Dido—A Psychological Study. (28) Æneas—A Character Study. [(27) Testimonium Veterum de Vergilio.] (28) Virgil and Theocritus. (29) Virgil’s Creations. (30) Epithets of Æneas. (31) The Virgilian Birds. (32) Was Virgil Acquainted with the Hebrew Scriptures? (33) Visions and Dreams—Supernatural Means of Spirit Communication. (34) Night Scenes in Virgil. (35) Different Names for Trojans and Greeks and their Significance. (36) The Story of the Æneid.