Georgics

The Georgics, written in 29 BC, is the second major work by the Latin poet Virgil. Its subject is rural life and farming and the work is generally categorized as a "didactic poem".

Contents

The work contains 2188 hexametric verses divided into four books. Books one and two deal with agriculture (respectively crops and trees). Books three and four deal with the keeping of animals, book three concerned with different kinds of cattle breeding and book four especially with beekeeping. However, the didactic subject is merely the surface of the poem. The underlying theme is the beauty of the countryside.

The poem also has a political dimension. Virgil's patron Maecenas, in whose honor the poem was written, was a confidant and advisor to Caesar Augustus, and he used his patronage to influence the great poets of his time, Virgil and Horace, to write about themes supportive of Augustus' political interests. Thus, the poem's praise of rural life, can be seen to reflect Augustus' desire to restore agricultural activity in Italy after its devastation by civil war.

Influences

The Georgics are influenced by Hesiod, whose Works and Days was regarded as the first work of didactic poetry, but references to Hellenistic poets Aratus and Nicander are more numerous. Also Lucretius' On the Nature of Things (De Rerum Natura) is heavily echoed.

Online Text

• The Georgics at MIT
• French translations: Bibliotheca Classica Selecta: Georgiques
• Gutenberg Project: Georgics (English)