In his use of caesuras Vergil in the Ciris resembles Catullus: both to a certain extent distrust the trochaic pause.

The reason for attempting a new biography of Vergil at the present time is therefore obvious.

The gulf that separated Vergil from his predecessor, in so far as their treatment of shepherd-life is concerned, may be measured by the manner in which they respectively deal with the supernatural.

Maecenas enjoyed the society of literary men, and we may well suppose that he took Vergil with him in his administrative tours on more than the one occasion which Horace happens to have recorded.

Its ascription to Vergil by so many authors of the early empire, as well as the concensus of the manuscripts, must be taken very seriously.

On the other hand, to the allegorical pastoralists from Vergil to Spagnuoli, the shepherd-realm either reflects, or is made directly to contrast with, the interests and vices of the actual world; in their work the note of longing for escape to an ideal life is heard but faintly or not at all.

The poem achieved considerable fame, which lasted as late as the time of Dryden, owing to the belief that it contained a prophecy of the birth of Christ drawn from the Sibylline books, and won for Vergil throughout the middle ages the title of prophet and magician.

Besides these there are a few odd translations from Vergil among the experiments of the classical versifiers.

The very deep sympathy of Vergil for the poor exiles rings also through the Dirae, a very surprising poem which he wrote at this same time, but on second thought suppressed.