维吉尔(前70～西元前19年)
Virgil，亦作Vergil。
拉丁语全名Publius Vergilius Maro
罗马最伟大的诗人。富裕地方农民之教养良好的儿子，维吉尔过着平静的生活，虽然他最後成为屋大维亚（後称奥古斯都）身边的亲密成员之一，并由梅塞纳斯赞助。他的诗歌反映出义大利内战时期的暴乱，和随後稳定下来的趋势。他的首部重要作品《牧歌》（西元前42～西元前37年）包含十首田园诗，可以解读为平静的预言，其中一首甚至可以解读为基督教的预言。《农事诗》（西元前37～西元前30年）指向黄金时期，其形式为实际目标：义大利乡间人口再增和农业复兴。他的伟大史诗《埃涅阿斯》（西元前29年动笔，但死时未完成）是世界文学的杰作之一，诗中颂扬传说中之埃涅阿斯在奥古斯都（在西元前31～西元前30年集权而统一罗马世界）请求下建立罗马，诗中也探索战争的主旨和单恋的凄楚。在往後世纪中，他的作品在罗马帝国被几乎视为圣物，他也受到基督教徒尊崇，包括但丁在内，他把维吉尔作为地狱和炼狱的向导。维吉尔对欧洲文学的影响可说仅次於荷马。
English version：
前70～西元前19年
Virgil
Greatest of Roman poets. The well-educated son of a prosperous provincial farmer, Virgil led a quiet life, though he eventually became a member of the circle around Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) and was patronized by Maecenas. His poetry reflects the turbulence in Italy during a period of civil war and the subsequent trend toward stability. His first major work, the 10 pastoral Eclogues (42-37 BC), may be read as a prophecy of tranquility, and one has even been read as a prophecy of Christianity. The Georgics (37-30 BC) point toward a Golden Age in the form of practical goals: the repopulation of rural Italy and the rehabilitation of agriculture. His great epic, the Aeneid (begun c. 29 BC, but unfinished at his death), is one of the masterpieces of world literature; a celebration of the founding of Rome by the legendary Aeneas at the request of Augustus, whose consolidation of power in 31-30 BC unified the Roman world, it also explores the themes of war and the pathos of unrequited love. In later centuries his works were regarded in the Roman empire as virtually sacred, and he was taken up reverently by Christians as well, including Dante, who made Virgil his guide through hell and purgatory. Virgil's influence on European literature is perhaps second only to Homer's.