Salvete! I read a suggestion that we should not believe that Virgil was a paid court poet writing propaganda for his patron. I'm not sure that I agree with this, but reflecting on it has brought several questions to my mind.
Virgil's patron provided him with the leisure to write his poetry. Was the poet therefore showing his gratitude by writing propaganda? Was Virgil making the most of this opportunity to write his poetry at leisure? Did he really desire to promote Augustus, or was he trying to show how ridiculous the Emperor might be? Was the "propaganda" actually humourous? If anyone could help to settle my confusion, I would be very grateful. Rebecca Smyth Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
