Aeneid | Critical Overview

Virgil's earliest critics concentrated on discussing the style in which he wrote and the sources from which he drew his material. The Aeneid was written for a cultured and educated, extremely well-read audience, and almost immediately became a school text. Many Roman critics wrote treatises explaining the book's historical, religious, philosophical, and literary allusions to make it easier for teachers and students alike to understand. Others wrote explanations of difficult words or unusual grammar. In the fourth century, a teacher named Donatus published excerpts from many of...

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