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Virgil's haunting and enigmatic Eclogues provided the inspiration for the whole European tradition of pastoral poetry. Yet despite their rustic setting and the unparalleled beauty of their phrasing, the Eclogues are anything but escapist. Virgil's shephereds, in their idyllic landscapes, suffer not only from the torments of unrequited love but also from the tragic consequences of Julius Caesar's murder in 44 B.C., when civil war tore Italy apart and peasants were evicted from their land on all sides. In giving unforgettable expression to both the Eclogues pave the way for the Georgics and the Aeneid, the two supreme masterpieces of Latin literature. They are also, as Guy Lee's deeply sensitive but very faithful translation makes clear, a major masterpiece in their own right.
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