Appendix Vergiliana

The Appendix Vergiliana is a collection of Latin poems traditionally ascribed as being the juvenilia (work written as a youth) of Virgil (70–19 BC).

However, recent studies suggest that the Appendix contains a diverse collection of minor poems by various authors from the 1st century AD.

[2] Besides the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the Aeneid, a collection of minor works attributed to Virgil certainly existed by the reign of Nero.

[3] These poems were not included in the edition of Virgil's works published after his death by Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca and are not found in any of the major Virgilian codices, nor is there any allusion to them in the vita prefixed to the 1st century commentary of Valerius Probus.

[6] The life given by Servius contains the statement, "he also wrote these seven or eight books: Ciris, Aetna, Culex, Priapea, Catalepton, Epigrammata, Copa, Dirae.

[11] This theory is generally rejected by modern scholars, and there is no evidence of a collected edition of the poems prior to an entry in a mid-9th century catalogue of the library at Murbach Abbey, which lists under Virgil the following item: "Dire; Ciris; Culex; Catalapeion; Ethne; Priapeia; Copa; Moretum; Mecenas.

[19] This is a pastoral epyllion in 414 hexameters which evokes the world of Theocritus and employs epic conventions for comic effect in a parody.

It is noon, and a poor but happy shepherd, who lacks the refinements of classical luxury, is tending his flocks when he sees a grove of trees, a locus amoenus, and lies down to rest.

That night, the gnat appears to the shepherd in a dream, laments its undeserved fate, and gives a long description of the underworld and the souls of the dead mythological heroes there, allowing it to digress.

The shepherd inscribes it with the inscription "Little gnat, to you deservedly the guard of the flock repays his funeral duty for your gift of life."

[20] However, Suetonius in his Lives of the Poets (18) writes, "the Culex... of his (Virgil's) was written when he might have been sixteen years old",[21] so it is possible that the extant version which has come down to us may be a later copy that had been modified.

The poem has been variously interpreted as a charming epyllion or as an elaborate allegory in which the shepherd symbolizes Augustus and the gnat Marcellus.

The epyllion was a popular style of composition which seems to have developed in the Hellenistic age; surviving examples can be found in Theocritus and Catullus.

The poet begins his hundred line prologue by invoking the Muses and Sophia, despite the fact that he is an Epicurean, and describes his poem as a gift to Messalla like the robe given to Minerva in the Panathenaia.

He starts by describing Minos' siege of Megara and the lock of purple hair on the head of Nisus which protected the city.

The city falls and Scylla, lamenting Minos' refusal to marry her, is taken prisoner on the Cretan ships which sail around Attica.

The poet describes her metamorphosis in detail; by the pitying Amphitrite she is transformed into the ciris bird, supposedly from the Greek keirein ("cut").

[25] He appears to have imitated all three canonical Virgilian works, as well as Ovid and Manilius, but a date later than Messalla's death (no later than early AD 13[26]) creates a problem identifying the poet's addressee.

She describes a lush, pastoral setting and a picnic laid out in the grass and invites an unnamed man to spend time with her, stop thinking about the future, and live for the present.

The poem opens pastorally by addressing Battarus, a friend whose farm has also been confiscated and describing the actions of the soldier called Lycurgus.

The first poem in two elegiac couplets is a mock-inscription in which the god describes the setting of his statue at different seasons and his dislike of winter and fear of being made into firewood.

Priapus addresses a passer-by, describes how he protects and nourishes the farm through the seasons, and demands respect, as his wooden phallus can double as a club.

The poet describes his first meeting with Maecenas introduced by Lollius, praises his art, and defends his wearing of loose clothes (criticized later by Seneca).