Aeneid --- Vergil

Historical Background
Vergil (70-19 B.C.) lived through the politically violent and chaotic years of the failing Republic, and his writings very clearly show the influence of the events of this period. Thus, an understanding of the history of this era is critical to the interpretation of the Aeneid.
In 63, a conspiracy to overthrow the Roman government led by the infamous Catiline was discovered and defeated through the efforts of Cicero, the consul of that year. There were, however, other threats to the existing order soon to follow. After the powerful general Pompey returned from his extensive conquests in the East in 62, the refusal of the Senate to approve his settlement of affairs there alienated him from the Optimates. As a result, he joined in political alliance with the leaders of the Populares: Julius Caesar and Marcus Crassus. The alliance has come to be known as the First Triumvirate and was sealed by the marriage of Pompey to Caesar's daughter.3 Employing the threat of Pompey's military power, these three men were able to impose their will on Rome. In this way Caesar insured his own election to the consulship in 59 and in the following year, his assignment to the governorship of Gaul, which required the command of a large army to subdue the warlike natives. Caesar enjoyed great military successes against the Gauls for almost a ten-year period, but what meant most to him was the fact that he now had an army loyal to himself, making him equal to Pompey, who had for so long overshadowed him in military power.
3When Vergil has Anchises predict the civil war between these two leaders, their names are not mentioned, but they are referred to as father-in-law and son-in-law (6.828-831).
In the late 50's with Caesar in Gaul and Pompey virtually ruler at Rome, a split between the two leaders became increasingly evident, especially after the death of Caesar's daughter, which removed the last tie between them. Civil war was inevitable. As the poet Lucan put it: "Caesar is able to tolerate no man as his superior; Pompey, no man as his equal" (1.125-126). The war between Caesar and Pompey ended with the latter's defeat in Greece and his assassination in Egypt. After his victory Caesar assumed the dictatorship at Rome, which ultimately was granted to him for life. Caesar was now sole ruler of Rome. Resentment at the loss of political freedom resulted in his assassination by Brutus, Cassius, and others in 44.
Caesar's army passed in good part into the possession of his eighteen-year- old grand-nephew, Octavian, his chief heir, who was adopted as Caesar's son according to the terms of his will. Because of his youth, no one expected Octavian to be of any consequence in the political arena, but with a maturity beyond his years he won over Caesar's veterans and was determined to avenge his adoptive father's death. Octavian came into immediate conflict with Caesar's lieutenant, Antony, who felt that his close association with the dictator earned him the right to succeed Caesar. Cicero sided with Octavian and attacked Antony in a set of speeches called the Philippics, which resulted in Antony's being declared a public enemy. After Antony suffered a defeat at the hands of a coalition of military leaders (including Octavian), Antony and Octavian decided it would be in their own best interests to join in political alliance. They along with Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate (43 B.C.) and revived Sulla's technique of proscription in order to rid themselves of their political enemies. One of the most prominent victims of this proscription was Cicero himself, whose death was demanded by Antony in revenge for the Philippics and reluctantly agreed to by Octavian. At Antony's command Cicero's head and hands were cut off and placed on the speaker's platform in the Forum. This barbaric act serves as a vivid symbol of the bloody violence of the last years of the Republic.
Following the proscriptions Antony and Octavian turned their attention to the assassins of Caesar and defeated them in Greece at the battle of Philippi (42 B.C.). Their alliance was weakened when Antony's brother revolted against Octavian while Antony was in Egypt, but was reconfirmed by the marriage of Antony and Octavian's sister. There were two more temporarily successful attempts to prevent a split between Octavian and Antony, but Antony's romantic involvement with Cleopatra,4 the queen of Egypt, which resulted in his rejection and ultimate divorce of Octavia, permanently alienated the two leaders. In addition, Antony's obvious intention to use the wealth of Egypt as a basis of power for uniting the East under his control made war unavoidable. The final conflict was a naval battle off Actium (31 B.C.) on the western coast of Greece, in which Antony and Cleopatra were routed by Octavian's fleet. The defeated pair later committed suicide in Alexandria.
4Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemies, the Greek ruling family of Egypt, which had controlled Egypt since the death of Alexander the Great. As was the custom, she was married to her brother Ptolemy XIII, and after his death, to another brother Ptolemy XIV. During his campaign in the East after his victory over Pompey, Julius Caesar had an affair with her and fathered a son.
After Actium Octavian embarked on a program of restoring order by reuniting the Roman present with its old moral, religious and political traditions. He made a show of restoring the free Republic, but Octavian with his control over the Roman army and finances was in fact the sole ruler of Rome and its empire. In 27 B.C. the Roman Senate bestowed upon him the honorific title of Augustus,5 which symbolized his special position of authority in the state. Octavian was welcomed as a savior by such writers as Vergil and Horace, the great lyric poet, and by the vast majority of Romans, because he had brought peace to Rome after a century of civil conflict. The admiration expressed by the poets for Octavian's accomplishments, although its effusiveness is sometimes offensive to modern taste, should not be interpreted as mere servile praise and political propaganda, but as an honest appreciation of a political leader who had brought an end to the horrors of civil war and was able to act with moderation after his victory.
5The title "Augustus" had special religious associations and was etymologically related to the Latin word auctoritas 'authority'.