The Roman poet and epic poet Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC) is considered the most important author of Roman antiquity and is a classic of Latin school literature. His most famous works, Bucolica (Eclogae), Georgica, and the unfinished Aeneid revolutionized Latin poetry. Vergil turned to poetry after a comprehensive education in all the knowledge fields of his time and mostly lived in seclusion in Naples or on Sicily. He was, like Horace (65-8 BC), a favorite of Emperor Augustus (63 BC to 14 AD).
In the agricultural didactic poem "Georgica," the laborious rural work and agriculture are described with brilliant linguistic artistry. Vergil praises the blessing, the idyll, and the harmony in nature. He creates a connection between high poetry and the transmission of specialized knowledge. Alongside Cicero and Horace, he is one of the most significant representatives of "golden Latinity." This refers to the literary epoch from around 60 BC to 40 AD, during which Roman poetry and prose reached the highest perfection in content, form, and language.
In the second of the four books, viticulture is primarily addressed. In it, he reports on grafting and the suitable location for grapevines, the establishment of vineyards, the care of the plants, the cultivation of the soils, the characteristics of selected grape varieties, as well as pressing and winemaking. He describes around 15 ancient grape varieties and mentions the then-famous wines Caecubum, Falernum, and Raeticum. He evidently had a preference for sweet wines, as he recommends "leaving the grapes on the vine until November, until they are stiff from the frost." Furthermore, he noted: "Be the first to dig the soil, but the last to harvest the grapes."
The Roman author Columella (1st century) praises his work. Parts of it are also included in the famous agricultural compendium Geoponika from the 10th century. The image shows a page from the "Vergilius Romanus." This is the designation for an illuminated manuscript from the 5th century containing texts by Vergil, preserved as Codex Vaticanus latinus 3867 in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
