VIRGIL (70-19 BCE), LATIN POET. for a Brief Biography of Virgil and John Dryden’S 1697 Translation of ‘Eclogue 2,’ See the Print Anthology, Pp
1 VIRGIL (70-19 BCE), LATIN POET. For a brief biography of Virgil and John Dryden’s 1697 translation of ‘Eclogue 2,’ see the print anthology, pp. 198-203. Like the biography of Virgil that prefaces Joseph Trapp’s 1731 translation of this ancient poet’s works, Dryden’s refutes any suggestion that Virgil engaged in ‘sodomitical relations’ with his beloved slave, Alexander (see print anthology, pp. 199-200). Alexander was traditionally believed the real- life ‘original’ of the male beloved Alexis in ‘Eclogue 2,’ with Virgil figuring himself as that poem’s love-sick shepherd, Corydon. ESSAYS AND CONTEXTS: For selected early modern and modern translations of Virgil’s verse, as well as an account of his reception, reputation, and translation in early modern England, see the essay ‘Virgil’ in “Classical Writers, their Early Modern Reputations and Translations” (Online Companion). SELECTIONS FROM VIRGIL’S ECLOGUES ABRAHAM FLEMING (c. 1552-1607), WRITER, TRANSLATOR, AND CHURCH OF ENGLAND MINISTER. Graduate of Cambridge, Fleming’s first works were produced while he was still technically a student: his translation of Virgil’s Bucolics [i.e., Eclogues] (1575) and John Caius’ Of English Dogs (1576). Before becoming a minister in 1588, he worked in English publishing, as an editor, translator, writer, and indexer; most famously, he served as the general editor of the second edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587), a work for which he wrote a substantial amount of new material. During his career in the Church, he still found time for the classics, translating Virgil’s Georgics in 1589, a volume that also included a completely new translation of Bucolics (excerpted below) 1 THE BUCOLICS OF PUBLIUS VIRGILIUS MARO (1575) THE ARGUMENT OR CONTENTS OF THE SECOND ECLOGUE Corydon a shepherd, being entangled with the love of the lad Alexis, doth let nothing pass without trial which might belong to the winning of the lad’s will and the getting of his love.
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