Note: Image above generated by AI: Virgil never really posed in front of the American flag!
Rob Natelson’s article has just been published showing how the American Founders used the works of the Roman poet Virgil in debating the Constitution.
The article appears in the current issue of Regent University Law Review, a scholarly journal, here.
Virgil’s full name was Publius Vergilius Maro, and he lived from 70 to 19 BCE. His Latin poetry was extraordinarily popular with members of America’s founding generation.
The Great Seal of the United States, features three Latin quotations. Two are adaptations from poems by Virgil and one (e pluribus unum) is from a poem (called Moretum), then believed to be by Virgil. (Scholars are less sure of its authorship today.)
During the great constitutional debates of 1787-1790, participants repeatedly resorted to quotations from Greek and Roman authors—but Virgil (in poetry) and Cicero (in prose) were the most popular.
The quotations were mostly in the original Latin, but some were English translations or paraphrases. Nearly all were from Virgil’s greatest works: The Eclogues, the Georgics, and the Aeneid. However, a few were from lesser poems then believed to be by Virgil, but whose authorship is now uncertain.
They were published in newspapers, pamphlets, and broadsides (posters). They were featured in speeches and private letters as well.
Rob’s new article tells the full story.
The post “Virgil and the Constitution” is Now Published! first appeared on Independence Institute.
The post “Virgil and the Constitution” is Now Published! appeared first on Independence Institute.
