Virgil’s Aeneid is the first complete Latin epic which remains to us, and it is arguably the most important literary work we have from ancient Rome. Virgil lived at a time of enormous political and social upheaval: this lecture will address the ways in which Virgil’s poetry refers to contemporary events. We shall consider the much-discussed position of Virgil as pro- or anti-Augustan, and think about whether this terminology is relevant. Copyright 2014 Rhiannon Evans / La Trobe University, all rights reserved. Contact for permissions.