Chronology of Vergil's Life

Date	Vergil's Life	Contemporary Events
70 BCE, Oct. 5	Vergil born near Mantua	Pompey and Crassus, consuls
63	Vergil living in Cremona	Cicero consul; Cataline's conspiracy. Birth of C. Octavius (later Augustus)
60	Vergil studying in Cremona	Formation of the 'first triumvirate: Ceasar, Pompey and Crassus.
59		Ceasar consul
58		Ceasar begins Gallic campaigns
55		Pompey and Crassus are consuls again
54	Vergil completes school in Cremona; goes to Milan.	Crassus sets out for Parthia
53	Vergil goes to Rome for legal training.	Crassus killed at Carrhae in Parthia' loses legionary standards.
52-50	Vergil gradually rejects other vocations, devotes self exclusively to poetry.	Tension between Pompey and Caesar moves Rome to brink of civil war.
49	Vergil probably living in Cumae in Epicurean society, writing	Caesar crosses the Rubicon, rapidly drives Pompey out of Italy
44		Caesar assassinated; by his will C. Octavius adopted (hence Octavian)
42		Philippi: Brutus and Cassius, the assassins, defeated by M. Antonius and Octavian
41	Vergil begins Eclogues: I and IX deal with farmers facing confiscation.	Octavian confiscates much of the land around Cremona for his veterans.
39-38	Eclogues completed; Georgics started	M. Antonius marries Octavia, Octavian's sister
31	Georgics completed; Aeneid started	Octavian and Agrippa defeat Antonius and Cleopatra at Actium.
27		Octavian assumes the name Augustus. First 'constitutional settlement'
23	Reference to Marcellus, Octavia's son, in 6. 860 ff.	Marcellus, Augustus' nephew, dies.
19	Having completed most of the Aeneid, Vergil sets sail for Greece to devote three years to revision. But Augustus persuades him to return to Italy. Ill on his return trip, Vergil dies after landing at Brindisi, Sept. 21.	Augustus travels in East to secure empire, esp. against the Parthians. On the death of Vergil, publication of the Aeneid entrusted to Vergil's friends, talented poets named Varius and Tucca.
17	Aeneid probably published as part of Augustus' celebrations	Secualar games are held; Horace, friend of Vergil, commissioned to write the Carmen Saeculare