Virgil

qas: question: During which period was Vigil a poet?
answers: text: Augustan
is_impossible: no

question: How many major works of literature is Virgil known for?
answers: text: three
is_impossible: no

question: Which major Latin epic is Virgil known for?
answers: text: Aeneid
is_impossible: no

question: What is Virgil's full name?
answers: text: Publius Vergilius Maro
is_impossible: no

question: Which collection of minor poems are sometimes attributed to Virgil?
answers: text: Appendix Vergiliana
is_impossible: no

question: What work did Virgil write first?
is_impossible: yes

question: What date did Virgil finish the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did the Augustan period start?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many poems by Virgil still exist today?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is Virgil's most famous work?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many chapters are in the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is Virgil's least famous work?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Virgil publish his last poem?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is Virgil's longest book?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was the first language the Aeneid was translated into?
is_impossible: yes

question: How long did legends of Virgil's magical powers remain popular?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who had Lavinia already been promised to?
is_impossible: yes

question: Exactly how many unfinished lines are in the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes
context: Publius Vergilius Maro (Classical Latin: [ˈpuː.blɪ.ʊs wɛrˈɡɪ.lɪ.ʊs ˈma.roː]; October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil /ˈvɜːrdʒᵻl/ in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues (or Bucolics), the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid. A number of minor poems, collected in the Appendix Vergiliana, are sometimes attributed to him.

qas: question: Which of Virgil's works is considered the national epic of ancient Rome?
answers: text: Aeneid
is_impossible: no

question: Which works did Virgil model the Aeneid after?
answers: text: Iliad and Odyssey
is_impossible: no

question: Who is the main character in the Aeneid?
answers: text: Aeneas
is_impossible: no

question: What was Aeneas trying to accomplish in the Aeneid?
answers: text: fulfill his destiny and arrive on the shores of Italy
is_impossible: no

question: Who appears as Dante's guide through hell and purgatory in the Divine Comedy?
answers: text: Virgil
is_impossible: no

question: Where was Dante born?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is Dante's goal in the Divine Comedy?
is_impossible: yes

question: What era did Dante write The Divine Comedy in?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is the name of Homer's most famous epic?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where was Virgil born?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which of Homer's works is longer, the Iliad or Odyssey?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did Virgil write his works?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was Dante's nationality?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is the Iliad about?
is_impossible: yes

question: What kind of poems did Hesiod write?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did Pollio live?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who was Dante's guide through Purgatory and Hell in the Divine Comedy?
is_impossible: yes
context: Virgil is traditionally ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. His Aeneid has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome from the time of its composition to the present day. Modeled after Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, the Aeneid follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny and arrive on the shores of Italy—in Roman mythology the founding act of Rome. Virgil's work has had wide and deep influence on Western literature, most notably Dante's Divine Comedy, in which Virgil appears as Dante's guide through hell and purgatory.

qas: question: Who was Virgil's editor?
answers: text: Varius
is_impossible: no

question: Whose two commentaries were incorporated into Virgil's biography by Suetonius?
answers: text: Servius and Donatus
is_impossible: no

question: What do the comentaries rely on for some of their information about Virgil?
answers: text: inferences made from his poetry and allegorizing
is_impossible: no

question: Is Virgil's biographical tradition easily researched or is it problematic?
answers: text: problematic
is_impossible: no

question: Who edited Donatus' commentaries?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many people did Virgil write biographies about?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was Varius most famous for?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who wrote a biography of Servius?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who wrote the most about Virgil?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who cautioned "we ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death"?
is_impossible: yes

question: Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra at which battle?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who was one of Virgil's most ardent admirers who referenced Virgil in almost every line of his epic?
is_impossible: yes
context: Virgil's biographical tradition is thought to depend on a lost biography by Varius, Virgil's editor, which was incorporated into the biography by Suetonius and the commentaries of Servius and Donatus, the two great commentators on Virgil's poetry. Although the commentaries no doubt record much factual information about Virgil, some of their evidence can be shown to rely on inferences made from his poetry and allegorizing; thus, Virgil's biographical tradition remains problematic.

qas: question: In which village does tradition believe Virgil was born?
answers: text: Andes
is_impossible: no

question: In which cities did Virgil attend schools?
answers: text: Cremona, Mediolanum, Rome and Naples
is_impossible: no

question: What other career did Virgil consider?
answers: text: rhetoric and law
is_impossible: no

question: Which type of family do scholars generally believe Virgil belonged to?
answers: text: equestrian landowning
is_impossible: no

question: Does Macrobius believe Virgil's father came from a distinguished or humble background?
answers: text: humble
is_impossible: no

question: Where was Virgil's father born?
is_impossible: yes

question: What kind of family did Macrobius have?
is_impossible: yes

question: What city did Virgil live the longest in?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where was Macrobius born?
is_impossible: yes

question: What career did Virgil's father have?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Lucas van Leyden live?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who helped finish the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes

question: During which time period did the legend of Virgil in his Basket arise?
is_impossible: yes
context: The tradition holds that Virgil was born in the village of Andes, near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul. Analysis of his name has led to beliefs that he descended from earlier Roman colonists. Modern speculation ultimately is not supported by narrative evidence either from his own writings or his later biographers. Macrobius says that Virgil's father was of a humble background; however, scholars generally believe that Virgil was from an equestrian landowning family which could afford to give him an education. He attended schools in Cremona, Mediolanum, Rome and Naples. After considering briefly a career in rhetoric and law, the young Virgil turned his talents to poetry.

qas: question: Which three studies did Virgil abandon for philosophy?
answers: text: rhetoric, medicine, and astronomy
is_impossible: no

question: How was Virgil regarded socially by his schoolmates?
answers: text: extremely shy and reserved
is_impossible: no

question: What was Virgil's nickname?
answers: text: Parthenias
is_impossible: no

question: How did Virgil earn his nickname "Parthenias" or "maiden"?
answers: text: social aloofness
is_impossible: no

question: Which short narrative poem was attributed to Virgil as early as the 1st century AD?
answers: text: the Culex
is_impossible: no

question: What did Cinna study?
is_impossible: yes

question: What did his friends think Catullus was like?
is_impossible: yes

question: What problem did Servius have?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many stanzas are in the poem the Culex?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did Pollio live?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which of Virgil's poet friends committed suicide in 26 BC?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which of Homer's works is longer, the Iliad or Odyssey?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which of Homer's works did the last six books of the Aeneid connect to?
is_impossible: yes
context: According to the commentators, Virgil received his first education when he was five years old and he later went to Cremona, Milan, and finally Rome to study rhetoric, medicine, and astronomy, which he soon abandoned for philosophy. From Virgil's admiring references to the neoteric writers Pollio and Cinna, it has been inferred that he was, for a time, associated with Catullus' neoteric circle. However schoolmates considered Virgil extremely shy and reserved, according to Servius, and he was nicknamed "Parthenias" or "maiden" because of his social aloofness. Virgil seems to have suffered bad health throughout his life and in some ways lived the life of an invalid. According to the Catalepton, while in the Epicurean school of Siro the Epicurean at Naples, he began to write poetry. A group of small works attributed to the youthful Virgil by the commentators survive collected under the title Appendix Vergiliana, but are largely considered spurious by scholars. One, the Catalepton, consists of fourteen short poems, some of which may be Virgil's, and another, a short narrative poem titled the Culex ("The Gnat"), was attributed to Virgil as early as the 1st century AD.

qas: question: Which Hellenistic poet was known for bucolic hexameter poetry?
answers: text: Theocritus
is_impossible: no

question: Who tried to pay off veterans with land, some of which possibly belonged to Virgil?
answers: text: Octavian
is_impossible: no

question: Virgil's loss of his famiyl farm and the attempt to regain his property though poetry was the inferred motive for which work?
answers: text: Eclogues
is_impossible: no

question: To whom was Eclogue 4 addressed to?
answers: text: Asinius Pollio
is_impossible: no

question: Which Eclogues discusses homosexual love?
answers: text: Ecl. 2
is_impossible: no

question: What language was Virgil's work written in?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Theocritus publish his last work?
is_impossible: yes

question: What theme did Virgil write about the most often?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did Octavian live?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many books of poetry did Cornelius Gallus write?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which three studies did Virgil abandon for philosophy?
is_impossible: yes

question: To whom was Georgics dedicated to?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which book supposedly caused Augustus' sister to faint?
is_impossible: yes
context: The biographical tradition asserts that Virgil began the hexameter Eclogues (or Bucolics) in 42 BC and it is thought that the collection was published around 39–38 BC, although this is controversial. The Eclogues (from the Greek for "selections") are a group of ten poems roughly modeled on the bucolic hexameter poetry ("pastoral poetry") of the Hellenistic poet Theocritus. After his victory in the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, fought against the army led by the assassins of Julius Caesar, Octavian tried to pay off his veterans with land expropriated from towns in northern Italy, supposedly including, according to the tradition, an estate near Mantua belonging to Virgil. The loss of his family farm and the attempt through poetic petitions to regain his property have traditionally been seen as Virgil's motives in the composition of the Eclogues. This is now thought to be an unsupported inference from interpretations of the Eclogues. In Eclogues 1 and 9, Virgil indeed dramatizes the contrasting feelings caused by the brutality of the land expropriations through pastoral idiom, but offers no indisputable evidence of the supposed biographic incident. While some readers have identified the poet himself with various characters and their vicissitudes, whether gratitude by an old rustic to a new god (Ecl. 1), frustrated love by a rustic singer for a distant boy (his master's pet, Ecl. 2), or a master singer's claim to have composed several eclogues (Ecl. 5), modern scholars largely reject such efforts to garner biographical details from works of fiction, preferring to interpret an author's characters and themes as illustrations of contemporary life and thought. The ten Eclogues present traditional pastoral themes with a fresh perspective. Eclogues 1 and 9 address the land confiscations and their effects on the Italian countryside. 2 and 3 are pastoral and erotic, discussing both homosexual love (Ecl. 2) and attraction toward people of any gender (Ecl. 3). Eclogue 4, addressed to Asinius Pollio, the so-called "Messianic Eclogue" uses the imagery of the golden age in connection with the birth of a child (who the child was meant to be has been subject to debate). 5 and 8 describe the myth of Daphnis in a song contest, 6, the cosmic and mythological song of Silenus; 7, a heated poetic contest, and 10 the sufferings of the contemporary elegiac poet Cornelius Gallus. Virgil is credited[by whom?] in the Eclogues with establishing Arcadia as a poetic ideal that still resonates in Western literature and visual arts and setting the stage for the development of Latin pastoral by Calpurnius Siculus, Nemesianus, and later writers.

qas: question: Who helped finish the Aeneid?
answers: text: Varius Rufus
is_impossible: no

question: When where the Eclogues likely published?
answers: text: before 37 BC
is_impossible: no

question: What were Octavian' s agent d'affaires called?
answers: text: Maecenas
is_impossible: no

question: Which leading literary figure often mentioned Virgin in his poetry?
answers: text: Horace
is_impossible: no

question: Who invited Virgil to become part of the circle of Maecenas?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which Roman figure of the time was the most prolific writer?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was Octavian's favorite hobby?
is_impossible: yes

question: What work was Virgil the most proud of?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many poems did Horace write?
is_impossible: yes

question: What problem did Servius have?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is Dante's goal in the Divine Comedy?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is the name of the beautiful woman who Virgil enamoured?
is_impossible: yes
context: Sometime after the publication of the Eclogues (probably before 37 BC), Virgil became part of the circle of Maecenas, Octavian's capable agent d'affaires who sought to counter sympathy for Antony among the leading families by rallying Roman literary figures to Octavian's side. Virgil came to know many of the other leading literary figures of the time, including Horace, in whose poetry he is often mentioned, and Varius Rufus, who later helped finish the Aeneid.

qas: question: Which long didactic hexameter poem did Virgil work on for several years?
answers: text: Georgics
is_impossible: no

question: To whom was Georgics dedicated to?
answers: text: Maecenas
is_impossible: no

question: The theme of Georgics is instruction in the methods of what?
answers: text: running a farm
is_impossible: no

question: Which of Virgil's poet friends committed suicide in 26 BC?
answers: text: Gallus
is_impossible: no

question: Who was Gallus disgraced by?
answers: text: Augustus
is_impossible: no

question: Who discovered how to raise crops?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many poems did Hesiod write?
is_impossible: yes

question: What did the poet Gallus write about most?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was Maecenas' profession?
is_impossible: yes

question: What kind of poems did Hesiod write?
is_impossible: yes

question: When were Virgil's works the most popular?
is_impossible: yes

question: When was the Aeneid published?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many poems did Horace write?
is_impossible: yes
context: At Maecenas' insistence (according to the tradition) Virgil spent the ensuing years (perhaps 37–29 BC) on the long didactic hexameter poem called the Georgics (from Greek, "On Working the Earth") which he dedicated to Maecenas. The ostensible theme of the Georgics is instruction in the methods of running a farm. In handling this theme, Virgil follows in the didactic ("how to") tradition of the Greek poet Hesiod's Works and Days and several works of the later Hellenistic poets. The four books of the Georgics focus respectively on raising crops and trees (1 and 2), livestock and horses (3), and beekeeping and the qualities of bees (4). Well-known passages include the beloved Laus Italiae of Book 2, the prologue description of the temple in Book 3, and the description of the plague at the end of Book 3. Book 4 concludes with a long mythological narrative, in the form of an epyllion which describes vividly the discovery of beekeeping by Aristaeus and the story of Orpheus' journey to the underworld. Ancient scholars, such as Servius, conjectured that the Aristaeus episode replaced, at the emperor's request, a long section in praise of Virgil's friend, the poet Gallus, who was disgraced by Augustus, and who committed suicide in 26 BC.

qas: question: Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra at which battle?
answers: text: Battle of Actium
is_impossible: no

question: When did Octavian return from the Battle of Actium?
answers: text: 31 BC
is_impossible: no

question: Who took turns with Virgil to read the Georgics to Octavian?
answers: text: Maecenas
is_impossible: no

question: When were the Georgics published?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who wrote the Georgics?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where were the Georgics written?
is_impossible: yes

question: What did most of Virgil's writing compose of?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who funded the writing of the Georgics?
is_impossible: yes

question: Besides Virgilius, which other spelling is permitted in modern usage?
is_impossible: yes

question: Why was Virgil called "The Swan of Mantua"?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Phyllis ride Aristotle?
is_impossible: yes
context: The Georgics' tone wavers between optimism and pessimism, sparking critical debate on the poet's intentions, but the work lays the foundations for later didactic poetry. Virgil and Maecenas are said to have taken turns reading the Georgics to Octavian upon his return from defeating Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC.

qas: question: Which of Virgil's works is widely considered his finest?
answers: text: The Aeneid
is_impossible: no

question: Who commissioned the Aeneid according to Propertius?
answers: text: Augustus
is_impossible: no

question: How many books are included in The Aeneid?
answers: text: 12
is_impossible: no

question: Which of Homer's works did the first six books of the Aeneid model after?
answers: text: Odyssey
is_impossible: no

question: Which of Homer's works did the last six books of the Aeneid connect to?
answers: text: Iliad
is_impossible: no

question: How old was Virgil when he died?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which poet published the most work?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who commissioned the Iliad?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which of Homer's works was longer, the Iliad or the Odyssey?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is Virgil's least famous work?
is_impossible: yes

question: Besides Virgilius, which other spelling is permitted in modern usage?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many books did Dante write?
is_impossible: yes
context: The Aeneid is widely considered Virgil's finest work and one of the most important poems in the history of western literature. Virgil worked on the Aeneid during the last eleven years of his life (29–19 BC), commissioned, according to Propertius, by Augustus. The epic poem consists of 12 books in dactylic hexameter verse which describe the journey of Aeneas, a warrior fleeing the sack of Troy, to Italy, his battle with the Italian prince Turnus, and the foundation of a city from which Rome would emerge. The Aeneid's first six books describe the journey of Aeneas from Troy to Rome. Virgil made use of several models in the composition of his epic; Homer, the preeminent author of classical epic, is everywhere present, but Virgil also makes special use of the Latin poet Ennius and the Hellenistic poet Apollonius of Rhodes among the various other writers to which he alludes. Although the Aeneid casts itself firmly into the epic mode, it often seeks to expand the genre by including elements of other genres such as tragedy and aetiological poetry. Ancient commentators noted that Virgil seems to divide the Aeneid into two sections based on the poetry of Homer; the first six books were viewed as employing the Odyssey as a model while the last six were connected to the Iliad.

qas: question: Who is Aeneas' enemy throughout the Aeneid?
answers: text: Juno
is_impossible: no

question: Which queen committed suicide in Book 4 of the Aeneid?
answers: text: Dido
is_impossible: no

question: In which book does Aeneas' father die?
answers: text: 5
is_impossible: no

question: Who reveals Rome's destiny to Aeneas?
answers: text: Anchises
is_impossible: no

question: Who guides Aeneas through the Underworld?
answers: text: Sibyl
is_impossible: no

question: Who is Jupiter's enemy in the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did Aeneas' father die?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many days did Aeneas travel through the underworld?
is_impossible: yes

question: How did Aeneas' wife die?
is_impossible: yes

question: What did Anchises say Rome's destiny was?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was the title of Jean-Baptiste Wicar's artwork inspired by the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes

question: Is Virgil's biographical tradition easily researched or is it problematic?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who commissioned the Iliad?
is_impossible: yes
context: Book 1 (at the head of the Odyssean section) opens with a storm which Juno, Aeneas' enemy throughout the poem, stirs up against the fleet. The storm drives the hero to the coast of Carthage, which historically was Rome's deadliest foe. The queen, Dido, welcomes the ancestor of the Romans, and under the influence of the gods falls deeply in love with him. At a banquet in Book 2, Aeneas tells the story of the sack of Troy, the death of his wife, and his escape, to the enthralled Carthaginians, while in Book 3 he recounts to them his wanderings over the Mediterranean in search of a suitable new home. Jupiter in Book 4 recalls the lingering Aeneas to his duty to found a new city, and he slips away from Carthage, leaving Dido to commit suicide, cursing Aeneas and calling down revenge in a symbolic anticipation of the fierce wars between Carthage and Rome. In Book 5, Aeneas' father Anchises dies and funeral games are celebrated for him. On reaching Cumae, in Italy in Book 6, Aeneas consults the Cumaean Sibyl, who conducts him through the Underworld where Aeneas meets the dead Anchises who reveals Rome's destiny to his son.

qas: question: To whom is Aeneas betrothed?
answers: text: Lavinia
is_impossible: no

question: Which King does Aeneas ally with in Book 8 of the Aeneid?
answers: text: King Evander
is_impossible: no

question: Who had Lavinia already been promised to?
answers: text: Turnus
is_impossible: no

question: Who is roused to war by the Fury Allecto and Amata Lavinia's mother?
answers: text: Turnus
is_impossible: no

question: What is the muse's name?
is_impossible: yes

question: How old was Pallas when he died?
is_impossible: yes

question: How did Camilla die?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many years did the war last?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who promised Lavinia to Turnus?
is_impossible: yes

question: When were Virgil's books the most widely read?
is_impossible: yes

question: When was the Aeneid published?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Lucas van Leyden live?
is_impossible: yes
context: Book 7 (beginning the Iliadic half) opens with an address to the muse and recounts Aeneas' arrival in Italy and betrothal to Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus. Lavinia had already been promised to Turnus, the king of the Rutulians, who is roused to war by the Fury Allecto, and Amata Lavinia's mother. In Book 8, Aeneas allies with King Evander, who occupies the future site of Rome, and is given new armor and a shield depicting Roman history. Book 9 records an assault by Nisus and Euryalus on the Rutulians, Book 10, the death of Evander's young son Pallas, and 11 the death of the Volscian warrior princess Camilla and the decision to settle the war with a duel between Aeneas and Turnus. The Aeneid ends in Book 12 with the taking of Latinus' city, the death of Amata, and Aeneas' defeat and killing of Turnus, whose pleas for mercy are spurned. The final book ends with the image of Turnus' soul lamenting as it flees to the underworld.

qas: question: When did Augustus' victory at Actium against Mark Antony and Ceopatra VII occur?
answers: text: 31 BC
is_impossible: no

question: Who is the protagonist of the Aeneid?
answers: text: Aeneas
is_impossible: no

question: Who is mercilessly slaughtered by Aeneas?
answers: text: Turnus
is_impossible: no

question: Who is the founder of Rome which some scholars see strong associations with Aeneas?
answers: text: Augustus
is_impossible: no

question: When was the Aeneid published?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did Aeneas defeat Turnus?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did Augustus live?
is_impossible: yes

question: How did Augustus fight at Actium?
is_impossible: yes

question: What part of the Aeneid is the longest?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Lucas van Leyden live?
is_impossible: yes

question: What era did Dante write The Divine Comedy in?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who was one of Virgil's most ardent admirers who referenced Virgil in almost every line of his epic?
is_impossible: yes
context: Critics of the Aeneid focus on a variety of issues. The tone of the poem as a whole is a particular matter of debate; some see the poem as ultimately pessimistic and politically subversive to the Augustan regime, while others view it as a celebration of the new imperial dynasty. Virgil makes use of the symbolism of the Augustan regime, and some scholars see strong associations between Augustus and Aeneas, the one as founder and the other as re-founder of Rome. A strong teleology, or drive towards a climax, has been detected in the poem. The Aeneid is full of prophecies about the future of Rome, the deeds of Augustus, his ancestors, and famous Romans, and the Carthaginian Wars; the shield of Aeneas even depicts Augustus' victory at Actium against Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII in 31 BC. A further focus of study is the character of Aeneas. As the protagonist of the poem, Aeneas seems to waver constantly between his emotions and commitment to his prophetic duty to found Rome; critics note the breakdown of Aeneas' emotional control in the last sections of the poem where the "pious" and "righteous" Aeneas mercilessly slaughters Turnus.

qas: question: Which book supposedly caused Augustus' sister to faint?
answers: text: 6
is_impossible: no

question: What was the title of Jean-Baptiste Wicar's artwork inspired by the Aeneid?
answers: text: Virgil Reading the Aeneid
is_impossible: no

question: Who did Virgil recite Books 2, 4, and 6 of the Aeneid to?
answers: text: Augustus
is_impossible: no

question: How many paintings did Jean-Baptiste Wicar base on Virgil's life?
is_impossible: yes

question: Did critics call the painting "Virgil Reading the Aeneid" a great success or a failure?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many poems did Augustus commission from Virgil?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was the name of a scholar that doubted claims that Augustus' sister fainted when Virgil recited the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes

question: What book of the Aeneid is the longest?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who commissioned the Aeneid according to Propertius?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which of Homer's works is longer, the Iliad or Odyssey?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many poems by Virgil still exist today?
is_impossible: yes
context: The Aeneid appears to have been a great success. Virgil is said to have recited Books 2, 4, and 6 to Augustus; and Book 6 apparently caused Augustus' sister Octavia to faint. Although the truth of this claim is subject to scholarly scepticism, it has served as a basis for later art, such as Jean-Baptiste Wicar's Virgil Reading the Aeneid.

qas: question: According to tradition, where did Virgil travel in 19 BC to revise the Aeneid?
answers: text: Greece
is_impossible: no

question: Where did Virgil die?
answers: text: Brundisium harbor
is_impossible: no

question: What date did Virgil die?
answers: text: September 21, 19 BC
is_impossible: no

question: Who were Virgil's literary executors?
answers: text: Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca
is_impossible: no

question: What wish of Virgil's did Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca disregard?
answers: text: the poem be burned
is_impossible: no

question: Where did Augustus die?
is_impossible: yes

question: What date was the Aeneid published?
is_impossible: yes

question: What did Augustus die from?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where was the Aeneid first published?
is_impossible: yes

question: Exactly how many unfinished lines are in the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Phyllis ride Aristotle?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was Phyllis known as?
is_impossible: yes

question: In which of Dante's works was Virgil a guide through Hell and Purgatory?
is_impossible: yes
context: According to the tradition, Virgil traveled to Greece in about 19 BC to revise the Aeneid. After meeting Augustus in Athens and deciding to return home, Virgil caught a fever while visiting a town near Megara. After crossing to Italy by ship, weakened with disease, Virgil died in Brundisium harbor on September 21, 19 BC. Augustus ordered Virgil's literary executors, Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca, to disregard Virgil's own wish that the poem be burned, instead ordering it published with as few editorial changes as possible. As a result, the text of the Aeneid that exists may contain faults which Virgil was planning to correct before publication. However, the only obvious imperfections are a few lines of verse that are metrically unfinished (i.e. not a complete line of dactylic hexameter). Some scholars have argued that Virgil deliberately left these metrically incomplete lines for dramatic effect. Other alleged imperfections are subject to scholarly debate.

qas: question: Who was one of Virgil's most ardent admirers who referenced Virgil in almost every line of his epic?
answers: text: Silius Italicus
is_impossible: no

question: .What was the title of Silius Italicus' epic in which Virgil was referenced in almost every line?
answers: text: Punica
is_impossible: no

question: Who bought Virgil's tomb?
answers: text: Silius
is_impossible: no

question: Which of Virgil's works was later widely interpreted to have predicted the birth of Jesus Christ?
answers: text: Fourth Eclogue
is_impossible: no

question: Which of Virgil's works was the least famous?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who was the first poet to reference Virgil in his work?
is_impossible: yes

question: What era did Statius live in?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who did Silius Italicus buy Virgil's tomb from?
is_impossible: yes

question: When was the 12 book epic Thebaid written?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Virgil's reputation as a great magician begin?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who is the protagonist of the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes

question: What did Virgil write about the most?
is_impossible: yes
context: The works of Virgil almost from the moment of their publication revolutionized Latin poetry. The Eclogues, Georgics, and above all the Aeneid became standard texts in school curricula with which all educated Romans were familiar. Poets following Virgil often refer intertextually to his works to generate meaning in their own poetry. The Augustan poet Ovid parodies the opening lines of the Aeneid in Amores 1.1.1–2, and his summary of the Aeneas story in Book 14 of the Metamorphoses, the so-called "mini-Aeneid", has been viewed as a particularly important example of post-Virgilian response to the epic genre. Lucan's epic, the Bellum Civile has been considered an anti-Virgilian epic, disposing with the divine mechanism, treating historical events, and diverging drastically from Virgilian epic practice. The Flavian poet Statius in his 12-book epic Thebaid engages closely with the poetry of Virgil; in his epilogue he advises his poem not to "rival the divine Aeneid, but follow afar and ever venerate its footsteps." In Silius Italicus, Virgil finds one of his most ardent admirers. With almost every line of his epic Punica Silius references Virgil. Indeed, Silius is known to have bought Virgil's tomb and worshipped the poet. Partially as a result of his so-called "Messianic" Fourth Eclogue—widely interpreted later to have predicted the birth of Jesus Christ—Virgil was in later antiquity imputed to have the magical abilities of a seer; the Sortes Vergilianae, the process of using Virgil's poetry as a tool of divination, is found in the time of Hadrian, and continued into the Middle Ages. In a similar vein Macrobius in the Saturnalia credits the work of Virgil as the embodiment of human knowledge and experience, mirroring the Greek conception of Homer. Virgil also found commentators in antiquity. Servius, a commentator of the 4th century AD, based his work on the commentary of Donatus. Servius' commentary provides us with a great deal of information about Virgil's life, sources, and references; however, many modern scholars find the variable quality of his work and the often simplistic interpretations frustrating.

qas: question: Who cautioned "we ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death"?
answers: text: Gregory of Tours
is_impossible: no

question: Literate men acknowledged Virgil as a master poet despite what empire collapsing?
answers: text: Western Roman
is_impossible: no

question: Did literate men acknowledge Virgil as a master or novice poet?
answers: text: master
is_impossible: no

question: What was Gregory of Tours profession?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did Gregory of Tours live?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who related to the fables in Virgil's work?
is_impossible: yes

question: What language did Gregory of Tours write in?
is_impossible: yes

question: During which time period was Vergilius spelled Virgilius?
is_impossible: yes

question: When were the Georgics published?
is_impossible: yes

question: How did Virgil earn his nickname "Parthenias" or "maiden"?
is_impossible: yes
context: Even as the Western Roman empire collapsed, literate men acknowledged that Virgil was a master poet. Gregory of Tours read Virgil, whom he quotes in several places, along with some other Latin poets, though he cautions that "we ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death."

qas: question: In which of Dante's works was Virgil a guide through Hell and Purgatory?
answers: text: Divine Comedy
is_impossible: no

question: Who was the author of the Divine Comedy?
answers: text: Dante
is_impossible: no

question: Who was Dante's guide through Purgatory and Hell in the Divine Comedy?
answers: text: Virgil
is_impossible: no

question: How many books did Dante write?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who was Dante's favorite author?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was Dante's longest book?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which poet was more famous, Lucan or Statius?
is_impossible: yes

question: When were Virgil's books the most widely read?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who had Lavinia already been promised to?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many paintings did Jean-Baptiste Wicar base on Virgil's life?
is_impossible: yes
context: Dante made Virgil his guide in Hell and the greater part of Purgatory in The Divine Comedy. Dante also mentions Virgil in De vulgari eloquentia, along with Ovid, Lucan and Statius, as one of the four regulati poetae (ii, vi, 7).

qas: question: Which of Virgil's works was said by some to have predicted Jesus' birth?
answers: text: Eclogues 4
is_impossible: no

question: Which religion did some consider Virgil to have heralded in?
answers: text: Christianity
is_impossible: no

question: During which time period did Virgil's reputation inspire legends associating him with magic and prophecy?
answers: text: Middle Ages
is_impossible: no

question: What did Virgil write about the most?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who was the first to predict Jesus's birth?
is_impossible: yes

question: What religion did Virgil follow?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Virgil predict Jesus would be born?
is_impossible: yes

question: When was the Oxford guide to style written?
is_impossible: yes

question: When were Virgil's books the most widely read?
is_impossible: yes

question: What is the name of Homer's most famous epic?
is_impossible: yes
context: In the Middle Ages, Virgil's reputation was such that it inspired legends associating him with magic and prophecy. From at least the 3rd century, Christian thinkers interpreted Eclogues 4, which describes the birth of a boy ushering in a golden age, as a prediction of Jesus' birth. As such, Virgil came to be seen on a similar level as the Hebrew prophets of the Bible as one who had heralded Christianity.

qas: question: Where did the tradition start which regarded Virgil as a great magician?
answers: text: Naples
is_impossible: no

question: How long did legends of Virgil's magical powers remain popular?
answers: text: over two hundred years
is_impossible: no

question: What is the modern Welsh word for phramacist?
answers: text: fferyllydd
is_impossible: no

question: Where did Virgil's name become a generic term for magic-worker?
answers: text: medieval Wales
is_impossible: no

question: When did Virgil's reputation as a great magician begin?
answers: text: 12th century
is_impossible: no

question: Where did the tradition of seeing Virgil as a great magician last the longest?
is_impossible: yes

question: How long did it take for the legends of Virgil's magic powers to spread through Europe?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did Virgil write his poetry?
is_impossible: yes

question: What part of the world did Virgil write the most about?
is_impossible: yes

question: When were Virgil's works the most popular?
is_impossible: yes

question: During which period was Vigil a poet?
is_impossible: yes

question: What country was the Oxford guide to style written in?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was the name of a scholar that doubted claims that Augustus' sister fainted when Virgil recited the Aeneid?
is_impossible: yes
context: Possibly as early as the second century AD, Virgil's works were seen as having magical properties and were used for divination. In what became known as the Sortes Vergilianae (Virgilian Lots), passages would be selected at random and interpreted to answer questions. In the 12th century, starting around Naples but eventually spreading widely throughout Europe, a tradition developed in which Virgil was regarded as a great magician. Legends about Virgil and his magical powers remained popular for over two hundred years, arguably becoming as prominent as his writings themselves. Virgil's legacy in medieval Wales was such that the Welsh version of his name, Fferyllt or Pheryllt, became a generic term for magic-worker, and survives in the modern Welsh word for pharmacist, fferyllydd.

qas: question: During which time period did the legend of Virgil in his Basket arise?
answers: text: Middle Ages
is_impossible: no

question: What is the name of the beautiful woman who Virgil enamoured?
answers: text: Lucretia
is_impossible: no

question: Which story did Virgil being left halfway in basket parallel?
answers: text: Phyllis riding Aristotle
is_impossible: no

question: Which artist made a woodcut and later an engraving of Virgil and his basket?
answers: text: Lucas van Leyden
is_impossible: no

question: When did Lucas van Leyden live?
is_impossible: yes

question: What was Phyllis known as?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who was one of the writers who wrote about Virgil in his Basket?
is_impossible: yes

question: What form of art did the most artists use to depict Virgil in his Basket?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Phyllis ride Aristotle?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which book supposedly caused Augustus' sister to faint?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Virgil predict Jesus would be born?
is_impossible: yes

question: How many books did Dante write?
is_impossible: yes
context: The legend of Virgil in his Basket arose in the Middle Ages, and is often seen in art and mentioned in literature as part of the Power of Women literary topos, demonstrating the disruptive force of female attractiveness on men. In this story Virgil became enamoured of a beautiful woman, sometimes described as the emperor's daughter or mistress and called Lucretia. She played him along and agreed to an assignation at her house, which he was to sneak into at night by climbing into a large basket let down from a window. When he did so he was only hoisted halfway up the wall and then left him trapped there into the next day, exposed to public ridicule. The story paralleled that of Phyllis riding Aristotle. Among other artists depicting the scene, Lucas van Leyden made a woodcut and later an engraving.

qas: question: During which time period did Virgil's name become associated with miraclous powers?
answers: text: Middle Ages
is_impossible: no

question: In which district is "Virgil's tomb" located?
answers: text: Piedigrotta
is_impossible: no

question: What is the entrance of the ancient Roman tunnel where "Virgil's tomb" is located also called?
answers: text: grotta vecchia
is_impossible: no

question: Where did Virgil die?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did pilgrims pass through on the way to Virgil's tomb?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did most of the pilgrims come from?
is_impossible: yes

question: When were Virgil's books the most widely read?
is_impossible: yes

question: When did Virgil publish his last poem?
is_impossible: yes

question: Where did the tradition start which regarded Virgil as a great magician?
is_impossible: yes

question: What part of the Aeneid is the longest?
is_impossible: yes
context: The structure known as "Virgil's tomb" is found at the entrance of an ancient Roman tunnel (also known as "grotta vecchia") in Piedigrotta, a district two miles from the centre of Naples, near the Mergellina harbor, on the road heading north along the coast to Pozzuoli. While Virgil was already the object of literary admiration and veneration before his death, in the Middle Ages his name became associated with miraculous powers, and for a couple of centuries his tomb was the destination of pilgrimages and veneration.

qas: question: Besides Virgilius, which other spelling is permitted in modern usage?
answers: text: Vergilius
is_impossible: no

question: During which time period was Vergilius spelled Virgilius?
answers: text: Late Empire and Middle Ages
is_impossible: no

question: In what century did some German-trained classicists in the US suggest modifying the common usage to Vergil?
answers: text: 19th
is_impossible: no

question: Which style guide recommends using Vergilius to avoid confusion with Virgilius Maro Grammaticus?
answers: text: Oxford
is_impossible: no

question: Why was Virgil called "The Swan of Mantua"?
is_impossible: yes

question: Who attributed magical powers to Virgil in the middle ages?
is_impossible: yes

question: When was the Oxford guide to style written?
is_impossible: yes

question: What language was the Oxford guide to style originally written in?
is_impossible: yes

question: What country was the Oxford guide to style written in?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which short narrative poem was attributed to Virgil as early as the 1st century AD?
is_impossible: yes

question: What era did Statius live in?
is_impossible: yes

question: Which long didactic hexameter poem did Virgil work on for several years?
is_impossible: yes
context: In the Late Empire and Middle Ages Vergilius was spelled Virgilius. Two explanations are commonly given for this alteration. One deduces a false etymology associated with the word virgo ("maiden" in Latin) due to Virgil's excessive, "maiden"-like modesty. Alternatively, some argue that Vergilius was altered to Virgilius by analogy with the Latin virga ("wand") due to the magical or prophetic powers attributed to Virgil in the Middle Ages (this explanation is found in only a handful of manuscripts, however, and was probably not widespread). In Norman schools (following the French practice), the habit was to anglicize Latin names by dropping their Latin endings, hence Virgil. In the 19th century, some German-trained classicists in the United States suggested modification to Vergil, as it is closer to his original name, and is also the traditional German spelling.[citation needed] Modern usage permits both, though the Oxford guide to style recommends Vergilius to avoid confusion with the 8th-century grammarian Virgilius Maro Grammaticus. Some post-Renaissance writers liked to affect the sobriquet "The Swan of Mantua".[citation needed]