romikgosai/squad_modified huggingface dataset:
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.

Questions and answers:
["
Q: Who was Virgil's editor?
A: Varius", "
Q: Whose two commentaries were incorporated into Virgil's biography by Suetonius?
A: Servius and Donatus", '
Q: What do the comentaries rely on for some of their information about Virgil?
A: inferences made from his poetry and allegorizing', "
Q: Is Virgil's biographical tradition easily researched or is it problematic?
A: problematic"]
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.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: In which village does tradition believe Virgil was born?
A: Andes', '
Q: In which cities did Virgil attend schools?
A: Cremona, Mediolanum, Rome and Naples', '
Q: What other career did Virgil consider?
A: rhetoric and law', '
Q: Which type of family do scholars generally believe Virgil belonged to?
A: equestrian landowning', "
Q: Does Macrobius believe Virgil's father came from a distinguished or humble background?
A: humble"]
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.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Which three studies did Virgil abandon for philosophy?
A: rhetoric, medicine, and astronomy', '
Q: How was Virgil regarded socially by his schoolmates?
A: extremely shy and reserved', "
Q: What was Virgil's nickname?
A: Parthenias", '
Q: How did Virgil earn his nickname "Parthenias" or "maiden"?
A: social aloofness', '
Q: Which short narrative poem was attributed to Virgil as early as the 1st century AD?
A: the Culex']
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.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Which Hellenistic poet was known for bucolic hexameter poetry?
A: Theocritus', '
Q: Who tried to pay off veterans with land, some of which possibly belonged to Virgil?
A: Octavian', "
Q: Virgil's loss of his famiyl farm and the attempt to regain his property though poetry was the inferred motive for which work?
A: Eclogues", '
Q: To whom was Eclogue 4 addressed to?
A: Asinius Pollio', '
Q: Which Eclogues discusses homosexual love?
A: Ecl. 2']
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.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Who helped finish the Aeneid?
A: Varius Rufus', '
Q: When where the Eclogues likely published?
A: before 37 BC', "
Q: What were Octavian' s agent d'affaires called?
A: Maecenas", '
Q: Which leading literary figure often mentioned Virgin in his poetry?
A: Horace']
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.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Which long didactic hexameter poem did Virgil work on for several years?
A: Georgics', '
Q: To whom was Georgics dedicated to?
A: Maecenas', '
Q: The theme of Georgics is instruction in the methods of what?
A: running a farm', "
Q: Which of Virgil's poet friends committed suicide in 26 BC?
A: Gallus", '
Q: Who was Gallus disgraced by?
A: Augustus']
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.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Octavian defeated Antony and Cleopatra at which battle?
A: Battle of Actium', '
Q: When did Octavian return from the Battle of Actium?
A: 31 BC', '
Q: Who took turns with Virgil to read the Georgics to Octavian?
A: Maecenas']
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.

Questions and answers:
["
Q: Which of Virgil's works is widely considered his finest?
A: The Aeneid", '
Q: Who commissioned the Aeneid according to Propertius?
A: Augustus', '
Q: How many books are included in The Aeneid?
A: 12', "
Q: Which of Homer's works did the first six books of the Aeneid model after?
A: Odyssey", "
Q: Which of Homer's works did the last six books of the Aeneid connect to?
A: Iliad"]
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.

Questions and answers:
["
Q: Who is Aeneas' enemy throughout the Aeneid?
A: Juno", '
Q: Which queen committed suicide in Book 4 of the Aeneid?
A: Dido', "
Q: In which book does Aeneas' father die?
A: 5", "
Q: Who reveals Rome's destiny to Aeneas?
A: Anchises", '
Q: Who guides Aeneas through the Underworld?
A: Sibyl']
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.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: To whom is Aeneas betrothed?
A: Lavinia', '
Q: Which King does Aeneas ally with in Book 8 of the Aeneid?
A: King Evander', '
Q: Who had Lavinia already been promised to?
A: Turnus', "
Q: Who is roused to war by the Fury Allecto and Amata Lavinia's mother?
A: Turnus"]
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.

Questions and answers:
["
Q: When did Augustus' victory at Actium against Mark Antony and Ceopatra VII occur?
A: 31 BC", '
Q: Who is the protagonist of the Aeneid?
A: Aeneas', '
Q: Who is mercilessly slaughtered by Aeneas?
A: Turnus', '
Q: Who is the founder of Rome which some scholars see strong associations with Aeneas?
A: Augustus']
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.

Questions and answers:
["
Q: Which book supposedly caused Augustus' sister to faint?
A: 6", "
Q: What was the title of Jean-Baptiste Wicar's artwork inspired by the Aeneid?
A: Virgil Reading the Aeneid", '
Q: Who did Virgil recite Books 2, 4, and 6 of the Aeneid to?
A: Augustus']
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.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: According to tradition, where did Virgil travel in 19 BC to revise the Aeneid?
A: Greece', '
Q: Where did Virgil die?
A: Brundisium harbor', '
Q: What date did Virgil die?
A: September 21, 19 BC', "
Q: Who were Virgil's literary executors?
A: Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca", "
Q: What wish of Virgil's did Lucius Varius Rufus and Plotius Tucca disregard?
A: the poem be burned"]
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.

Questions and answers:
["
Q: Who was one of Virgil's most ardent admirers who referenced Virgil in almost every line of his epic?
A: Silius Italicus", "
Q: .What was the title of Silius Italicus' epic in which Virgil was referenced in almost every line?
A: Punica", "
Q: Who bought Virgil's tomb?
A: Silius", "
Q: Which of Virgil's works was later widely interpreted to have predicted the birth of Jesus Christ?
A: Fourth Eclogue"]
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."

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Who cautioned "we ought not to relate their lying fables, lest we fall under sentence of eternal death"?
A: Gregory of Tours', '
Q: Literate men acknowledged Virgil as a master poet despite what empire collapsing?
A: Western Roman', '
Q: Did literate men acknowledge Virgil as a master or novice poet?
A: master']
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).

Questions and answers:
["
Q: In which of Dante's works was Virgil a guide through Hell and Purgatory?
A: Divine Comedy", '
Q: Who was the author of the Divine Comedy?
A: Dante', "
Q: Who was Dante's guide through Purgatory and Hell in the Divine Comedy?
A: Virgil"]
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.

Questions and answers:
["
Q: Which of Virgil's works was said by some to have predicted Jesus' birth?
A: Eclogues 4", '
Q: Which religion did some consider Virgil to have heralded in?
A: Christianity', "
Q: During which time period did Virgil's reputation inspire legends associating him with magic and prophecy?
A: Middle Ages"]
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.

Questions and answers:
['
Q: Where did the tradition start which regarded Virgil as a great magician?
A: Naples', "
Q: How long did legends of Virgil's magical powers remain popular?
A: over two hundred years", '
Q: What is the modern Welsh word for phramacist?
A: fferyllydd', "
Q: Where did Virgil's name become a generic term for magic-worker?
A: medieval Wales", "
Q: When did Virgil's reputation as a great magician begin?
A: 12th century"]