I, Virgil

by David Wishart

Publius Vergilius, known as Virgil, was born in a ditch near Mantua. Not always a heroic figure, Virgil was a scholar, visionary and author of the epic, "The Aeneid". This bawdy tragi-comedy is the tale of a brilliant man struggling to follow his muse in a turbulent period of history.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Roman

337 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Historical crime writer David Wishart was born in Arbroath, Scotland. He studied Classics - Latin and Greek - at Edinburgh University and after graduation taught for four years in a secondary school.

He then retrained as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language and worked abroad for eleven years, in Kuwait, Greece and Saudi Arabia. He returned to Scotland in 1990 and now lives with his family in Carnoustie, mixing writing with teaching EFL and study skills at Dundee University.

Reviews

[Clemens Schoonderwoert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book in 2006, and its a standalone book about "Publius Vergilius Maro or commonly known as Virgil" by the Scottish scholar/author, David Wishart.

Its a grand tale of man born in a ditch near a place called Mantua, and who will become one of the greatest poets of at least the Roman times.

This same Virgil was a scholar, not a military man, and the author of the epic "The Aeneid", in which at the end he'll will describe figuratively his own death at the hand of another person, in reality being Octavian.

This will happen by poisoning by Octavian/Augustus, as he's known as first Emperor, during their sea-voyage from Greece to Brindisi, and during this time Virgil will complete his epic work "The Aeneid", and the pragmatist Octavian is, he will kill everybody that stands in his way to fame and power as Emperor of Rome.

What is to follow is a wonderful and intriguing tale of one of the greatest poets, Virgil, who after completing his most famous work is secretly assassinated by Octavian from the Republic, and who will recalled as a hero for Rome by that same man who will become the first Emperor of Rome, Augustus.

Highly recommended, for this is a sublime standalone tale about Rome's greatest poet, Virgil, and that's why I like to call this book: "A Beautifully Told Virgil "Autobiography"!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fictional memoir of the Roman poet Virgil. Quite fascinating and thought-provoking, the novel emphasizes Wishart's thesis that, as he puts it: "the last dozen lines of the Aeneid -- where Aeneas kills Turnus -- [are] filled with 'negative imagery' which "taken at face value pulls the plug on the whole poem." I consider this statement to mean 'unflattering to Augustus.' The novel recounts Virgil's life from boyhood to his final journey to Brindisi and pleas to burn the Aeneid manuscript before his death.

All through the novel Virgil excoriates Augustus [called herein by his real name Octavian] for what Virgil considers the latter's cowardice, moral ambivalence, opportunism, manipulation of people and events to suit himself, and duplicity. The story provides us with many examples both politically and from Virgil's own personal experience and ill treatment of family and friends. Virgil is sucked into becoming Augustus's "court poet" by Maecenas, Augustus's master of propaganda. Loathing of Augustus comes out in some parts of the Aeneid. Virgil feels he is himself hypocritical, although he tries to write honestly. If people read the epic with nothing in mind other than surface narrative, they will miss hidden meanings and allusions he tells us.

Characters were fleshed out, especially the sympathetic Virgil. The story was believable. History was based on Aetius Donatus, the historian; but Virgil's personal life other than historical record was the author's creation. The novel was well written, but there were a few of Wishart's verbal curiosities. These occur in all his novels: e.g.,

Market Square=Forum;
mantle=toga or stola as appropriate;
Winter Festival=Saturnalia;
Cattle-market Square=Forum Boarium.

This novel is certainly worth reading and thoughtful.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mehercule, what a depressing read, on more than one level. I need to stop buying books just because they have a historical figure I like in them.
Anyway. I, Virgil, is an autobiographical novel told from the perspective of Publius Vergilius Maro (hereafter referred to as Vergil, since I can never remember to spell his name the more commonly Anglicized way), the famous poet of the Aeneid. It is based off of the ancient biography of Vergil written by Donatus, which has the potential to make an interesting read. Unfortunately, David Wishart is from that unremarkably edgy school of thought that Vergil hated Augustus and that Augustus forced the poets of the day to compose songs in praise of his reign.

In fact, "unremarkably edgy" is a good description for the entire book. From the beginning, when a young Vergil murders his brother out of jealousy, to the end, where it is revealed that Vergil's death was the result of Augustus poisoning him after finding out that the Aeneid is actually critical of the Augustan regime. Many of the characters are unlikable, even Vergil, a character whom all of our sources report was a gentle soul who actually rather liked Augustus. Reading this book, I'm reminded of my high school years, when I thought myself very clever for thinking that Vergil must have hated Augustus. And don't even get me started on the way Wishart handles some of the aspects of Vergil's personal life, such as the fact that he was more romantically interested in men than women. Overall, an overwrought story that barely preserves any of the charm of what the ancient sources tell us Vergil was like. There were a few amusing scenes, for which I gave the book two stars. But other than the occasional respite from the edginess, I wouldn't bother with this one.

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seriously think this is one of the best books I have ever read.
It is an amazing mix of alleged-fact and plausible-fiction, utterly believable, it gets into your mind and broods there. I'd very much recommend it if you're also reading the Aeneid and wondering about those verses which might not be quite so praising to Augustus!

[Dani Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I, Virgil was quite a different novel from Wishart than I've read in along time. It is quite clear from this story that not only is Wishart very skilled at his historical research and presentation but a talented, versatile author. I have read much of the Marcus Corvinus series and several of his off shoots, most recently 'The Horse Coin,' and I am continuously surprised by the depth of Wishart's skill.

What is unique about Virgil's tale, is that Wishart plays the part extremely well. Wishart writes as a poet, I was surprised at his skill in writing in literary examples I would expect from someone like Virgil. The character is introspective and emotional, and at constant conflict with what he wishes to see verse what is. After reading many from Marcus Corvinus, where Wishart is light and funny . . . 'The Horse Coin,' where Wishart is militaristic and unfeeling. . . to his portrayal of Virgil is quite amazing.

I would recommend this story to any lover of historical fiction, or would like to see life through Virgil's eyes. Wishart is story teller.

[Vicki Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Virgil, the author of The Aeneid, tells the story of his life as he's dying, having been poisoned at the instruction of Emperor Augustus, aka Octavian. He's led an interesting life, having studied philosophy and poetry, and has finally come to the attention of Maecenas, one of Octavian's influential friends. Interestingly, their meeting happens about 3/4 of the way into the book, and the actual meeting with Octavian comes even later. Octavian needs him to write an epic poem which will promote the idea that Octavian has saved Rome for decades into the future, hence The Aeneid. Virgil puts a bit at the end of the work which subtly undermines the project. I like seeing the events of the fall of the Republic from a distance, through the eyes of a non-political person.

[Evander · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. The author has an interesting theory. I think you get something else from this book if you have knowledge of Classics - I feel there's a lot that unknowing people would perhaps miss. Still, it explains enough of the historical events for those who don't know about them - First and Second Triumvirate, Battle of Actium and so on - but it's concise enough with the background that I didn't sit there thinking "Hurry up, I know all these details already".

[Sekhar N Banerjee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read

The book portrayed a good historical context on the times of Virgil. The story gets a title tiring at times, author's explanation at the end is however very educative.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

First person novel written as autobiography. I do not recommend - somewhat of a downer.

[Steve Pillinger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh, no, no, no. This isn't what I was looking for when I bought this book! Instead of a breezy classical comedy-cum-mystery I get a dull, stodgy ultra-literary rehash of Roman history. At least, that's what it felt like after reading 5% of the book, which is as far as I got before wearily laying it aside. This is Wishart the Latin schoolmaster indulging himself, not Wishart the comic novelist entertaining his readers…