On the Noric plague of Virgil’s Third Georgic
Taro Yamashita
In Virgil’s Georgics, there are several themes which seem to contradict each other. At the end of Book 3, the tragic account of suffering and death is expressed in contrast with the optimism shown at the end of Book 2 and with the happy picture of Stoic providence which dominates the Georgics as a whole: in the epilogue of Book 3, the poet doubts the value of “labor” and “benefacta,” while in Book 2, these values are emphasized as the key to Roman development and glory. In this paper, I will analyze the influence of Lucretius on both epilogues to clarify the higher synthesis Virgil had in mind.