Introduction

Abstract The Introduction begins by explaining the aim, methodology, and scope of the volume and its examination of Vergilian experimentation with elegy in the Aeneid. A portrait of Vergil’s artistic milieu describes the profound influence of other ancient Greek and Roman authors and works on his conception of amor and his engagement with elegiac verse throughout his poetic career. A preliminary survey of Vergil’s elegiac experimentation in the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid 1–6, including a close examination of illustrative passages, operates on three foundational levels: it specifies conventional elegiac language and motifs that are crucial to Vergil’s intergeneric interplay; it elucidates his tendency to utilize amatory and funerary elegiac elements to depict amor as a dangerous and destructive force; and it identifies pivotal inter- and intratextual comparanda that are returned to and expanded upon throughout the chapters that focus on Aeneid 7–12.