This is John Batchel, a conversation with Professor Rob Nadelson about Virgil, the Roman poet Virgil, born 70 BCE, died 19 BCE, a contemporary of the great civil war, fought between Caesar and Pompey, and then after Caesar's assassination, the civil war between Marcus

Antony and others leading to Mark Anthony challenging Octavian, who becomes Augustus.

All of that is in Virgil's lifetime, and he writes about it poetically.

What I am amazed to learn from the professor is that Virgil's work, the ECLogs, the Georgics,

and the Aeneid were favorites to be quoted by the founders of the American Revolution.

In letters, in Latin, commonplaceedly, sayings in phrases borrowed from Virgil or adapted from Virgil,

paraphrase from Virgil, including on the dollar bill, two on the back, one on the front.

Here's the professor to explain what a surprise this is.

Much more of this tonight.

Virgil, the poet, and the revolutionaries of the late 18th century, the USA.

Well, you're absolutely right that he did not follow the normal career of a Roman statesman.

I mean, we think of Julius Caesar winning battles over the Gauls and Cicero winning battles in the Senate.

That was not Virgil.

Virgil got his fame from being a poet, and he got that fame

during his lifetime. He became extremely popular in his lifetime. And you're right, it was part of

the founder's education. In those days, if you had any hope of eventually being well educated,

you started studying Latin and the Latin and Greek

classics about age eight. They were, along with the Bible, central pillars of the curriculum.

And while the founders read other poets and studied statesmen as well, Virgil was one of

their very favorites.