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This work by William Young Sellar (1825-1890) was first published in 1877, when Sellar was well established as Professor of Humanity at the University of Edinburgh. It is a companion volume to his equally acclaimed Roman Poets of the Republic and the later continuation Horace and the Elegaic Poets, all three of which remain of value to scholars today. The book's ten chapters give an overview of the Augustan Age and Virgil's life and work in context (chapters 1-3), then moving to the Eclogues (chapter 4) and the Georgics (chapters 5-7), before devoting the remaining chapters to the Aeneid. A detailed table of contents allows the reader to navigate between analysis of the historical context, Virgil's literary forms and motives, and general literary interpretation. This work is both a meticulous work of scholarship, and, as the affectionate dedication shows, a tribute to the author's passion for his subject.

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William Young Sellar (1825-1890) was a classical scholar who specialised in the study of Roman poetry. After graduating from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1843 he held assistant professorships in various universities before being appointed Professor of Humanities at Edinburgh University in 1863, a post which he held until his death. This volume, first published posthumously in 1891, discusses the forms and development of Roman poetry in the reign of Augustus (43 BCE-14 CE); it was intended as a companion to his 1877 book on Virgil, also reissued in this series. Sellar provides a detailed discussion of Horace's many literary styles in their historical context, discusses the development of Roman elegy from early Greek forms, and analyses the works of Ovid in detail. Sellar's meticulous interpretations led to this volume becoming the standard authority on the development of Roman poetry in the early Roman Empire.