Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-297).

Modern studies of Virgil's Georgics have begun with the assumption that the poem is an exposition or, more recently, an idealization of rustic life and that the contrasting perspectives in it must all be shown to contribute to a single vision of that life if the poem is to be viewed as a coherent unity. The present study begins with the quite different assumption that we must accept inconsistencies in the Georgics as real, because the poem is a series of meditations upon quite different visions of rustic life and their implications for understanding the human condition and the nature of civilization. Mr. Miles discusses the poem as an assessment of conflicting efforts by contemporary Romans to find an answer or an alternative to the disruptions of the Late Republic in idealizations of country life and of Rome's agrarian past. -- Front book jacket flap.

SACFinal081324