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Aristocracy And Agriculture: How Vergil’S "Georgics" Inspired A Wave Of Agrarianism And Imperialism, Isabel M. Lickey

Young Historians Conference

Georgics, written by Vergil in 29 B.C., though on its surface about labor and agricultural, uncovered deeper thought about the politics of its time period. When a prominent English poet, John Dryden, translated the Georgics in 1697, it had a profound effect upon English society. It soared to popularity, and introduced the field of agrarian science to the upper class, while at the same time inspiring a wave of similar agricultural poems. At the same, time, the ideas extolled in the Georgics about the necessity of labour to make land purposeful helped justify British colonization of America. Though Georgics was …