The Eclogues, also called the Bucolics, are ten short pastoral poems written in Latin. They present shepherds who sing, argue, court one another and lament in a idealised countryside, often in contests of song.
Beneath the rural surface, the poems touch on real troubles of Virgil's time, including land seizures after civil war and the pain of exile. One poem, the fourth, has a mysterious prophecy of a child who will bring a golden age. The collection set the pattern for pastoral poetry in Europe and made Virgil's name as a poet.
Quotes
Now the last age by Cumae's Sibyl sung Has come and gone, and the majestic roll Of circling centuries begins anew: