[Sidenote: Mæcenas.] But of all the patrons of literature under Augustus, the most distinguished was Gaius Mæcenas, the friend of Augustus, of Virgil, and of Horace. He was born about 70 B. C., and died in 8 B. C. A member of an ancient and noble Etruscan family, he had been carefully educated, and developed the most refined literary taste. His attractive and winning personality made him of great service to Octavius in his negotiations with Antony and Sextus Pompey, and after the power of Augustus was established Mæcenas was the close friend and constant adviser of the emperor. In spite of his fine literary taste, he was without talent as a writer, and his works, both prose and verse, were severely criticized by his contemporaries and by later readers. It is little to be regretted that his writings, like those of the other patrons of literature who have been mentioned, are lost. And yet the name of Mæcenas will always occupy an honored place in the history of literature, for it was he who made possible the poems of Virgil and Horace. [Sidenote: Virgil.] The greatest of Roman poets is Virgil. Publius Vergilius Maro was born of humble parents, at Andes, a village in the territory of Mantua, October 15, 70 B. C. His parents can not have been poor, for they gave him a good education, first at Cremona, then at Milan, and later at Rome. He was trained chiefly in rhetoric and philosophy, but the only teacher whose influence seems to have been lasting was the Epicurean philosopher Siro. For oratory Virgil developed no taste. After the battle of Philippi (42 B. C.) the triumvirs recompensed their veterans by a distribution of farm lands, and Virgil’s farm was given to a new owner. At that time Asinius Pollio, who had admired Virgil’s poetry and had encouraged him to write the _Bucolics_ or _Eclogues_, was governor of the region beyond the Po, and through his influence the poet was reinstated in his property. But in the following summer a new distribution of lands was made, and Pollio was no longer governor of the province. Virgil was dispossessed, and had to take refuge at the villa of his teacher Siro. Through the influence of Cornelius Gallus and Mæcenas, Augustus was led to recompense the poet for his loss, and from this time Virgil was in close relations to the imperial circle. Hereafter he lived at Rome and on an estate near Naples, which he received from Augustus.