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Labor in Virgil’s “Georgics”

https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2022-6-114-129

Abstract

The paper considers the concept of labor in Vergil’s “Georgics” in different contexts from labor improbus of Book I to the myth of Aristaeus and Orpheus and labor of the poet himself. It is supposed that along with labor improbus which goes against the world order, brings suffering, and is often fruitless, there is another labor – labor probus. The agricultural labor of Books I and III is hard and often hopeless, and Orpheus lost his wife because his furor ruined him. But the labor of bees, Aristaeus and Senex Corycius is in harmony with the world and the gods, and this labor is not in waste. Bees are not lost irretrievably, Aristaeus following his mothers orders brought back the bees he had lost, and the Corycian garden is full of fruits. Granted the gods’ benevolence and patron’s protection, man of the poem “Georgics” can hope that his labor does not go to waste. That is how the poet also treats his work – the poem

About the Author

O. V. Sharshukova
Russian State University for the Humanities
Russian Federation

Ol’ga V. Sharshukova, postgraduate student

bld. 6, Miusskaya Square, Moscow, 125047

 


References

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Review

For citations:


Sharshukova O.V. Labor in Virgil’s “Georgics”. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2022;(6):114-129. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2022-6-114-129

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ISSN 2073-6355 (Print)