Publius Vergilius Maro, the friend of the Emperor Augustus and the greatest poet the Roman Empire, was born in humble surroundings in 70 BCE on a farm near Mantua in Northern Italy. Despite their poor status his family managed to send him to school in Cremona, Milan, and Rome. While Virgil never took part in any of the Civil Wars as a soldier, he suffered severely from the results of the wars. His father’s farm was confiscated by the Triumvirs for the purpose of bestowing grants of land to their soldiers. Virgil succeeded in having the lands restored only through the personal intervention of Octavian, the future emperor with whom he was already acquainted. But a change of governors deprived him of Octavian’s protection, and Virgil was forced to desert his land in peril of death, escaping only by swimming the river Mincio.
Virgil drifted south to Rome where he quickly gained a reputation as a poet and writer. He was also very successful at landing influential friends and wealthy benefactors and he became the possessor of a large fortune,
 Virgil’s first major work The “Eclogues” had been finished in 37 BCE, and he published his great poem on farming, the “Georgics” in 30 BCE.
The “Georgics” established Virgil as the chief poet of his time. Yet his greatest work was still to come. As the Civil Wars came to a close and Octavian became the Emperor Augustus Virgil found himself able to concentrate on the poem for which he became famous and the poem that was to express the national ideals of the new imperial empire. After 11 years of writing, Virgil had finished the “Aeneid,” and planned to devote three more to its final revision. But after returning from Athens with Augustus in 19 BCE, he was seized with illness and died. He was buried at Naples, where his tomb was long a place of religious pilgrimage.  
“The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” have tended to be more popular in the modern era and "The Aeneid" has slipped in modern popularity. But for nearly two thousand years, The Aeneid has been one of the most powerful works in European culture and Virgil regarded as one of the greatest poets in history.
The poetry of Virgil has proven difficult to translate. The 17th century English writer Dryden still remains practically without a rival as the best translator of Virgil’s epic poem.

The book is divided into 12 books and details the voyage of Aeneas and his band of Trojans as they escaped the Greek destruction of Troy and embarked upon a tumultuous journey that takes them eventually to Italy where they founded the city that will become Rome.
“Arms and The Man” is perhaps one of the most famous opening lines in literature giving a hint that the principal theme of the epic is conflict -- Aeneas and Jupiter are reason in opposition to Dido and Juno who represent irrationality, emotion and anger; the Trojans are in conflict to all; action is opposition to inaction; fate versus free will. It is interesting that after detailing the importance of piety, duty and rationality throughout the poem the in the final line of the epic is one of fury overtaking reason.
The book also gives the Romans an epic history that fictionalizes the birth of the Roman state in blood and battle and reinforces the divine path for the Roman state.
In Book 1, Aeneas is shipwrecked on the coast of North Africa, near where Dido, a young Phoenician queen - herself a refugee from her homeland - is building a city which will become Carthage. Aeneas, has been wandering in search of a new land in the west, having escaped the sack of Troy. A prophesy said he shall establish a race whose destiny is to rule the world in peace and prosperity. The people are the Romans, and Aeneas' mission comes from Jupiter, king of gods and men. Unfortunately, Juno, queen of heaven, is set on thwarting Aeneas - because she knows that Rome is destined to destroy Carthage, her own favorite city. But Aeneas and Dido meet - and she falls hopelessly in love.
Dido begs Aeneas to tell her his story. He relates the story of the building of the wooden horse, and details the final hours of Troy, the murder of Priam and his battling escape. He questions the will of the Gods who are allowing the city to be destroyed. Why didn’t they allow him to die fighting heroically? But during the fight in the city, the ghost of his wife Creüsa who had been killed earlier in the final assault tells him about a western land where he is destined to find a new bride. It is now that Aeneas understands his fate and he makes his escape with his close friends and father.
In Book 3, Aeneas continues with his adventures - his fruitless search for his promised land all over the Mediterranean, the death of his father Anchises and Juno's storms that brought them to Carthage.
Dido had sworn never to get involved with a man again, after the murder of her husband. But she is helpless in falling in love. Aeneas is torn between fulfilling his destiny or staying with Dido, whom he is also falling in love with. But he chooses destiny and as his fleet sails, Dido commits suicide. Before dying, she predicts eternal strife between Aeneas's people and hers; "rise up from my bones, avenging spirit"  is an obvious invocation to Hannibal. Looking back from the deck of his ship, Aeneas sees Dido's funeral pyre's smoke and knows its meaning only too clearly.
Aeneas returns to Sicily - where he celebrates the anniversary of his father's death with games. But Juno continues to try and thwart the prophesy - she makes the Trojan women, who are tired of the endless sailing set fire to the ships. Many of the ships are saved, but Aeneas decides to press on to Italy with a leaner force made up of only those who wish to continue fighting.
Aeneas visits the Underworld in Book 6 and speaks with the spirit of his father and has a prophetic vision of the destiny of Rome. Returning to the land of the living, he leads the Trojans to settle in the land of Latium, where he courts Lavinia, the daughter of king Latinus.
Once Lavinia is offered  to Aeneas, her other suitor, Turnus of the Rutulians vows to go to war with the foreigners.Aeneas is reluctant to fight his new hosts, but is promised help by Evander, a Greek whose capital is on the future site of Rome. Venus asks Vulcan for new armour for Aeneas for the coming battles. A shield is decorated with scenes from the future history of Rome, right down to the Battle of Actium, where Virgil’s friend Augustus had recently defeated Anthony and Cleopatra.
The remaining three books detail the battles between the Trojans and the Italian tribes who rise up against them. Many Trojans and Italians are killed. Evander’s son Pallas has become a favourite of Aeneas but he is killed leading a raid against the Rutullians. Finally Aeneas and Turnus agree to fight a single combat duel to decide the future. Aeneas wins the battle and is about to spare Turnus’ life, until he sees Pallas’ belt around the Rutulian’s armour and in rage he kills Turnus.