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Why did Virgil reportedly want the Aeneid burned?
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Virgil
Virgil (centre) holding a scroll with a quotation from the Aeneid and flanked by the muses Clio and Melpomene, mosaic, early 3rd century ce; in the Bardo National Museum, Tunis, Tunisia.
According to historical accounts, the Roman poet Virgil reportedly wished for his epic poem, the Aeneid, to be burned upon his death because it remained unfinished.12
Virgil had spent 11 years composing the work and had planned to dedicate an additional three years to its revision. In 19 BCE, he traveled to Greece, likely to gather inspiration for the final polish of the poem, but he fell ill with a fever and died shortly after returning to Italy. Because the poem had not yet received his final intended revisions, he requested that the manuscript be destroyed. However, this request was ultimately overruled by the emperor Augustus, ensuring the survival of what would become a monumental work of Latin literature.21