Synopsis "Virgil's Last Dream of Aeneas and Homer"
"Virgil's Last Dream of Aeneas and Homer" is a narrative poem in the tercet stanza. It unfolds the imaginary dialogues between Augustus (63 BCE-14 CE), the first Roman emperor, and Varius Rufus (74-14 BCE), a literary executor of the great Roman poet, Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BCE), known as Virgil. Varius reports Virgil's untimely death to Augustus and reveals that he keeps Virgil's unpublished manuscript of The Aeneid. At Augustus's request, Varius relates a succinct gist of the first six books of The Aeneid and what Virgil told him at his death about his numinous last dream on how the spirit of Aeneas guided Virgil to Dis to meet with the spirit of Homer, and what they discussed on epic poetry: In his dream, Virgil prayed to muse Calliope for inspiration to bring his Aeneid to a meaningful conclusion. Calliope suggested that Virgil invoke Aeneas to guide him on a supernatural adventure to meet Homer in Dis and ask for expert advice in improving his new epic. At Virgil's sincere invocation, Aeneas's spirit appeared to him. Eventually, Aeneas guided Virgil to the palace of the queen of the dead, Proserpina. In an impromptu symposium held by Proserpina at the plea of Aeneas, Virgil met Homer-Meles, the author of The Iliad, and Homer-Outis, the author of The Odyssey. Virgil recited his Aeneid for his revered Greek poets. After their earnest and enlightening discussions, the Greek bards convinced Virgil that his Aeneid was as good as a human could achieve. Proserpina announced that Virgil's visit to Dis was overdue; he should return to the world of the living. At that point, Virgil awakes from his numinous dream and finds his dear friend Varius waiting by his bed. He realises that the time has come for him to depart from this world to Dis. Virgil requests Varius to publish The Aeneid as it is and impart his dream of Aeneas and Homer to others. Then Virgil gently passes away in peace.
