P. Virgilius, or Vergilius Maro, was born on the 15th of October, b.c. 70, in the first consulship of Cn. Pompeius Magnus and M. Licinius Crassus, at Andes, a small village near Mantua in Cisalpine Gaul. The tradition, though an old one, which identifies Andes with the modern village of Pietola, may be accepted as a tradition without being accepted as a truth. The poet Horace, afterwards one of his friends, was born b.c. 65; and Octavianus Caesar, afterwards the emperor Augustus, and his patron, in b.c. 63, in the consulship of M. Tullius Cicero.

Virgil's father probably had a small estate, which he cultivated: his mother's name was Maia. The son was educated at Cremona and Mediolanum (Milan), and he took the toga virilis at Cremona on the day on which he commenced his sixteenth year, in b.c. 55, which was the second consulship of Cn. Pompeius Magnus and M. Licinius Crassus. On the same day, according to Donatus, the poet Lucretius died, in his forty-first year. It is said that Virgil subsequently studied at Neapolis (Naples) under Parthenius, a native of Bithynia, from whom he learned Greek (Macrob. Sat. v. 17); and the minute industry of the grammarians has pointed out the following line (Georg. i. 437) as borrowed from his master:

(Compare Gellius xiii. 26.)

He was also instructed by Syron, an Epicurean, and probably at Rome. Virgil's writings prove that he received a learned education, and traces of Epicurean opinions are apparent in them.