Page "Georgics" Paragraph 9

The two predominant philosophical schools in Rome during Virgil's lifetime were Stoicism and Epicureanism.

Of these two, the Epicurean strain is predominant not only in the Georgics but also in Virgil's social and intellectual milieu.

Varius Rufus, a close friend of Virgil and the man who published the Aeneid after Virgil's death, had Epicurean tastes, as did Horace and his patron Maecenas.