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The Ideas That Formed the Constitution, Part 10: Virgil Alone

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The Ideas That Formed the Constitution, Part 10: Virgil Alone
Engraving depicting Aeneas, a Trojan prince and son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite, recounting the Trojan War to Dido, Queen of Carthage, Tunisia, circa 1200 B.C. The image, taken from a painting by Pierre-Narcisse Guerin (1774–1833), is a scene from Virgil's Aeneid. Kean Collection/Getty Images
Rob Natelson
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Commentary
The previous (ninth) essay in this series identified three Roman poets quoted by participants in the constitutional debates of 1787–90—Ovid, Horace, and Virgil. The essay explained why Virgil was the most influential.
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Rob Natelson
Rob Natelson
Author
Robert G. Natelson, a former constitutional law professor, is Senior Fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Mountain States Policy Center and the Independence Institute. He authored “The Original Constitution” (4th ed., 2025) and is a contributor to the Heritage Foundation’s “Heritage Guide to the Constitution.”
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