From the Augustan age up to Late Antiquity, Virgil’s works were widely circulated both in direct forms, thanks to a massive production of new copies, and in indirect forms. The teaching and scholarly activities of many grammarians was, in fact, especially concerned with quoting the author and discussing significant passages of his poems.
The following sections offer an overview of the ancient tradition of Virgil, summarizing the features of the direct (copies of the opera) and indirect (quotations and echoes) extant sources of the poet’s works.