Realism and Idealization in the Representation of Peasants in Virgil’s Georgics

It is commonly said that Virgil, in the Georgics, outlines a realistic picture of the work in fields and rural life, with its hardness and challenges; this is true only to some extent. He provides, in fact, an explication for the origin and necessity of work that is substantially a theodicy, since the end of the Golden Age is traced back to Jupiter’s decision, aimed at pushing men to develop their skills and to discover arts and techniques: work is therefore justified as a means to redeem human dignity, which was lowered by slumber and idleness. Besides, the life of peasants is praised as a blessed condition, as it is far from war and violence: it is presented indeed as the last stronghold of Justice (personified as a deity) that left human world. Thus, realism gives way to idealization of peasants with the moral purpose to elevate them as a model of the precious values that Roman society had long been lacking: rightness and