Virgil's Georgics were completed shortly after the battle of Actium (31 BC) and dedicated to Octavian / Augustus' chief 'cultural minister' Maecenas. They purport to be didactic poem in the Hellenistic manner (the title is drawn from Nicander and sections depend on Aratus) a manual on farming in four books dealing with crops, trees and shrubs (including viticulture), animal husbandry, and beekeeping.

Yet there is a serious political message, made explicit in the closing lines of the Book I that civil war must be set aside in favour of peaceful agricultural arts, and there is besides much beautiful and memorable poetry, such as the self-contained 'epyllion in the second half of the book IV, dealing with the myth of Aristaeus and the plaintive tale of Orpheus and Eurydice.

This edition of the first and last books of the poem is intended primarily for students in the final years of the school Latin course or for undergraduates the inclusions of a full vocabulary, as well as the relatively elementary character of the introduction and many of the explanatory notes, make it suitable for student with less experience.