- In Eclogues, Virgil continued an earlier tradition of pastoral poetry. Those earlier works depicted an idyllic rural life, with shepherds singing songs about nature and love. Virgil, though, injected contemporary politics into his pastoral poems by depicting the dispossession of local shepherds to open up farmland for retiring soldiers. Why do you think Virgil might have incorporated politics into his poetry? What does this political dimension add to the genre of pastoral literature? 2. What is Lady Philosophy's vision of the cosmos? Why does this vision comfort Boethius?