ABSTRACT
Virgil's appearances in literature at the beginning of the century offer few new interpretations of the poetry, or real developments in its reception. Virgil's flexibility and openness to reception is exemplified in twentieth-century France by the politically opposed works of Brasillach and Aragon. It is of great importance that the texts where the Virgilian presence is most meaningful appear for the most part after the bimillennial celebrations of 1930. Virgil's appearances in literature at the beginning of the century offer few new interpretations of the poetry, or real developments in its reception. The shield of Aeneas enclosed the jama and fata of the Aeneid, its histories and its history. The course of history in the twentieth century has modified the French reception of Virgil by alerting the European ear to the voice of exile and uncertainty, while the story of the Aeneid has contributed to the making of History by providing a mythic prototype of the Fascistic regime.
