西方的墓誌銘習俗，多少能綜述「墓主」的貢獻。譬如說，古羅馬大詩人維吉爾的：「…….我歌唱過牧場、田園和領袖。」分別指他的三本主要詩作：《牧歌》、《農事詩》、《》
田園詩, 牧歌 (維吉爾)
維吉爾《埃涅阿斯紀》
楊周翰先生是我很佩服的一位專家。昨天讀但丁，取他 翻譯的《埃涅阿斯紀》（Johnson說他每夜讀它一章，12天讀畢。此法不錯），找一句的出處。我思索他為什麼要略去那句不翻…….
維吉爾《埃涅阿斯紀》楊周翰譯，南京：譯林，1999，p.14
王承教編《埃涅阿斯紀》章義，北京：華夏，2010
「特奧克托斯做為作家甚不足道，至於他的牧歌，維吉爾明顯比他高明。……特奧克托斯雖然生活在美麗的國土，但描寫不多，他寫的風習很粗鄙。維吉爾的描寫多得多，更富於情調，更多大自然，藝術性更高。」----Life of Johnson by Boswell p.1066
Theocritus is not deserving of very high respect as a writer: as to the pastoral part, Virgil is very evidently superiour He wrote when there had been a large influx of knowledge into the world than when Theocritus lived. Theocritus does not abound in the description, though living in a beautiful country: the manners painted are coarse and gross. Virgil has much more description, more sentiment, more of Nature, and more of art."