The main historical allusion within the first Eclogue is, according to our commentary, the word iuvenum, which Virgil uses in reference to Octavian. According to Appian, there was a period of insubordination where veterans under Octavian's authority grew discontent with the slow disbursement of land. There were insufficient funds at the time to properly purchase the land that the state was supposed to distribute to her veterans. While Octavian attempted to find a solution to this problem, the soldiers decided to arrive at their own solution by seizing the land themselves, rather than wait for the cities. As could be expected, these seizures were neither proper nor fairly adjudicated.
The occupants of the seized land and neighboring territory themselves grew discontent, as the soldiers pushed themselves further and committed other outrages beside the seizures. Octavian saw no real solution to the problem, because there were no funds to compensate those who were facing this injustice, but opposing the soldiers too strongly would have greater political ramifications. So instead, he attempted to appease the soldiers with other methods until he could properly distribute the land.
For a time, Octavian's attempts to appease them with other offerings only seemed to exacerbate the issue, and the soldiers continued more boldly, culminating to the point that the they became aggressive with Octavian himself. Finally, they killed a spokesperson for Octavian while he was on his way to formally distribute the land, and when he gave them the land in spite of this fact, they were moved to remorse, praising Octavian and correcting themselves.
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