The' Eternal City
Preserved but no longer current.
Rome. The^ epithet occurs in Ovid, Tibullus, etc., and in many official documents of the Empire; also Virgil {JEneid, i, 79) makes Jupiter tell Venus he would give to the Romans imperium sine fine (an eternal empire).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The' Eternal City” mean?
Rome. The^ epithet occurs in Ovid, Tibullus, etc., and in many official documents of the Empire; also Virgil {JEneid, i, 79) makes Jupiter tell Venus he would give to the Romans imperium sine fine (an eternal empire).
Is “The' Eternal City” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.