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Aspects of the Literature of the Period

Literary patronage Creative Imitation

Authors had to be independently wealthy, or to be supportedand rewarded by a patron (or more)

Borrowings from Greek Literature # Originality andIndependence of Roman Authors

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Literature of the Late RepublicOpenly political and biased: prominent figures wroteautobiographical works.

information overwhelmingly favorableto the author

Julius Caesars surviving Commentaries on the Gallic War andCommentaries on the Civil War

Powerful men were also the recipients and objects of flatteringhistorical works or biographies: Theophanes of Mytilene wroteabout Pompey

Authors could also refuse to write for their influential friends:Cicero asked the poet Lucretius to commemorate his exploitsduring Catilines conspiracy but Lucretius refused.

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Lucretius (?94-51)On the Nature of Things : philosophical poem addressed to thesenator Memmius

Catullus (?84-54)Linked to Memmius: he served on his staff when Memmiusgoverned BithyniaKnown for the immediacy of his love poemsBecame a friend of Caesar, despite having previously attacked himin some poemsIs identified with a movement now called neoteric

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Neoteric movement

Its adherents embraced Hellenistic culture and poetry in a searchfor new forms and content.

Rome was slow in developing literatureBroad attraction of Greek cultureLatin authors of all types turned consciously to Greece for their modelsThe trend advanced further when the booty reaching Romeincluded libraries: Sulla brought Aristotles library to Rome

From the second century, Roman libraries had developed first

privately and then publicly with sponsorship with Julius Caesar.

Cicero, Lucretius, and others consciously strove to make Latinlanguage more expressive and precise.By the end of the Republic, Latin authors were also turning back toearlier Roman works for inspiration.

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Virgil and his epic poem, the Aeneid , is a multilayered work: references to Homers Iliad and Odyssey, as well as to Ennius, Lucretius, and

others. Virgil alludes to and even mentions Augustus

The Aeneid is neither a pastiche of earlier writings nor mere propaganda for Augustus

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Other poets representative of the Augustan Age:Horace and OvidHorace: part of Maecenas circle; personal connection withAugustusUse of different meters and genres, as he fashions new types of Latin poetry on earlier Greek models.

Ovid: supported by the senator Messalla.In A.D. 8 Augustus banished him to Tomis (modern Constanta,Romania) on the west coast of the Black Sea.Extensive literary output: from love (such as Art of Love writtenaround 1 B.C.) to myth ( Metamorphoses or Transformations,

composed in epic hexameters) and even the Roman year ( Fasti or Calendar, which charts Roman religious rituals and legends day-

by- day)

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HORACE OVID

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RES GESTAE OF AUGUSTUS

Personal Record of his Achievements read out in theSenate after his death.

It was to be inscribed on bronze pillars at the entrance to hismausoleum in Rome

3 surviving copies, all by chance from communities inGalatia. The most complete copy, with a Greek Translation,is to be seen on the walls of a temple dedicated to Roma etAugustus at Ancyra (modern Ankara, Turkey)

Augustus concern was to make a deep impact on admiringreaders and hearers. The climax of the work is its final

paragraph, commemorating the bestowal of the title Pater Patriae , Father of his Country by the senate, equites and people in 2 B.C.

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Temple of Roma et Augustus in Ankara

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The complete "Res Gestae divi Augusti" -- "Acts of the divineAugustus" - in Latin and Greek versions, describing what theEmperor Augustus did for his people.

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The scope and the presentation of the material in the Res gestae areselective

No rival or enemy is ever mentioned by name whether Roman (e.g.Antony) or foreign (Cleopatra); the clashes with Pompey aremerely said to have been with pirates.

The defeats in Germany are ignored

Augustus possession of maius imperium is never mentioned either

The honors that Augustus received are dully recorded along with

reminders that he declined anything which might seem excessiveor untraditional: I would not accept any office inconsistent withthe custom of our ancestors (6.1)

Augustus is presented as a leader who acts honorably, spends hisown money for the public benefit, and is devoted to peace: hespares his enemies if they seek pardon; under his rule, the templeof Janus is closed with unprecedented frequency; he gives cashfrom his own pocket to his veterans and others

Intention: to reinforce respect, gratitude and loyalty not merely tothe deceased Augustus for his past achievements but also byextension to his successor for the future.

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Model of the Mausoleum of Augustus. Rome, Museo nazionaledella civilt romana