LATIN LITERATURE

IN THE LATE REPUBLIC AND AUGUSTAN AGE

 Aspects of the Literature of the Period

 Literary patronage
 “Creative Imitation”

Authors had to be independently wealthy, or to be supported

and rewarded by a patron (or more)

Borrowings from Greek Literature # Originality and

Independence of Roman Authors
 Literature of the Late Republic
Openly political and biased: prominent figures wrote
autobiographical works.
information overwhelmingly favorable
to the author

Julius Caesar’s surviving Commentaries on the Gallic War and

Commentaries on the Civil War

Powerful men were also the recipients and objects of flattering

historical works or biographies: Theophanes of Mytilene wrote
about Pompey

Authors could also refuse to write for their influential friends:

Cicero asked the poet Lucretius to commemorate his exploits
during Catiline’s conspiracy but Lucretius refused.
 Lucretius (?94-51)
On the Nature of Things: philosophical poem addressed to the
senator Memmius

Catullus (?84-54)
Linked to Memmius: he served on his staff when Memmius
governed Bithynia
Known for the immediacy of his love poems
Became a friend of Caesar, despite having previously attacked him
in some poems
Is identified with a movement now called “neoteric”
 “Neoteric” movement
Its adherents embraced Hellenistic culture and poetry in a search
for new forms and content.

Rome was slow in developing literature

Broad attraction of Greek culture
Latin authors of all types turned consciously to Greece for their
models
The trend advanced further when the booty reaching Rome
included libraries: Sulla brought Aristotle’s 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 Latin

language more expressive and precise.
By the end of the Republic, Latin authors were also turning back to
earlier Roman works for inspiration.
Virgil and his epic poem, the Aeneid, is a multilayered work:
 references to Homer’s 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
Other poets representative of the Augustan Age:
Horace and Ovid
Horace: part of Maecenas’ circle; personal connection with
Augustus
Use 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 written
around 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)
HORACE OVID
 RES GESTAE OF AUGUSTUS

 Personal Record of his “Achievements” read out in the

Senate after his death.
 It was to be inscribed on bronze pillars at the entrance to his
mausoleum in Rome
 3 surviving copies, all by chance from communities in
Galatia. The most complete copy, with a Greek Translation,
is to be seen on the walls of a temple dedicated to “Roma et
Augustus” at Ancyra (modern Ankara, Turkey)
 Augustus’ concern was to make a deep impact on admiring
readers 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.
Temple of “Roma et Augustus” in Ankara
The complete "Res Gestae divi Augusti" -- "Acts of the divine
Augustus" - in Latin and Greek versions, describing what the
Emperor Augustus did for his people.
The scope and the presentation of the material in the Res gestae are
selective

No rival or enemy is ever mentioned by name whether Roman (e.g.

Antony) or foreign (Cleopatra); the clashes with Pompey are
merely 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 excessive
or untraditional: “I would not accept any office inconsistent with
the custom of our ancestors” (6.1)

Augustus is presented as a leader who acts honorably, spends his

own money for the public benefit, and is devoted to peace: he
spares his enemies if they seek pardon; under his rule, the temple
of Janus is closed with unprecedented frequency; he gives cash
from his own pocket to his veterans and others

Intention: to reinforce respect, gratitude and loyalty not merely to

the deceased Augustus for his past achievements but also by
extension to his successor for the future.
Model of the Mausoleum of Augustus. Rome, Museo nazionale
della civiltà romana