Horace, Odes 4, and the Mausoleum of Augustus
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Copyright by Steven Lawrence Jones 2008 The Dissertation Committee for Steven Lawrence Jones certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: UT ARCHITECTURA POESIS: HORACE, ODES 4, AND THE MAUSOLEUM OF AUGUSTUS Committee: __________________________________ Karl Galinsky, Supervisor __________________________________ Timothy J. Moore __________________________________ L. Michael White __________________________________ Penelope J. E. Davies __________________________________ Eleanor Winsor Leach UT ARCHITECTURA POESIS: HORACE, ODES 4, AND THE MAUSOLEUM OF AUGUSTUS by Steven Lawrence Jones, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2008 uJpernikw'men to Willard Eugene Speed (October 23, 1915 – October 31, 1999) Acknowledgements This dissertation can trace its lineage to a paper I wrote as an undergraduate at Baylor University. My fascination with Horace and with Odes 4 began there under Timothy Johnson, now at the University of Florida. It was he and Alden Smith who began me on the path along which this dissertation is a milestone. I also had opportunity to develop ideas contained in this dissertation with R.T. Scott while at Bryn Mawr College. The ideas reached maturity at the University of Texas at Austin. In Karl Galinsky's seminar on Roman Religion, I began thinking about Horace's meditations on death and immortality. It was in Penelope Davies' seminar on Roman Imperial Funeral Monuments that the connection between Odes 4 and the Mausoleum of Augustus first occurred to me. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Karl Galinsky. His approach to Classics and to the intellectual life is something I try to emulate. His insight, encouragement, and direction have guided me through the process of completing this dissertation. I am also grateful to my committee: Timothy Moore, Michael White, Penelope Davies, and Eleanor Winsor Leach. They read and re-read countless drafts. If anything is well-argued or clearly articulated, I owe it to their tireless dedication to my work. I would not have been able to come as far as I have without my family and friends. My father and mother, Larry and Ann Jones, pestered and supported me through the entire process. My sisters, Christie and Lori, encouraged me with kind words and numerous care packages. My friends Rob Shelton, Andrew Richardson, Daniel Benton, v Michael Werle, Peter Sassone, Daniel Knueppel and Steve Lundy helped me solve countless academic, existential, and technical problems. Most of all, though, I am grateful to my wife, Tamber, who has suffered with me all the slings and arrows of graduate school, while at the same time caring for our daughter Bethany and our twin girls on the way. Her endurance, perseverance, humility, and love have been an example to me. I could not have done this without her by my side. I owe her far more than I will ever be able to pay back. This dissertation is dedicated to my grandfather, Rev. W.E. Speed, Th.M. I am unable to appropriately measure the profound effect his character, wisdom, and example have had on my life. His is the shadow I stand in. His are the footsteps I follow. He is now one of those great saints, who from their labors rest. vi UT ARCHITECTURA POESIS: HORACE, ODES 4, AND THE MAUSOLEUM OF AUGUSTUS Publication No. ______________ Steven Lawrence Jones, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2008 Supervisor: Karl Galinsky Since Suetonius, Odes 4 has been the focus of much criticism and apology. Some explanation seems required for Odes 4’s apparent disunity and eclectic mixture of encomium with occasional pieces. My dissertation offers an interpretation of Book 4 by considering it in the light of the Mausoleum of Augustus. By considering the ways in which Horace builds evocations of the Mausoleum into book 4, I argue that there is sustained connection between the two works, which points towards a unified purpose for Odes 4: Horace is building a literary Mausoleum of Augustus. The first chapter establishes the justification for viewing Odes 4 through the lens of the material world by considering the functions of architecture and topography in Horace's models and contemporaries. After studying the ways the city of Rome is used vii by the Augustan poets and by Horace, the chapter concludes by making a case for understanding Odes 4 as a poetic monument. The second chapter studies the interrelationship between C.3.30 and the Mausoleum. First, I parse out a preliminary list of the Mausoleum's evocations. I then show how Horace evokes the Mausoleum in C.3.30 and recreates it in the poetic sphere. In chapter 3, I revisit Horace's autobiography and Suetonius's statements regarding the origin of Odes 4. I argue that the impetus of Odes 4 is not imperial compulsion but rather Horace's understanding of his own role as poet in the years following his selection by Augustus to compose the Carmen Saeculare. In chapter 4, I make the case for Odes 4 being a literary Mausoleum of Augustus. I first discuss the ways Horace builds his new poetic work upon the foundation of his earlier lyric successes. I then show how Horace uses the themes of time, death and the power of poetry as the brick and mortar of his literary mausoleum. I conclude by showing how Horace praises Augustus in ways that engage specifically with the Mausoleum by incorporating many of its evocations into this book. viii Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: The Poetics of Place........................................................................................ 14 Section 1: Architecture and Topography in Horace’s Models...................................... 14 Section 2: Augustan Poets and Augustan Rome........................................................... 27 Section 3: Horace and the City ..................................................................................... 40 Section 4: The Preliminary Case for Odes 4................................................................. 53 Chapter 2: The Tomb of a Poet / The Tomb of a God...................................................... 64 Section 1: The Mausoleum of Augustus....................................................................... 64 Section 2: C.3.30 and the Mausoleum Augusti ............................................................. 87 Chapter 3: The Impetus Behind Odes 4.......................................................................... 104 Section 1: Answering Suetonius ................................................................................. 104 Section 2: The Carmen Saeculare and Its Importance for Odes 4 ............................. 122 Section 2.1: Reception and Retirement – Ep.1.1 and 19 ........................................ 122 Section 2.2: The Carmen Saeculare ....................................................................... 130 Section 2.3: C.4.6 and the Carmen Saeculare ........................................................ 133 Chapter 4: Horace’s Poetic Mausoleum ......................................................................... 137 Section 1: The Foundation: The Monumentality of Horace’s Earlier Lyric............... 137 Section 2: Brick and Mortar: Death and Poetry.......................................................... 148 Section 3: The Aedifice: Various Evocations of the Mausoleum............................... 173 Section 3.1: Allegiance to Rome and Italy ............................................................. 173 Section 3.2: Republican Family Tomb ................................................................... 183 Section 3.3: Immortality ......................................................................................... 190 Section 3.4: Victory Monument.............................................................................. 191 Section 3.5: Rome as World City ........................................................................... 196 Conclusion: From Civil Wars to the Augustan Vision ................................................... 201 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 210 Vita.................................................................................................................................. 240 ix Introduction Since Suetonius, Odes 4 has been the focus of much criticism and apology. Some explanation seems required for Odes 4’s apparent disunity and eclectic mixture of encomium with occasional pieces. My dissertation offers an interpretation of Book 4 by viewing it in the light of the Mausoleum of Augustus. By considering the ways in which Horace builds evocations of the Mausoleum into book 4, I argue that there is sustained connection between the two works, which points towards a unified purpose for Odes 4: Horace is building a literary Mausoleum of Augustus. My dissertation more broadly addresses the relationship between the literary and material worlds, a relationship about which Horace himself helped frame the discussion with his famous phrase “ut pictura poesis.”1 Much argued about and misunderstood, this phrase, nonetheless, has endured as a useful category for considering the “interplay between the artifact and song.”2 Though in modern times there have been some who have