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Vergil's Political Commentary in the Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid

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Vergil's Political Commentary in the Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid Leendert Weeda Vergil’s Political Commentary in the Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid Leendert Weeda Vergil’s Political Commentary in the Eclogues, Georgics and Aeneid Managing Editor: Katarzyna Grzegorek Associate Editor: Anna Borowska Language Editor: Manuela Rocchi Published by De Gruyter Open Ltd, Warsaw/Berlin Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 license, which means that the text may be used for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the author. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. Copyright © 2015 Leendert Weeda ISBN 978-3-11-042641-0 e- ISBN 978-3-11-042642-7 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. Managing Editor: Katarzyna Grzegorek Associate Editor: Anna Borowska Language Editor: Manuela Rocchi www.degruyteropen.com Cover illustration: © Thinkstock/ The text on the front cover is from Vergil’s Georgics, book 2, 510-523. Contents Preface And Acknowledgements VII 1 Introduction, Political Opinions, Propaganda 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Did Vergil Express Political Views? 5 1.2.1 Methodological Features 5 1.2.2 Political Content Of Vergil’s Poems 6 1.2.3 References 8 1.2.3.1 The Literary Frame 10 1.2.3.2 The Functional Frame 11 1.3 Propaganda 13 2 The Context 22 2.1 Poetry And Visual Media In The Late Republic And Early Empire 23 2.2 Literacy And Audience For Poetry 31 2.3 Patronage Or Amicitia? 43 2.4 Summary 52 3 The Eclogues And The Georgics 54 3.1 The Eclogues: Pastoral Poetry With Commentary On Octavian’s Land Confiscations 54 3.1.1 Introduction To The Section About The Eclogues 54 3.1.2 The Eclogues 59 3.1.2.1 Which River Did Lycoris See In Vergil’s Tenth Eclogue? 76 3.1.3 Summary Of The Section About The Eclogues 83 3.2 The Georgics: A Didactic Poem With Political Views 85 3.2.1 Summary Of The Section About The Georgics 102 4 The Aeneid: An Epic With A Commentary On Contemporary Affairs 104 4.1 References In The Aeneid 104 4.1.1 References To Augustus 105 4.1.2 References To Cleopatra 115 4.2 Models In The Aeneid 120 4.2.1 A General Introduction 120 4.2.2 Dido: Was She A Historical Character? Early Myths 124 4.2.3 Dido In The Aeneid 127 4.2.4 Models For Dido 133 4.2.5 Cleopatra And Dido Compared 135 4.2.6 Augustus And Aeneas Compared 137 4.3 Summary 140 5 Vergil’s Political Views. Was He His Master’s Voice? 142 5.1 Vergil’s Political Views 142 5.2 Vergil: His Master’s Voice? 149 Bibliography 152 Index 164 Preface And Acknowledgements I undertook the research for this book because I suspected that the Augustan poets, in particular Vergil and Horace, were much more seriously engaged in political issues than has yet been realised. The focus of this book is on Vergil, and I suppose that he, like Horace, lived and worked in the highly political ambience of the Roman social elite, consequent upon his position near the centre of power. In this book, I examine whether Vergil wrote about political issues at all and what his political views were, and whether he presented his own independent commentary on contemporary issues. I explore the importance of his poetry as an instrument of reflection on the great political changes in Rome of the period from the middle to the end of the first century B.C.. Much literary criticism of classical texts is done from the perspective of a literary frame, where the scholar investigates the literary objectives of ancient scholars: the latter are supposed to create a literary continuity with their paragon by referring to predecessors. Ancient authors may also have been inspired by objectives other than purely literary ones, namely by functional objectives, when the authors’ main purpose is to deliver a specific statement. Consequently, I introduce the notion of a functional model, which runs next to the literary model. In this study I am looking in particular for political statements in the narrative, and/or references to political actors, when the author, in this case a poet, intends to give his commentary on political issues. In this book I explore Vergil’s political views in the whole of his work. I conclude that Vergil’s political engagement is visible in a great number of texts. For long periods he was consistent in his opinions about several political themes. Vergil wrote poetry which was supportive of Augustus, but at the same time he dared to be critical of him or of his policies. Vergil was a commentator with an independent mind and not a member of Augustus’ putative propaganda machine. The intended audience of this book consists of classical scholars and students who are interested in Vergil’s views on socio-political issues, and those who are interested in intertextuality and classical reception. The book may also be useful for teachers in the upper forms of grammar schools. Further, students of modern languages with similar interests as those in the first category may find the book of interest, as all Latin texts have been translated. Finally, those who maintained a liking for classical literature and culture after their secondary education, may take pleasure in reading the book out of general interest. I am especially indebted to Professor Marc van der Poel, professor of Latin at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, who has always been very supportive of my research challenging my ideas on the one hand, and offering useful suggestions on the other1. 1 The section on the Ecl.10 (3.1.2.1), and the part of chapter 4 concerning Vergil’s portrayal of Dido have been written originally as separate papers to be submitted to a journal of classical studies. I VIII Preface And Acknowledgements The encouragement of Professor Eric Moormann, professor of Classical Archaeology at the same university is gratefully acknowledged. I also express my gratitude to professor Joan Booth of the University of Leiden and to Dr. Stephen Heyworth of the University of Oxford for their critical questions at the time of completing my thesis. The comments of Dr. Yvan Nadeau of the University of Edinburgh have been very stimulating. I am thankful to two anonymous reviewers and the language editor of De Gruyter Open, Manuela Rocchi, for their helpful suggestions. My thanks also go to members of the staff of De Gruyter Open for their cooperation and support during the writing and publishing process: Dr. Anna Borowska, Katarzyna Grzegorek, and Dr. Agata Morka. Lisenka Fox of Radboud Universiteit assisted me greatly clearing up some secrets of the digital age. My very special gratitude is to my wife Marja who read my writings and showed me different ways of exploration. Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen September 2014 wrote these together with the supervisor of my doctorate thesis, Professor Marc van der Poel. The paper by Marc van der Poel and myself on Ecl.10 is inserted in the book as “Which river did Lycoris see in Vergil’s tenth Eclogue?”. Special thanks are due to my daughter Claire Weeda of Radboud Univer- siteit Nijmegen who suggested many improvements in both papers. 1 Introduction, Political Opinions, Propaganda 1.1 Introduction Many fundamental changes took place in Rome in the second half of the first century B.C.. After the murder of Iulius Caesar in 44 B.C. the civil war entered a new phase and it was only after the battle of Actium in 31 B.C. that Octavian (63 B.C.-14 A.D.) could set about establishing his authority, by which order and tranquillity became possible2. Until that year an armed struggle had been taking place, as Octavian had directed extensive military campaigns against his major opponent Mark Antony and others. In 27 B.C. Octavian became princeps and from that moment onwards occupied himself with the transition that eventually transformed the Republic into a monarchy. From 26 B.C. there was relative peace in Italia and the population could begin to repair the economy. However, the Golden Age as a period of peace and restoration did not commence immediately after Octavian’s victory at Actium and his assumption of power soon afterwards. The destruction of the countryside, the heavy taxes that had been levied to finance the war and the expropriations of the land of many landowners and small farmers alike, as part of the programme of resettlement of veterans, which had started during the civil war, had impoverished the population. These events caused many leading families in the Republic to feel deep resentment towards Augustus and to resist the changes fiercely. For many others, relief that the war and the slaughtering were over took precedence over any objections they may have had that Augustus would most likely rule as rex. At that time kingship had a very negative connotation. The change was considerable for the senate, its members and for the elite in general. The senate was no longer the highest authority and while Augustus kept in close contact with the senate and consulted it regularly, important decisions in matters of foreign policy, military affairs or high-level appointments were taken within a small circle of confidants. The role of the senate was much reduced, and rejection of imperial decisions was impossible. There were three main areas of change which met with opposition by the senate.
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