Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

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Ovid and the Domus Augusta:

Rome Seen from Tomoi

*

FromTriumviraltoAugustanLiterature

Thegreatestworksofwhatwenormallycall‘‘Augustan’’literaturewerepro-
ducedbywriterswhocametomaturityintheTriumviralperiod,andwere
alreadyestablishedasmajorauthorsbeforeJanuary..,when‘‘Imperator
CaesarDivifilius,’’whomweliketocall‘‘Octavianus,’’gainedtheunprece-
dentedcognomen‘‘Augustus.’’BythatmomenttheEcloguesandGeorgicsof
Virgil were already written, as were theEpodesandSatiresof Horace and
bookIoftheElegiesof Propertius.Livyhadcomposedhissombrepreface,
andprobablythewholefirstpentad,inthelaterTriumviralperiod,around
thetimeofActiumorsoonafter.^1
We might thus wish to see thesewriters not as ‘‘Augustan’’ but as ‘‘Tri-
umviral,’’ along (for instance) with Sallust, and the much underestimated
CorneliusNepos(whoseLifeofAtticusisthemostilluminatingprosework
forthesands),^2 nottospeakof Vitruvius,whoseDe Architecturadoes
not address the dedicatee as ‘‘Augustus.’’ Several of the key monuments of
‘‘Augustan’’ Romewere equallydedicated before the name ‘‘Augustus’’ was

*FirstpublishedinJRS():–.ThischapterrepresentsaversionofmyPresi-
dentialLecturetotheRomanSociety,givenonJanuary,.Iamverygratefultothe
Editor, AndrewWallace-Hadrill, and the Editorial Committee for valuable and salutary
criticisms,andtotheEditorforprovidinghisowntranslationsoftheLatin.Butforthe
author’s obstinacy, the criticisms offered would have served to reduce the defects of the
papersomewhatfurther.

. Livy,–,seeOgilvietothepassage,andseeesp.R.Syme,‘‘LivyandAugustus,’’
HSCPh():Roman PapersI(),,andT.J.Luce,‘‘TheDatingof Livy’s
FirstDecade,’’TAPhA():.
. SeeF.Millar,‘‘CorneliusNepos,‘Atticus’andtheRomanRevolution,’’GreeceandRome
():(chapterinthisvolume),andnowesp.N.Horsfall,CorneliusNepos:ASelection,
including the Lives of Cato and Atticus().

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