Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 bc)
The poet Horace was born on December 8, 65 bc and died on November 27, 8 bc. He came from the town of Venusia in Apulia. His father was a freedman, perhaps enslaved in the Social War (91–87 bc), in the course of which we know Venusia was captured by Rome. His father had a smallholding in Venusia, but earned enough money as a public auctioneer (coactor) to give his son a good education in Rome and later Athens. While in Athens Horace joined Brutus and fought on his side in the Civil War at the battle of Philippi in Greece in 42 bc, but with the fall of Brutus Horace's family property was confiscated. Horace was lucky to be allowed back to Italy and to earn a living there as scriba quaestorius, a relatively respectable government post.
His first poems, written at this period between 40 and 30 bc, were the Epodes and the Satires, which brought him into contact with the poets Virgil and Varius Rufus. They in turn introduced him to the prestigious circle of Maecenas, where he was formally accepted in 38 bc. Maecenas, the patron of Virgil and head of the most important literary circle of the period, later gave him the famous Sabine farm, which made Horace financially secure for the rest of his life. Later Horace was on good terms with the emperor Augustus himself, but in his poetry tried to maintain his independence of both these influential figures. After the publication of his satirical works the Epodes and Satires around 30 bc Horace turned to lyric poetry in his Odes, a collection of poems in lyric Greek meters on various topics including love, philosophy, and politics, based on the work of the Greek poets Sappho and Alcaeus. The first three books of Odes were published as a collection in 23 bc. This was followed in 17 bc by the Carmen Saeculare (a hymn to Apollo and Diana sung by a chorus of 27 boys and 27 girls), to celebrate Augustus’ Secular Games of that year and then later by a fourth book of Odes, in which panegyric of the Augustan epoch as a period of peace and prosperity comes to the fore. The fourth book of the Odes was Horace's final publication.
Livy (Titus Livius) (59 bc–ad 17)
Livy was born in the prosperous city of Patavium in northern Italy. An epitaph from Padua, which may be his, records that T. Livius had a wife, Cassia Prima, and two sons. It is uncertain when he came to Rome, but it is clear that later in his career he was on good terms with Augustus and it was Livy who encouraged the future emperor Claudius to take up the writing of history. Apart from the historical work for which he is famous today, he also wrote philosophical dialogues, which have not survived. Livy's history was entitled Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Books from the Foundation of the City) and dealt with the history of Rome from its foundation to the present day in 142 books. Of these only books 1–10 and 21–45 survive intact. There are also summaries of the rest, an epitome summarizing books 37–40 and 48–55 and the so-called Periochae, which summarize all books except 136 and 137. Livy relied in his composition on earlier literary sources, such as Polybius (for books 31–145) or Licinius Macer and Quadrigarius (for books 1–10), rather than consulting historical monuments and documents directly. Livy was noted for his rich, flowing style, referred to by Quintilian in the first century ad as lactea ubertas (milky smoothness). He brought his history to life by a mixture of vivid narrative scenes alternating with direct speech, purporting to give the actual words of those involved in the events. In his first ten books, on the early history of Rome, he used poetic or archaic words to give added weight to his narrative, a practice avoided by Caesar, who preferred a simpler and more direct narrative style. His main aim was the patriotic one of chronicling Rome's rise to power, first over Italy and then over the rest of the Mediterranean world, and highlighting the virtues of courage and moral uprightness which enabled them to achieve this result.
Albius Tibullus (c. 50–18 bc)
Tibullus wrote two books of elegies. The first contains poems addressed to his mistress Delia (1, 2, 3, 5, 6), and the second to a mistress named Nemesis (3, 4, 6). These names were pseudonyms, as was the name Marathus of a boy addressed by Tibullus in his first book (4, 8, 9). Of the three Roman elegists, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, Tibullus was the only one to include in his works amatory poems addressed to a boy. A third book which comes down to us in the manuscripts with the other two, was not composed by Tibullus, but consists of a collection of poems by later authors, one of whom was the female poet Sulpicia. Like the other elegists Tibullus expresses a preference for a life of idleness and love as opposed to the active life of the soldier, although in real life he seems to have served in military campaigns alongside his patron, Messalla Corvinus (poems 1.3, 1.7). Within his poems he makes frequent use of the images of love as a form of military service or slavery to the mistress. Mythology is not absent from his poetry (e.g., 1.3, 2.3), but plays a less important role than it does in his fellow elegists. He differs from them in his expression of reverence for traditional rustic religion (with poem 1.2, for example, depicting a rustic festival at which the poet himself officiates). An anonymous life claims he was good-looking and well-dressed, that he was of well-to-do equestrian status, and that he won military awards for his service in foreign wars. His family property probably suffered in Octavian's land confiscations of 41–40 bc (1.1.41f.). In the view of the first-century ad critic, Quintilian, Tibullus was stylistically the most elegant of the elegists. He greatly influenced Ovid, who wrote a famous lament on his death (Ovid Amores 3.9).
Sextus Propertius (c. 50–2 bc)
Propertius was a Roman love elegist and contemporary of Tibullus. The son of a well-to-do equestrian family from the area of Assisi, he lost his father as a young man and his family property subsequently suffered in land confiscations of 41–40 bc (4.1.127ff.), as did that of Tibullus. In the last poem of his first book he tells how his family fought against Octavian in the battle of Perusia in 41 bc. Many of his poems, in the first three books, contain some criticism of Augustus and his policies. The main subject of all four of his books is his love for his mistress Cynthia (again a literary pseudonym). His language is more convoluted than that of Tibullus and he makes much greater use of mythology. Like Tibullus he rejects the life of the statesman and soldier in favor of the life of love and shares with him the imagery of love as a form of slavery or military service. His first book, published in 28 bc, consists almost entirely of a series of poems addressed to his friends. Book 2 is probably an amalgamation of two original books and contains themes of love but also explores literary issues connected with his recent attachment to the literary circle of Maecenas. In book 3 the subject matter is widened, to include, for example, a poem on the death of Augustus’ nephew. The final poems of the book are concerned with the end of the affair with Cynthia. In book 4 the mood changes and the poet devotes himself to themes connected with the history and religious traditions of Rome (1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10). In two of the remaining poems he returns to the theme of Cynthia (7 and 8). Propertius’ vivid description of the affair with Cynthia, his wide literary learning, and (at least in books 1–3), his political independence make him a poet of lasting significance.
Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (43 bc–ad 17)
FIGURE A.5 Ovid (engraving), 19th century. Source: Cook, J.W./Private Collection/Ken Welsh/The Bridgeman Art Library
As he tells us in his autobiographical poem, Tristia 4.10, Ovid was born in the town of Sulmo in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Like Tibullus and Propertius, he belonged to the equestrian rank. He received a good education in Rome and served as a minor judicial officer before abandoning a public career for poetry. His first literary patron was Messalla Corvinus, to whose circle Tibullus also belonged, and Ovid had a prominent literary career before being banished from Rome by Augustus in ad 8 to Tomis on the Black Sea., where he languished until his death in ad 17. Ovid gives two reasons for his exile, a poem (carmen) and a mistake (error). The poem was his Ars Amatoria (Art of Love), which ran contrary to Augustus’ conservative moral legislation and encouragement of marriage in the ruling classes. About the mistake, we have little evidence, except that it may have involved his failure to report some
scandal connected with the imperial house. Ovid died in exile, leaving behind in Rome a wife, a daughter, and two grandchildren. His first book Amores (Loves) in three books (probably a second edition of an original five-book collection) belongs to the genre of love elegy as practiced by his predecessors Propertius and Tibullus. Published in 16 bc, or perhaps a little later, in its three-book form, it celebrates a mistress Corinna, who in many respects is a literary creation, owing much to Propertius’ Cynthia and Tibullus’ Delia. Ovid's use of colorful mythological illustration places him closer to Propertius. His poems provide a humorous and more detached and literary exploration of previous elegiac themes. His next work, the Heroides (Heroines), or perhaps more correctly Epistulae Heroidum (Letters of Heroines) consists in poems 1–14 of single letters from mythological heroines to absent husbands or lovers. The double Heroides (poems 16–21) consist of letters from heroines set alongside their replies. In these poems Ovid explores to the full the humorous possibilities of the epistolary genre. The Ars Amatoria (Art of Love) which follows is a mock-didactic poem in three books on the art of courtship, with the first two books being addressed to men and the third to women. The situations described owe much to the conventions of elegy. Ovid's early elegiac career ends with the publication of Remedia Amoris (Remedies of Love), a kind of recantation of the Ars, giving advice on how to fall out of love. The mythological element that had played such a key role in his elegiac works comes to the fore in his unorthodox epic in 15 books, the Metamorphoses (Transformations). The poem consists of a series of mythological tales connected with the theme of change of shape. The whole is loosely chronological in form, beginning with the story of creation from chaos and ending with themes from the poet's own day. The greater part of the poem, however, is taken up with mythological tales in no particular chronological sequence. The work represents perhaps the best expression of Ovid's poetic genius, with its witty verbal play and arresting visual detail. The Fasti (Calendar) moves on to a new topic of the Roman calendar. It was planned in 12 books, with one book representing each month, but it was left incomplete on Ovid's exile and only the first six books survive. From exile Ovid wrote the Tristia (Sorrows), a series of poems addressed from Tomis to his wife and friends back in Rome. These, like the later Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from Pontus), serve as open letters arguing for his re-instatement back in Rome. Ovid is perhaps the most influential of the Roman poets on later western art and culture and was instrumental in passing on the myths of antiquity to the Middle Ages.
Appendix 7 So-Called Future Imperative
Active
First Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person amātō amātōte
3rd person amātō amāntō
Second Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person vidētō vidētōte
3rd person vidētō videntō
Third Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person ponitō ponitōte
3rd person ponitō ponuntō
Fourth Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person invenītō invenītōte
3rd person invenītō inveniuntō
Mixed Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person capitō capitōte
3rd person capitō capiuntō
Passive (these will be the forms for deponent verbs)
First Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person amātor amāminī
3rd person amātor amantor
Second Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person vidētor vidēminī
3rd person vidētor videntor
Third Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person ponitor poniminī
3rd person ponitor ponuntor
Fourth Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person invenītor invenīminī
3rd person invenītor inveniuntor
Mixed Conjugation
SINGULAR PLURAL
2nd person capitor capiminī
3rd person capitor capiuntor
Appendix 8 Timeline
Timeline of events down to the death of Augustus
753 bc Traditional date for the foundation of Rome
753–509 Period of the kings of Rome
509 Foundation of the Roman Republic
450 Laws of the Twelve Tables published
390 Sack of Rome by the Gauls
334–264 Roman expansion to control all Italy south of the Po
264–241 First Punic War against Carthage
240–207 Livius Andronicus, first Roman playwright
227 Sicily and Sardinia made provinces
218–201 Second Punic War against Carthage
204–184 Career of playwright Plautus
204–169 Poet Ennius active in Rome
202 Carthage becomes a dependent of Rome
202–192 Conquest of Cisalpine Gaul
166–159 The plays of Terence produced in Rome
149 Cato's history of Rome, called Origines
149–146 Third Carthaginian War; Carthage destroyed; Africa becomes a Roman province
148 Macedonia becomes a Roman province
136–132 First Sicilian Slave War
133–129 Attalus III of Pergamum leaves his kingdom to Rome, which becomes the Roman province of Asia
133 Tribunate of Tiberius Gracchus
123–122 Tribunate of Gaius Gracchus
121 Gallia Narbonensis becomes a Roman province
106 Birth of Cicero
104–102 Second Sicilian Slave War
100 Birth of Caesar
99 Birth of the poet Lucretius
84 Birth of the poet Catullus
82–80 Sulla dictator at Rome
73–71 Slave revolt of Spartacus
70 Trial of Verres
Consulate of Crassus and Pompey
Birth of Virgil
65 Birth of the poet Horace
63 Consulate of Cicero
Catilinarian conspiracy
Birth of Augustus (Octavian)
Roman provinces of Bithynia, Cilicia, Syria, and Crete established
60 First triumvirate of Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar
59 Birth of Livy
59–54 Catullus writes his Lesbia poems
58–49 Caesar's campaigns in Gaul and Britain (55–54)
55 First permanent stone theater in Rome (Theatre of Pompey)
49 Caesar crosses the Rubicon and begins a civil war
49–27 M. Terentius Varro active as a scholar in Rome
48 Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus
Pompey murdered in Egypt
44 Murder of Caesar on March 15 (the Ides)
M. Antonius (Marc Antony) in sole charge of Rome
43 Murder of Cicero
Birth of Ovid
Consulate of Octavia
Second triumvirate of Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian
42 Brutus and Cassius defeated at Philippi
40 Pact of Brundisium between Octavian, Lepidus, and Antony
37 Renewal of the second triumvirate
31 Octavian defeats Antony at Actium
30 Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide
Annexation of Egypt by Rome
29–16 Propertius Elegies I–IV
28–19 Tibullus Elegies I and II
27 Octavian becomes Augustus
25 Ovid begins work on the Amores
19 Death of Virgil and Tibullus
9 End of Livy's history of Rome
8 Death of Horace
ad 8 Ovid banished to the Black Sea
ad 14 Death of Augustus, succession of Tiberius
Vocabulary: Latin to English
ab (+ abl.) – from; away from; from (of time); following (sometimes written a before a consonant)
abdicō, -āre – (with se) resign
abdō, abdere, abdidī, abditum �
�� hide
abeō, abīre, abī(v)ī, abitum – go away
abhorreō, abhorrēre, abhorruī – abhor; hate; not to wish
abiciō, abicere, abiēcī, abiectum – throw away
absolvō absolvere, absolvī, absolūtum − free; (+ acc. + gen.) – absolve (someone) of
abstrahō, abstrahere, abstraxī, abstractum – drag away
absum, abesse, afuī – be absent; be away; be distant (from); be far away (from)
accedō, accēdere, accessī, accessum – approach
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