Augustus: The Life and Times of the Founder of the Roman Empire

by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh

The chief writers of the Mæcenas circle, who either became intimate with Augustus himself, or were induced by Mæcenas to join in the chorus of praise, were Vergil, Varius, Horace, Propertius. Of the epics of L. Varius Rufus (circ. B.C. 64-14) on Iulius Cæsar and Augustus, we have only a few fragments. The historian, Livy, (B.C. 59-A.D. 16) was also on friendly terms with Augustus, and seems to have had some hand in teaching Claudius, son of Drusus, the future emperor. But his great work—from the foundation of Rome to the death of Drusus (B.C. 9) was afterwards regarded as being too republican, and even Augustus used laughingly to call him the Pompeian. It was the poets who made Augustus and his policy the subject of their praises, and who employed their genius to support his views.

Vergil.

The first to do this was P. Vergilius Maro (B.C. 70-17). The earliest of his writings, the Eclogues, composed between B.C. 42-37, do not show any close connection with Augustus. The first indeed celebrates the restoration of his farm after a personal interview with Octavian, on the suggestion of Pollio and Mæcenas, and the poet declares that never will there fade from his heart the gracious look of the young prince. But the chief object of praise in the Eclogues, so far as there is one, is Pollio, who had been left in charge of the distribution of lands by the Triumvirs in B.C. 42. In the Georgics, however, finished after B.C. 30, we find that he has fallen in with the new régime. They are dedicated to the minister Mæcenas, they celebrate Augustus’s triple triumph of B.C. 29, and they were composed partly, at any rate, at the wish of Mæcenas, who with Augustus was anxious to make country life and pursuits seem desirable. No doubt the theme itself was congenial to Vergil, who preferred a country life at Nola, or near Tarentum, to the bustle of Rome; but it also happened to chime in with the views of Augustus, who all his life believed in the influence of literature and wished to have the poets on his side. Accordingly, soon after his return from the East in B.C. 29 he seems to have suggested to Vergil to compose a poem that would inspire men with a feeling of national pride and an enthusiasm for the greatness of Rome’s mission. The plan and form were no doubt wholly Vergil’s, but the spirit and purpose, like those of Horace’s more patriotic odes of about the same time, were those which the Emperor desired. He was not satisfied with mere suggestion, he was eager for the appearance of the poem. While in Gaul and Spain from B.C. 27-24 he frequently wrote to the poet urging the completion of the work. A part of one of Vergil’s answers has been preserved:

“As to my Æneas, upon my honour if I had anything written worth your listening to, I would gladly send it. But the subject thus begun is so vast, that I almost think I must have been beside myself when I undertook a work of this magnitude; especially considering that—as you are aware—I am also devoting part of my time to different and much more important studies.”

The Æneid was thus undertaken at the solicitation of Augustus. The legend on which it turns—perhaps a late one—of the landing of Æneas in Italy and the foundation of Rome by his descendant, is with great skill interwoven with a fanciful descent of the gens Iulia from his son Iulus, to magnify Rome and her divine mission, and at the same time to point to Augustus as the man of destiny, and as representing in his own person and career the majesty of the Roman people. In such a poem detailed allusions cannot be expected as in the occasional odes of Horace. Yet, besides the fine passage in the eighth book describing the victory of Actium and the discomfiture of Cleopatra, and that in the sixth announcing the victorious career of Augustus, we have, more or less, direct references to the restoration of religious worship in the vici, to the return of the standards by the Parthians, and the death of the young Marcellus. In form, the Æneid follows the model of Homer, the supreme epic. But in substance it is original, in that it does not take for its theme one of the old myths—as the Alexandrine poets always did—but while teeming with all kinds of mythological allusions it finds its chief inspiration in the greatness of Rome, measured by the elemental strife preceding the accomplishment of the divine purpose: tantæ molis erat Romanam condere gentem—“So vast the task to found the Roman race,” is the keynote of the whole. It is original as the epic of Milton was original who, with details borrowed from every quarter, took for his theme the foundation of a world and the strife in heaven that preceded it. Vergil’s epic is Roman history on the highest plane, and has crystallised for ever a view of that history which has done more than arms and laws to commend it to the imagination of mankind. Augustus had a true intuition when he forbade the poet’s executors to obey his will and burn the rolls containing this great national epic.

Horace.

Q. Horatius Flaccus (B.C. 65-B.C. 8) is not perhaps so great a poet as Vergil, but he possessed the charm which keeps such work as his alive. His connection with Augustus is a remarkable phenomenon in literary history. Having fought on the side of his enemies at Philippi, and having shared in the amnesty granted to the bulk of the troops, he returned home to find his paternal property confiscated. Poverty drove him to poetry, poetry gained him the friendship of Varius and Vergil, who introduced him to Mæcenas, who saw his merit, relieved him from the uncongenial employment of a clerk, and eventually introduced him to Augustus. The Emperor, in his turn, was not long in recognising his charm. He writes to Mæcenas:

“In old times I was vigorous enough to write my friends’ letters for them. Nowadays being overwhelmed with business and weak in health, I am very anxious to entice Horace away from you. He shall therefore quit your table of parasites and come to my table of kings and assist me in writing letters.”

The refusal of Horace—prudent no doubt in view of his tastes and habits—did not lose him the Emperor’s favour. He twice received substantial marks of it, and some extracts of letters to him from Augustus have been preserved which exhibit the latter in his most gracious mood:

“Consider yourself a privileged person in my house, as though an habitual guest at my table. You will be quite within your rights and will always be sure of a welcome; for it is my wish that our intimacy should be on that footing if your state or health permits it.”