For an historian today,
establishing the Aeneid as a propaganda text is not a particularly
difficult task; its text is littered with indications that Virgil was writing
less about his own mythological subject and more about the near-mythological
achievements of Caesar Augustus and his father. Indeed, as early as line 286 in
the epic, Virgil writes, “nascetur pulchra Troianus origine Caesar,
imperium
oceano, famam qui terminet astris”[1]
(From that noble blood will rise a Trojan Caesar, with his empire bound by
the ocean, and his glory held by the stars). Virgil is narrating a
discussion between Jupiter and his wife, Juno, and in any other text it would
seem remarkable that Jupiter, king of the immortals, might give such great
praise to an individual Roman emperor. Later in the text, the poet continues, “hic
Caesar et omnis Iuli
progenies... hic est, tibi quem promitti saepius
audis,
Augustus Caesar, diui genus, aurea condet
saecula qui rursus Latio
regnata per arua
Saturno quondam”[2]
(Here is Caesar and Iulius’s whole line... here he is, you have heard his
coming promised, Caesar Augustus, son of a god, he will bring back the golden
age through the Latin fields where Saturn once ruled), this coming during a
dialogue between Aeneas and his dead father, Anchises. Robert Fagles’s
translation has Virgil going on with, “[he will] expand his empire... to a land
beyond the stars... not even Hercules himself could cross such a vast expanse
of earth”[3].
Probably Virgil’s longest account of the Caesars’ heroism, however, comes
during the epic’s eighth book, where he explains the mysterious depictions on
Aeneas’s shield. These are, in fact, drawings of Caesar’s triumph over Mark
Antony and Cleopatra during Rome’s civil war; Fagles has Virgil writing, “on
one flank, Caesar Augustus leading Italy into battle, the Senate and People
too... and the great gods themselves... and opposing them comes Antony leading
on... that outrage, that Egyptian wife!”[4].
Caesar’s return is marked with “roads [resounding] with joy, revelry, clapping
hands”[5],
and “the vanquished people move in a long slow file... their arms as motley as
their tongues”[6]
. This passage is both a glorification of Augustus’s final battle, and an
attempt to mock his enemies. It is, in fact, the very definition of propaganda.
Of course, the appearance of this kind of passage is unsurprising when one
considers the type of man Augustus was; he is said to have said to said to a
political advisor, “non ego Titanas canerem... bellaque resque tui memorarem
Caesaris”[7]
([if I was to write an epic poem] I would not talk of mythology... I would
recall the wars and matters of Caesar to you”), and it is alleged that, when attempting
to commission a poet to write his work, he would, “give a list of battles...
above all Actium... this would have been the subject, one to be treated as a
series of glorious feats of arms, with the why’s and wherefore’s pushed into
the background”[8].
On this basis, many poets, including Propertius, Horace, and initially Virgil
himself, rejected Augustus’s task. Quinn writes that “a true poet is reluctant
to accept a task unless he can see in it the accomplishment of some creative
act”[9],
and it is a reflection of this attitude that Virgil’s propaganda, although particularly
blatant when it does appear, is sparse and well-spaced throughout the poem.
This does nothing to negate the deeper undertones of the poem; its central
theme of the conflict between Aeneas and the epic’s various antagonists do
possess a Homeric quality, but it is fair to argue that it, too, was produced
for the purposes of propaganda. In his descriptions of the conflict between the
Trojans and the Latins, Virgil does not present a fight with good opposing evil,
but rather presents a conflict simply between Rome and something else. Whereas
in an Homeric epic the audience finds themselves supporting an individual
character, Virgil persuades the Aeneid’s readers to support the Trojans,
the men who will come to found Rome, against all else. His approach to evading
Augustus’s direct wish that he discuss little more than the Caesars’ triumphs
is a creative one, and one that invites comparisons between Augustus’s battles
and Aeneas’s throughout the course of the text. All of this is powerful
evidence, then, that the Aeneid was not just written as a propaganda
text but was most likely interpreted as one by the Roman people.
Sunday, 28 July 2013
"Ben's Behemoth" mk2...
This is my first body paragraph, which I've ground to a bit of a creative halt on - mostly because it's way too long, and I'm struggling to cut it down more than I have done. Readers should, however, note all the times I've included both Latin and English text from the Aeneid, which I've really only done to show off; the translations are my own, because I feel it gives the essay a bit more integrity if I've supplied my own interpretation of Virgil's text. I don't know whether this is allowed, so I can cut these bits out and replace them with Fagles's translation if it proves necessary (which I am afraid it probably will). Anyway, please have a look at what I've done. Assuming you're interested. :D
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
To whom it may concern...
...this is my introduction so far. After a bit of editing my entire draft is now only 636 words over the limit, but I'll need to be a bit harder on myself if I want to scrape below 2000... this introduction itself is so long that I think it functions better if split into two paragraphs, but I'm pretty confident that's not allowed for the purposes of this essay. Either way, here it is! :D
Question: To what extent did the Aeneid act as a propaganda text for Caesar Augustus?
“Augustus... wanted, in
short, an epic poem with himself as the hero”[1].
So writes Kenneth Quinn,
author of The Aeneid: A Critical Description, of the purpose of the Aeneid’s
conception. Indeed, there is no doubt as to why the poem was written: Octavian,
son of Julius Caesar and later known as Caesar Augustus, having just ended
Rome’s civil wars by defeating his political rivals at the Battle of Actium,
was, “looking for a poet who could put his achievements in their proper light”[2],
and wanted himself immortalized in a worthy piece of literature. The resulting
work, written by Publius Vergilius Maro (known by most as Virgil), has
transcended this purpose to become a text that is seen today as one of the most
important pieces of classical literature, and which some even believe is the
greatest ever work of Western literature. This question, however, asks an
historian to examine the text’s use at the time it was written. Octavian commissioned
it to “[justify] a cause”.[3]
He hoped to use the Aeneid to not just glorify, but excuse, his own
actions in essentially fighting his own people during Rome’s civil war. At times,
this intention is strongly reflected in the writing of The Aeneid. While
telling the tale of Aeneas, the Trojan exile who founded the city of Alba Longa
and is described as the father of Rome, Virgil takes multiple opportunities to
insert digressions extolling the achievements and the glory of his emperor, Augustus.
To look at the text solely as propaganda on this basis, however, requires the
reader to disregard all of the intricacies and the literary merit that makes the
epic not only a great classical text, but also an educational tool, from which Roman
“pupils learned the rudiments of reading and writing”[4].
It was also looked upon as a piece of literary art that transcended its roots
as a propaganda text and reflected Rome as a prosperous, artistic nation.
Perhaps most important, however, was the text’s establishment of Roman
identity. Virgil provided a text that traced the origins of Roman blood back to
their source, and created an archetypal Roman figure who embodied all that was
good about Roman culture. In this sense, it is fair to look upon The Aeneid
as a form of religious text. Its length and quality elevated it far above most
Roman literature, and its discussion of morality, life and death, and its heroes’
nobility, “intertwines collective determinants of identity with determinants of
identity on the level of the subject”[5]:
it determined how a Roman should act, and how the whole of Rome should act, in matters
of bravery, valour, courage and nobility. Augustus may have wanted little more
than a text with himself as the hero, but he had inadvertently created a text
that was to define Roman identity for the life of the empire. It is fair to
say, then, that the Aeneid served as a propaganda text for Caesar
Augustus to some extent, but its greatest role was as a religious or spiritual
document, one that defined the way Romans ought to behave and the way they
ought to be.
Saturday, 13 July 2013
A DRAFT HAS BEEN COMPLETED
EITHER GOOD OR BAD NEWS!!
I've decided to make a tiny change to my question. In my research I've firmly established that the Aeneid was, indeed, commissioned by Augustus Caesar as a text to both glorify and justify his actions in Rome's Civil War. Basically, it was written intended to be a propaganda text.
This hasn't left me too disheartened though, because I want my essay to analyse whether it was actually interpreted as a propaganda text above all else by the Roman people; my conclusion is that it was not, and I still have much evidence to support this. So, my question was:
To what extent was the Aeneid a propaganda text for Caesar Augustus?
...and it is now:
To what extent did the Aeneid act as a propaganda text for Caesar Augustus?
So there we are. Pretty much the same, but a bit clearer in terms of its relationship to the rest of the essay. :D
This hasn't left me too disheartened though, because I want my essay to analyse whether it was actually interpreted as a propaganda text above all else by the Roman people; my conclusion is that it was not, and I still have much evidence to support this. So, my question was:
To what extent was the Aeneid a propaganda text for Caesar Augustus?
...and it is now:
To what extent did the Aeneid act as a propaganda text for Caesar Augustus?
So there we are. Pretty much the same, but a bit clearer in terms of its relationship to the rest of the essay. :D
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