The memory of Augustus and Augustan Rome in humanist Latin poetry

Abstract

This paper focuses on the memory of Augustus and Augustan Rome in humanist Latin poetry (ca. 1350-1550). The Roman Emperor plays a prominent role in the Renaissance humanists’ visions of Rome, because he symbolizes many, if not all, aspects of Roman culture that appealed so much to them and their audience. Typical of their literary reception of Augustus is that they do not seem particularly interested in the person of Augustus himself, but rather in employing him as a model for contemporary rulers. I will discuss three case studies, each focusing on a different aspect of the memory of Augustus. First, Augustus’ long and peaceful reign is characterized as the period in which the Pax Augusta was established and the Golden Age restored. Accordingly, the first case study will discuss the use of this image in two metrical letters by Francesco Petrarca dedicated to Pope Benedict XII, in which his return to Rome is advocated and likened to the Pax Romana that Augustus brought about. Secondly, since Augustus in the words of Suetonius “found the city in brick and left it in marble”, he is also regarded as the primary embellisher of physical Rome. This image will be explored in a collection of epigrams by Aurelio Brandolini (Ad Sistum IV Pontificem Maximum De urbe ab eo instaurata liber), in which he hails pope Sixtus IV as the new Augustus, focusing primarily on his activities as the Renaissance Restaurator Vrbis. Finally, as the addressee and supporter of authors like Virgil, Horace and Propertius, Augustus functioned as the prototypical patron of art and literature. This aspect of his rule will be the focal point of the last case study, which concerns the elegiac poetry by the German humanist Conrad Celtis. In these poems Celtis equates the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian with Augustus as supporter of the German Muses. By analyzing which elements of Augustus’ legacy these poets selected, by means of what literary devices they interpreted them, and to what purpose they appropriated them, this paper aims to provide a richer understanding of the multifaceted process of reception by which means Augustus and Augustan Rome lived on during the Renaissance.