The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (28 page)

When Rome conquered Greece, some Roman nobles became
philhellenes.
They began to cultivate Greek literature and learning, and to patronize Greek and Latin writers and intellectuals. In 155
B
.
C
.
E
., Athens sent the heads of the philosophical schools to Rome. Their lectures caused a stir among the young nobles of the day, and a fad for philosophy developed.

 
When in Rome
A
philhellene
is a lover of Greek culture and arts.

At the head of this movement was Scipio Aemilianus (ca 185–129
B
.
C
.
E
.). Aemilianus was the son of the general who conquered Macedonia (Aemilius Paullus) and the adopted son of Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal and Carthage (see Chapter 6, “On Golden Pond: Rome Conquers Italy and the Mediterranean”). Aemilianus became a famous general in his own right, successfully destroying both Carthage and Numantia.

Aemilianus and his associates were responsible for patronizing some writers and philosophers. These writers and Romans became known as the “Scipionic Circle.” Cicero regarded Aemilianus as the finest example of a cultured, noble, and yet Roman, Roman. The Scipionic Circle included . . .

1. Marcus Pacuvius
   (220–130
   B
   .
   C
   .
   E
   .). Pacuvius was from Brundisium and wrote celebrated tragedies. His works are lost.
   
2. Polybius
   (202–120
   B
   .
   C
   .
   E
   .). Polybius was a noble Greek hostage who became a friend of Aemilianus and helped settle Greek and Roman affairs after 146. He wrote an important history of Rome, in Greek, to explain to the Greeks the Romans' rise in power.
   
3. Panaetius
   (180–110
   B
   .
   C
   .
   E
   .). Panaetius was a Greek Stoic philosopher from the island of Rhodes. His philosophy and personality were highly influential upon philhellenic Romans. Aemilianus took him on embassies to Egypt and Asia. Panaetius then took over as head of the Stoic school in Athens.
   
4. Gaius Lucilius
   (180–102
   B
   .
   C
   .
   E
   .). Lucilius was from Campania. He is famous for being the father of
   satire,
   which comes from the name of short hexameter poems on various contemporary foibles and subjects. He called this mixed bag of comment and complaint
   satura
   (grab bag), and the name stuck.
   
5. Publius Terentius Afer,
   or
   Terence
   (195–159
   B
   .
   C
   .
   E
   .), was probably from Carthage. He is the other great early Latin comedic playwright; six of his works survive. Terence's work was more closely based on Greek originals. Terence's work was panned by some contemporary literary critics (the dark underbelly of the benefits of literary culture) and suffered a few setbacks in production. Once, a production had to be stopped because the crowd became more interested in a high-wire act going on in another part of the festival; another time, the audience stampeded out when it was announced that tickets for the gladiator fights had just gone on sale!
   
6. Lucius Accius
   (170–85
   B
   .
   C
   .
   E
   .). Accius was from Umbria. He wrote celebrated dramas, some on Latin themes. He is the first known grammarian of Latin. This indicates how Latin was becoming codified as a literary language, complete with the annoying kind of people who know precisely when to use “which” and when to use “that.” Only fragments of Accius's work survive.
   

 
When in Rome
Satire
is a Latin poetic form that addresses any subject of life. The Romans were very proud of satire, which was completely their genre, or, as the poet Horace put it,
satura tota nostra est
(“Satire is completely our own”). In modern terms, satire is the technique of ridiculing a subject by taking grains of truth and exaggerating them into biting caricature. We have this picture of satire mostly because of the works of Juvenal (
C
.
E
. 50–127), who lambastes urban crowding, immigrants, wives, and everybody else.

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
Terence's plays were picked up again in the Middle Ages. Hroswitha of Gandersheim, an important tenth-century nun, poetess, and playwright, found his secular popularity troubling. She composed a competing set of comedies, based on Terence as a model, which extol the joys of purity and martyrdom in comparison to unholy love. This is one reason why few people have heard of Hroswitha.

The Scipionic Circle was the avant-garde of the Roman nobility. Romans, in general, thought that they had little to learn from anybody. The fad of foreign ideas and literature created a backlash. Chief among early critics was Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149
B
.
C
.
E
.), “the Elder,” or “the Censor.”

If Cato had a chariot, it probably had “Made in Rome” and “Rome, Love It or Leave It” bumper stickers. Cato promoted Roman ideals against what he found a decadent and frivolous cultural invasion. He was largely responsible for legislation that kept Greek philosophers from living and teaching at Rome. The Roman youth, he said, had better things to apply themselves to than verbal fluff. As
censor,
Cato applied himself to cleaning up the morals of the aristocrats (especially the Scipios) and to destroying Carthage.

In literature, Cato promoted Roman forms and language. He was famous for his
Origines
(
Origins
), one of the earliest histories of Rome in Latin, and for his
de Agri Cultura
or “On Agricultural Production,” the oldest extant Latin prose work. Cato's cultural conservatism carried down to his great-grandson, Cato “the Younger” (95–46
B
.
C
.
E
.), the poster child of moralists who mistake rigid adherence to their own ideals for integrity. Nevertheless, both Cato the Elder and the Younger became revered figures in their own day. They both became icons of old Roman values, and represented a broad current of distrust Romans never lost for un-Roman things and ways.

 
When in Rome
The
censor
was an appointed magistrate who determined voting and property lists, the make-up of the senate, and acted as auditor for public works. For more, see Chapter 9, “The Romans Among Themselves.”

But whether it was in Rome or out in the
provincia,
the impact of Greek culture was there to stay. Even Cato ended up studying Greek in his old age. Roman aristocrats found Greek education and rhetoric useful in their domestic and foreign public affairs and personally engaging. Moreover, Romans came to see that literature and learning gave Greek culture
dignitas
and
auctoritas
on the world stage. They wanted a part of it. In the last century of the Republic, Romans (this now includes Romans and Italians), always conscious of Greek predecessors, began to write in their own voice and to create what has come to be known as the Golden Age of Latin literature. Since the beginning of the Golden Age is also known as the “Ciceronian Period,” let's start first with the defining author and voice of this time.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43
B
.
C
.
E
.) deserves a whole chapter himself. Cicero was born at Arpinum to an upper-class equestrian family and became one of the preeminent Roman statesmen, orators, authors, theorists, first man of letters, and the bane of beginning Latin students everywhere.

 
Lend Me Your Ears
“Quite rightly it was said by his contemporaries that Cicero reigned over the law courts, and those of subsequent ages give him such glory that Cicero is now not so much the name of a man as that of eloquence itself.”

—Quintilian (ca
C
.
E
. 35–100),
Institutes of Oratory
, 10.110