Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Literature
A history of authoritarian rule has given rise to a rich literary tradition, encompassing
everything from ancient satires to dialect poetry and anti-fascist prose. As a backdrop,
Rome has inspired scribes as diverse as Goethe and Dan Brown.
Virgil gave us some of our most famous expressions − 'Fortune favours the bold', 'Love conquers all' and
'Time flies'. However, it was Juvenal who issued the classic warning: '
quis custodiet ipsos custodes
?' or 'who guards
the guards?'.
Cicero, Virgil et al - the Classics
Famous for his blistering oratory, Marcus Tullius Cicero (106−43 BC) was the Roman Re-
public's pre-eminent author. A brilliant barrister, he became consul in 63 BC and subse-
quently published many philosophical works and speeches. Fancying himself as the senior
statesman, Cicero took the young Octavian under his wing and attacked Mark Antony in a
series of 14 speeches, the
Philippics
. These proved fatal, though, for when Octavian
changed sides and joined Mark Antony, he demanded, and got, Cicero's head.
Poetry & Satire-
A contemporary of Cicero, Catullus (c 84−54 BC) cut a very different figure. A passionate
and influential poet, he is best known for his epigrams and erotic verse.
On becoming emperor, Augustus (aka Octavian) encouraged the arts, and Virgil (70−19
BC), Ovid, Horace and Tibullus all enjoyed freedom to write. Of the works produced in
this period, it's Virgil's rollicking
Aeneid
that stands out. A glorified mix of legend, history
and moral instruction, it tells how Aeneas escapes from Troy and after years of mythical
mishaps ends up landing in Italy where his descendants Romulus and Remus eventually
found Rome.
Little is known of Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, better known as Juvenal, but his 16 satires
have survived as classics of the genre. Writing in the 1st century AD, he combined an acute
mind with a cutting pen, famously scorning the masses as being interested in nothing but
'bread and circuses'.
Ancient Histories
The two major historians of the period were Livy (59 BC−AD 17) and Tacitus (c 56−116).
Although both wrote in the early days of empire they displayed very different styles. Livy,
