The Arts - Rome - page 703

Rome's most influential contribution to literature was the Vulgate Bible. This dates to the 4th century
when Pope Damasus (r 366−384) had his secretary Eusebius Hieronymous, aka St Jerome, translate the
bible into accessible Latin. His version is the basis for the bible currently used by the Catholic Church.
Rome as Inspiration
With its magical cityscape and historic atmosphere, Rome has provided inspiration for le-
gions of foreign authors.
Romantic Visions
In the 18th century the city was a hotbed of literary activity as historians and Grand Tour-
ists poured in from northern Europe. The German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
captures the elation of discovering ancient Rome and the colours of the modern city in his
celebrated travelogue Italian Journey (1817).
Rome was also a magnet for the English Romantic poets. John Keats, Lord Byron,
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley and other writers all spent time in the city. Byron, in
a typically over-the-top outburst, described Rome as the city of his soul even though he
visited only fleetingly. Keats came to Rome in 1821 in the hope that it would cure his ill
health, but it didn't and he died of tuberculosis in his lodgings at the foot of the Spanish
Steps.
Later, in the 19th century, American author Nathaniel Hawthorne penned his classic
The Marble Faun (1860) after two years in Italy. Taking inspiration from a sculpture in
the Capitoline Museums, he uses a murder story as an excuse to explore his thoughts on
art and culture.
Rome as Backdrop
In the first decade of the 2000s it became fashionable for novelists to use Rome as a back-
drop. Dan Brown's thriller Angels and Demons (2001) is set in Rome, as is Kathleen A
Quinn's warm-hearted love story Leaving Winter (2003). Jeanne Kalogridis transports
readers back to the 15th century in her sumptuous historical novel The Borgia Bride
(2006), a sensual account of Vatican scheming and dangerous passions.
Robert Harris's accomplished fictional biography of Cicero, Imperium (2006), is one of
a number of books set in 1st-century Rome. Steven Saylor's The Triumph of Caesar
(2009) skilfully evokes the passion, fear and violence that hung in the air during Julius
Caesar's last days. Similarly stirring is Antony and Cleopatra (2008), the last in Colleen