aeneas, augustus, and the theme of the city

7/21/2019 Aeneas, Augustus, And the Theme of the City

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/aeneas-augustus-and-the-theme-of-the-city 1/13

Aeneas, Augustus, and the Theme of the City

Author(s): James MorwoodSource: Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Oct., 1991), pp. 212-223Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/642960 .

Accessed: 25/06/2011 18:07

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at .http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup. .

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Cambridge University Press and The Classical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve

and extend access to Greece & Rome.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cup

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=classical

http://www.jstor.org/stable/642960?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp



http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

http://www.jstor.org/stable/642960?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=classical




Greece

&

Rome, Vol. xxxviii,

No.

2,

October

1991

AENEAS, AUGUSTUS,

AND

THE THEME

OF THE CITY*

By

JAMES

MORWOOD

The

theme of

the

building

and destruction

of

cities

is

a

conspicuous

one in

the

Aeneid.

The

poem opens

with a

paragraph

which summarizes the

suffering

that is to

lead

to the

building

of

'the

walls

of

lofty

Rome',

and

this

passageis linkedby verbal echoes to Aeneas'entrynot much later when he

bewails the

fact

that

he has

not

died

a

heroic death

beneath 'the

lofty

walls

of

Troy'.'

The

city

which

is to rise

and

the

city

which

has fallen are in their

very

different

ways

inescapable

features of the

Aeneid's

geography.

The theme

of

the

city

is

soon to be

given

further

emphasis

when

Aeneas

later

in

Book

1

climbs

a

hill,

sees

the

Tyrians busily

engaged

in the

building

of

Carthage,

and

looks

on in

wonder:

miratur

molem

Aeneas,

magalia quondam,

miratur

portasstepitumque

et strata viarum.

instant ardentes

Tyrii:

pars

ducere muros

molirique

arcem

et

manibus subvolvere

saxa,

pars optare

locum tecto et concludere

sulco;

iura

magistratusque egunt sanctumque

senatum.

hic

portus

alii

effodiunt;

hic

alta theatri

fundamenta locant

alii,

immanisque

columnas

rupibus

excidunt,

scaenis

decora alta futuris.

(1.421-9)

Aeneas was amazed

by

the

size of it where

recently

there had

been

nothing

but

shepherds'

huts, amazed too by the gates, the pavedstreets and all the stir.The Tyrianswereworking

with a will:some

of them were

laying

out the line of walls or

rolling

up

great

stones for build-

ing

the

citadel;

others

were

choosing

sites

for

building

and

marking

them out

with the

plough;

others were

drawingup

laws and

electing magistrates

and a senate whom

they

could

revere;

on

one

side

they

were

excavating

a

harbour;

on the other

laying

deep

foundationsfor

a theatre and

quarrying

huge

columns from the

rock to

make a

handsome

backdrop

or the

stage

that was to be.

To

some extent

the

city

here

described

resembles the

city

of

Hannibal,

which was

governed by

a

senate

(426)2

and had

artificial

harbours.3

But

the

overallpicture is un-Carthaginian.The promiseof high civilizationin the

city

which

Aeneas sees

and

the establishment

here of

the

rule

of

law

in fact

sound

decidedly

Roman,4while

the theatre with its

splendid

adornment

of



AENEAS, AUGUSTUS,

AND THE THEME OF THE CITY 213

columns

belongs very

much to the Roman world of

Virgil's

day.5

Pre-

sumably

we have here an ideal

vision,

a

blueprint

for the

perfect

city.

One

of

Virgil's

celebrated bee similes now reflects the

happy

and

productive

cooperation

of the

workers,

and in envious frustrationAeneas exclaims:

'o

fortunati,

quorum

iam

moenia

surgunt '

(1.437)

'How

fortunate

they

are Theirwalls are

already

rising '

After this memorable

description

of

a

city

going

up,

Virgil

takes Aeneas

into

Carthage

where

in Book

2 he tells

Dido

the

story

of a

city

falling

down:

'urbs

antiqua

ruit'

('It

was

the fall of an ancient

city...')

(2.363).

Here the

many repetitions of the 'falling' motif make their contribution to the

emotional

power

of the

narrative.6

Stalled

in

Carthage,

Aeneas

is

per-

suaded

to recount the

story

of the

city's

destructionand

its aftermath

again

and

again (4.77-9).

As Aeneas tells Dido

of his

adventures,

he

describes

his

visit to

Epirus

in

North-west Greece where Andromache and

Helenus,

the son of

Priam,

have settled.

They

have

built

a new

city,

a small-scale

reproduction

of

Troy:

procedo

et

parvam

Troiam

simulataquemagnis

Pergamaet arentem Xanthicognominerivum

agnosco, Scaeaeque

amplector

imina

portae.

(3.349-51)

As

I walked I

recognized

a little

Troy,

a citadel modelled

on

great Pergamum

and a

dried-up

stream

they

called the Xanthus. There was

the

Scaean

Gate and

I

embraced

t.

Is

this

the

kind

of

city

that Aeneas

should

contemplate

building?

We must

think not.

The

word

'simulata'

(349)

suggests

pretence

and

conjuresup

the

idea of a Theme Park

Troy,

an

idea reinforced

by

'parvam'

in the

same

line.

More

significantly,

the

swirling

streams

of

Xanthus,

so

eddying

and

active in

Homer,7

are

here

reduced

to a

dry

watercourse

('arentem

...

rivum',

350).

The

word

'arentem'

s

significant.

To

rebuild

Troy

is

a task as

arid

as it is

futile.8

Andromacheand

Helenus are

trapped

n

their

past

while

a

future

is in

store for

Aeneas,

as he sees in his

poignant speech

of

farewell

(3.493-7

and

501).

He has his

own walls to

build.

Dido

has listened to Aeneas' tale

and

has fallen

irremediably

n

love

with

him.

This

leads

to the

fatal erosion of

her

qualities

as a

leader,

a

process

which is viewed

partly

in

terms of

the

construction

of her

city.

Her

first

appearance n the poemfoundher amidthe buildingsite that was Carthage

(1.503

ff.)

where

she

gave inspiration

o

the

builders.

Now,

however,

totally

obsessed

with her love for

Aeneas,

she

abandons

its

construction.

We



214

AENEAS, AUGUSTUS,

AND

THE

THEME

OF THE

CITY

discover

abruptly

hat

work

on

Carthage

has

stopped.

At the

same time the

military

preparations

of

the

Carthaginians

are

being

neglected:

non coeptae adsurgunt urres,non armaiuventus

exercet

portusve

aut

propugnacula

bello

tuta

parant:pendent opera interrupta

minaeque

murorum

ingentes

aequataque

machina caelo.

(4.86-9)

The towers she was

building

ceased to

rise.

Her men

gave up

the

exercise of war and

were no

longer

busy

at the harbours and fortifications

making

them safe

from

attack.

All the work

that had been

started,

the

threateningramparts

of

the

great

walls

and

the

cranes

soaring

to

the

sky,

all

stood idle.

Those

last two

lines are a

haunting

evocation

of

suspendedactivity.

Work

on

Carthage

does

in

fact

start

up

again,9

but now

it is

organized

by

Aeneas.

When

Mercury

flies

down

to Africa

and

conveys

to him

Jupiter's

instructionsto remember

his

destined

kingdom,

he

sees

Aeneas

'fundantem

arces ac

tecta novantem'

('laying

the

foundations

of the

citadel

and

putting

up buildings')

(4.260).

In his

fierce

rebuke,

Mercury says:

'tu nunc

Karthaginis

altae

fundamenta locas

pulchramque

uxorius

urbem

exstruis,

heu

regni

rerumque

oblite tuarum?'

(4.265-7)

'So now

you

are

laying

foundations of

the

high

towers

of

Carthage

and

building

a

splendid

city

to

please

your

wife?

Have

you

entirely

forgotten

your

own

kingdom

and

your

own

destiny?'

The

first

words

may

give

one

pause.

We know that Aeneas has been

laying

the foundations for 'arces'

(260),

but

why

should

he

be

laying

the

founda-

tions for

Carthage

as

a

whole when

they

have

presumably

been

largely

laid

by

Dido?10

Virgil

presumably

wishes to stress Aeneas's role as

founder

of a

city

-

only

it is the

wrongcity.

He has no business to

be

founding Carthage.

His

destiny

has

other cities

in

store."

Furthermore,

n

his

building

of the

wrong

city,

he has

become

decidedly

un-Roman,

an Eastern

potentate

in

gorgeous

attire,

subject

to

the

orders

of

a

woman

('uxorius', 4.266).12

'quid

struis?'

(4.271)

hisses

Mercury,

meaning

primarily,

'What

are

you playing

at?' But the

words

can also

be

taken to

mean,

'What

are

you

building?'

The

answer

to

this

question

must

be

the

wrong

city

in the

wrong place.

So,

while the

city-building

heme has

certainly

been

re-established,

t is

only

to

emphasize

how

Aeneas has

gone

astrayon the journeytowardsthe walls of lofty Rome.

Aeneas now resolves to leave

Dido,

and

in

terms

which

are more

notable

for theirthematic relevance thantheircoherence

-

or

indeedtheir tact

-

he



AENEAS, AUGUSTUS,

AND

THE

THEME

OF

THE

CITY

215

tells

her

that,

if

he

were

allowed to

organize

his

own

life,

he

would

be

rebuilding

Troy:

me si fata meis paterenturducerevitam

auspiciis

et

sponte

mea

componere

curas,

urbem

Troianam

primum

dulcisque

meorum

reliquias

colerem,

Priami

tecta

alta

manerent,

et

rediciva manu

posuissem

Pergama

victis.

(4.340-4)

If

the Fates

were

leaving

me free to

live

my

own

life and

settle

all

my

cares

according

to

my

own

wishes,

my

first

concern

would be to tend

the

city

of

Troy

and

my

dear ones

who are

still

alive. The

lofty

palace

of

Priam would still

be

standing

and

with

my

own

hands

I

would

have

built

a new citadel at

Pergamum

for those

who

have

been

defeated.

This carries

echoes of

the

Helenus-Andromache

reproduction

Troy.

But

even

as he

speaks,

Aeneas is

aware

that his

is an

altogether

unrealistic

wish.

The

imperfect subjunctives

denote

an

impossible

condition.

It

is

to

Italy

that he must

turn:

'hic

amor,

haec

patria

est'

('That

is

my

love,

and

that is

my homeland') (4.347).

Along

with his

great

love he

must

abandon

cities

both

past

and

present.

The

deserted

Dido stabs

herself,

and

in

the

fine

similes

which

describe

the

ensuing

lamentation

we return to

the

theme of the

destructionof

cities:

non

aliter

quam

si

immissis

ruat

hostibus omnis

Karthago

aut

antiqua

Tyros, flammaeque

furentes

culmina

perque

hominum

volvantur

perque

deorum.

4.669-71

It was

as

though

the

enemy

were

within the

gates

and

the

whole

of

Carthage

or old

Tyre

were

falling

with

flames

raging

and

rolling

over

the roofs of

men

and

gods.

Virgil's

editors

are

strangely

reticent

about the sack

of

Tyre

by

Alexander

in

332

B.c..

Arrian

(Anab.

2.18-24)

gives

a

detailed

description

of the

seven-month siege and its grisly aftermath in which the Macedoniansset

fire

to the

city

and

massacred

8,000

inhabitants.13As

for the

sack of

Carthage

in

146

B.c.,

we

have

Appian's

grim

description

of its

seven

days'

duration

(8.127-32).

The

Roman

general

Scipio

is

said

to

have

been

reduced

to

tears,

and

to have

quoted

Homer on

the fall

of

cities

(8.132):

EUaaUral

T

ap

6-

v

iror'

6A&A

'O

ip")

Kai

Hpia/Lop Kai

Aa6s

iV/JIEAw

IpWdHulo.

(II.

6.448-9)

The

day

will

come

when

sacred

Troy

will

be

destroyed

and

with it

Priam and the

people

of

Priam with

his

fine

ash

spear.

The

nightmare

horrors

of the

falling

city

in

Book 2

are

grimly

recalled.



216

AENEAS, AUGUSTUS,

AND

THE

THEME

OF

THE

CITY

The

justly

famous

proleptic

eference o the sack of

Carthage14

as a

further

ignificance.

he

legacy

of

hatred

eft

by

the

breakdown f

the

love

affair

between

Dido and

Aeneas

was

to

lead

to the

hostilitieswhich

ended

withRome's

notorious

estruction

f her

enemy

n

146.15

The themeof

the

fallen

city

reaches

out

from the

world

of

mythology

nto

what was for

Virgil's

eadersnot

very

distant

history.

Four

imes n

the

poem

Aeneas

actually

tarts

work

on

cities.

The

first

s

in

Thrace

where

he

lays

out walls

moenia

rima

oco,

3.17).

The

second

s

Pergamea

n

Cretewhere

he

eagerly

ets to

work

on

wallsfor the

city

we

all

longed

for'

(3.132).

Eerie

happenings

upervene

nd

work

on both of

these

cities

is

aborted.

They

are false

starts.

He has

better

uck in Book

5

whenhemarksoutthesite of acitywiththeplough.This stobetherefuge

of those

who aretoo weak o

continuewith

their

Roman

mission,

nd

t

will

be ruled

by

Acestes.

Clearly

his

is

a

city

for

those

unable

o face the chal-

lenge

of the

future,

and

it

is

entirely

appropriate

hat

Aeneas

hould

ook

back to the

past

when he

names

parts

of

it Ilium

and

Troy

(5.755-7,

cf.3.133

and

349-50).

Leastof

all

perhaps

s this

city

-

built

by

Trojans

or

Trojans

on the coastal

plain

by

Mount

Eryx

-

the

city

destined

by

fate.

Laterhe

builds

Troia,

he

first

settlement f

the

Trojans

n

Italy, marking

out the line

of

his

walls with

a

shallowditch'

(7.157-8).

Then,

after the

actionof thepoem sfinished,he is tobuildanother ity nItaly,butthisis

Lavinium

where

he

Trojans

will

stay

for

only

33

years

before

moving

o

Alba

Longa,

tselfa

temporary

ome.

Troia,

Lavinium

ndAlba

Longa

are

all

stopgap

ities.

No

city,

sacked

ities,

a

ThemePark

city,

he

wrong

ity,

an

escapist

ity,

a

dream

city,

aborted

ities,

stopgap

ities these

nterlinking

deas

clearly

constitutea

Leitmotiv

n the

poem.

What

s

the

pointbeing

made

by

Virgil

n his

emphatic

se of

thistheme?

One

answer ies

in

Homer,

and

is

part

of

today's

standardwisdomabout

the

Aeneid.

6

Both

Odysseus

nd

Aeneasare

travelling

rom

Troy,

but

the

Greek

hero

is

going

home.

This home is

described

n

considerable

etail,

and

its

key

feature,

he

ultimate est

by

which

Penelope

recognizes

her

husband,

s the

bed

built

by Odysseus

ound

an

olivetree.The

centrality

f

Odysseus's

ome and

his

marriage

ould

not be more

plainly

tressed.

n

notoriously

stark

contrast,

Aeneas has to

go

into the future with no

tangible

bjective

no

wife,

no

home,

no

city.

He hasto

establish

ot Rome

but the

Romanrace.

Rome

does

not

yet

exist,

but

even so he has to show

what it is like to be a Roman.He needs to displaydogged selfless

endurance.

or

Aeneas,

Rome

s

not

a

real

city

of

bricks

and

mortar

but

a

state

of

mind."*

This

viewof

the

poem

would ead

us

to see the themeof the



AENEAS,

AUGUSTUS,

AND THE THEME OF THE

CITY

217

city

as

stressing

what

Virgil's

hero

longs

for but is denied.

The absenceof

a

satisfactory

city

in the

Aeneid

would

suggest

a vacuum

- a vacuum

which

can

only

be filled

by

a

dream

of

Rome."8

But the

fact is

that Rome is

present

in the

Aeneid

with

a far

more

palpable

reality

than a

dream.

This is

certainly

surprising

ince

Aeneas,

the

poem's

hero,

could

scarcely

be

presented

as the

founder

of

Rome.

After

all,

mythology

-

and

history

-

had

assigned

that task to

Romulus. Yet we are

aware

of

Rome as an

actuality

in the

poem,

most

obviously

when Aeneas

visits

its site

and observes its

unpretentious

beginnings

in

Evander's

settle-

ment,

Pallanteum

(8.306ff.).

So,

if

Rome

is

inescapably

present

in

the

Aeneid,

Virgil

can

scarcely

be

using

the

city

Leitmotiv

to

establish the idea

of a dreamcity.

A

further

point

needs

to

be

made

here.

Though

in Aeneas' visit to

Pallanteum

we are

given glimpses

of the

imperial

grandeur

of

the

Augustan

city

(8.337-61),

Virgil

lays

stress on

the

humble,

thatched

nature

of

pre-Roman

and

early Rome."'

Yet the

theme we have

traced has been

concerned

with cities

where thatch is

notable for

its

absence. Remember

the

word 'altus'

used

of

Rome,

Troy

and

Carthage.

Generally

we have

been

talking

about

great

imperial

cities.

So

what

is

Virgil

doing

in his use of

this theme?

To me it seems

that

he is

asking - and answering- a simple question.Aeneas did not build Rome.

Romulus

did

build

it,

but

humbly.

Who built it on

the

grand

scale?

The

answer

must be the

third founder of

Virgil's

Rome,

Augustus.

Certainly

the

building programme

of

Augustus

was,

as he

himself

was at

pains

to

publicize,

on a colossal

scale.In Res Gestae

19,20

he

writes:

I

built the

Senate

House,

and the

Chalcidicum

next

to

it,

the

temple

of

Apollo

on the

Palatine

with

its

porticoes,

the

temple

of the

divine

Julius,

the

Lupercal,

the

portico

at the

Flaminian

circus,

which

I

allowed to bear the

name

of

the

portico

of

Octavius after the

man

who erected the previousporticoon the same site, a pulvinar at the CircusMaximus,the

temples

on

the

Capitol

of

Jupiter

Feretrius and

Jupiter

the

Thunderer,

the

temple

of

Quirinus,

the

temples

of

Minerva and

Queen

Juno

and

Jupiter

Libertas

on

the

Aventine,

the

temple

of

the Lares at the

top

of

the Sacred

Way,

the

temple

of Di

Penates in

the

Velia,

the

temple

of

Youth,

and the

temple

of the

Great

Mother on

the Palatine.

Most of these

buildings

were erected

before

Virgil's

death.

In

28

B.c.,

the

year

after

the

Aeneid

was

started,

Augustus

tells us

that

he

restored 82

temples

of

the

gods (20.4;

cf. Aen.

8.716);

and

Virgil,

like

everyone

else,

would have known of plans for the future.For example,the great centre-

piece

of

Augustus'

Forum,

the

temple

of

Mars

Ultor,

was

not

dedicated

until 2

B.c.

but

it

had

been

vowed before the Battle

of

Philippi (42

B.c.).



218

AENEAS,

AUGUSTUS,

AND

THE THEME OF

THE

CITY

Suetonius

quotes

with

approval

the

Emperor's

famous

boast

that he

had

found Rome brick and

left

it

marble.21

Virgil

would

have been

very

much

aware of the transformation

of

the

imperial

city.

However,

to drawattention to the fact that

Augustus

builton a vast scale

is not in

itself

evidence

that

Virgil

makes

the

Emperor's

building

programme

a

significant

theme

of

his

poem.

What

we

require

for

the

purposes

of our

argument

is to

discover

specific

Augustan buildings

in the

Aeneid.

And we

need

not limit

ourselves,

I

hope,

to Rome

itself,

for

Augustus

was

keen to make architecture

a means of

propaganda

hrough-

out

the Roman

empire,

and

indeed

architectural

uniformity

was one

of the

outstanding

features of that

empire.

Any

major

religious

or civic

Augustan

buildingwill surelysuit our purpose.

We shall

not

be

disappointed

n our search for such

buildings:

1.

The

temple

of

Apollo

at

Cumae,

described

in

considerable

detail

at

6.18

ff.,

was restored

by

Augustus;22

2.

The

great

Mausoleum built

by

Augustus

in

28

to house

his

family's

remains

appears

as

the

newly-built

mound

('tumulum

recentem',

6.874)

in

the famous Marcellus

passage.

The

importance Augustus

attached

to

this

vast

tomb

was

immense;23

3. The temple of Apollo on the promontoryof Actium was enlargedby

Augustus

in commemoration

of

his

victory

there.

This is twice

referred

to

in the Aeneid

(3.27524

and

8.704);

4.

The

Lupercal,

the

building

which

Augustus

put

up

around

the cave

where

Romulus

and Remus

were

suckled

by

the

wolf,

is referredto at

8.343

(cf.

1.275);

5.

The

temple

of

Jupiter

the

Thunderer

on

the

Capitol

was

vowed

by

Augustus

in

26/5

B.c.;

it

was

dedicated

n

22.

The

religious

awe

inspired

by

the

weather

god

in this area

is

powerfully

evoked

in 8.349-54.

The

temple

ofJupiter

Optimus

Maximus

on the

Capitoline

wasrestored

by

Augustus

in

26;

6.

The

temple

restored

by

Augustus

in the Velia

had a shrine for

the

Penates

brought

from

Troy by

Aeneas.

These are of

great

importance

in

the

poem, being

referred to 20 times.

(See

especially

3.148

ff.)

7.

In an

important

article,

0. L.

Richmond

argued

that the house

of

Evander-Augustus

was

to

be

identified with

the

House of

Livia,

Augustus'

first

building

on the

Palatine.25

This house

stands

near the Scalae

Caci

and

in Book 8 Evanderwill have led Aeneas close to its site nearthe location

of

the

temple

of

Apollo.

K.

W. Gransden

asserts

that

'both

topography

and

typology require..,

that...

Evander's

house,

where

the

walk

ends,

mustbe



AENEAS,

AUGUSTUS,

AND THE

THEME OF

THE

CITY

219

located on

the site of

what was later

to

be

Augustus'

house on

the

south-

west of the

Palatine'.26

8.

Commenting

on

the

palace

of

Laurentine

Picus,

'tectum

augustum

ingens'

(a

massive

sacred

bulding, 7.170),

Servius

writes, 'domum,

quam

in

Palatio diximus

ab

Augusto

factam,

per

transitum

laudat'

(he praises

by

typology

the

house

which,

as

we

said,

was built

by

Augustus

on the

Palatine

(cf.

Servius'

note on

11.235).27

Such

references

will

surely

have been

obvious to

Virgil's

contemporaries.

After

all,

these

buildings

were

going

up

-

or

being

restored

-

before their

veryeyes.28

However,

though

it can

scarcely

be

disputed

that he

does

weave

actual Augustan buildingsinto the fabric of the Aeneid, more conclusive

evidence

may

be needed

to

establish

that

Virgil

intended

to

make the

idea

of

Augustus

the

builder

a

major

subject

of his

epic.

We must

identify

one or

two

passages

where this

idea

is

presented

not

only

unequivocally

but with

tremendous

emphasis.

One

such

passage

is

surely

the one

already

quoted

(1.

421-9),

where

Aeneas observes

the

building

of

Carthage

in

envious

wonderment.

This

is

the

first

major

statement of the

city-building

heme. Not

only

does

it

consti-

tute a

memorable

exposition

of

this

theme;

it

also

suggests

the

pathos

inherent in the fact that this very city whose buildingAeneas admires s to

be

utterly

destroyed

by

his

descendants.

In

Virgil's

time

the

city

no

longer

exists. But the

fact

of

the

matter

is that

it

very

definitely

does. For

in

29

B.c.,

Augustus

sent

out

3,000

settlers

to the

site of

Carthage

to

rebuild

it.

This

was

Augustus'

first

major

piece

of

colonial

building,

and

would

have

been

highly

publicized

in

Rome.29

Carthage

was an

important

element

in

the

Augustan

building

boom.

As

Zanker

remarks,

'Virgil's

description

of

the

building

activity

in

Dido's

royal City

of

Carthage

mirrors he

feeling

of

excitement

and

optimism

that

must have

permeated

Rome

in

the

20s

B.c.,

with new

buildings

going up

all

over'.30

Virgil

must

surely

be

playing

on

these

feelings

when he

establishes

the

city-building

heme

at the

outset

of

his

poem.

Though

he

supervised

building operations

there

for a

short time

in

Book

4,

Aeneas

did not

build

Carthage,

but

Augustus

did

-

as

a

Roman

colony.31

The

second

passage

I

wish to

refer

to is

placed

with even

greater

empha-

sis.

It

is the

climactic

picture

on

the

shield

in

Book

8,

when

Virgil

describes

Augustus'

triple

triumph

in

August

29

B.c.:

at

Caesar,

triplici

invectus

Romana

triumpho

moenia,

dis

Italis

votum

immortale

sacrabat,



220

AENEAS,

AUGUSTUS,

AND THE

THEME

OF THE

CITY

maxima er centum otam

delubra

er

urbem.

laetitia

udisque

iae

plausuque

remebant;

omnibus

n

templis

matrum

horus,

mnibus

rae;

antearas erram aesistravereuvenci.

ipse

sedensniveo

candentisimine

Phoebi

dona

recognoscit

opulorum ptatque uperbis

postibus;

ncedunt ictae

ongo

ordine

entes,

quam

variae

inguis,

habitu amvestiset

armis....

(8.714-23)

But

Caesarwas

riding

ntoRome

n

triple riumph,

ayingundying

ows o the

gods

of

Italy

and

consecrating

hreehundred

reat

shrines

hroughout

he

city.

The streetsresounded

with

joy

and festivitiesand

applause.

here

was

a chorusof matrons

t

every

emple,

at

every

emple

herewere

altars

and he

ground

before

he

altarswas strewnwith

he

bodies

of slaughteredullocks.He himselfwas seatedat the whitemarble hreshold f gleaming

white

Apollo, nspecting

he

giftsbrought

efore

him

by

the

peoples

f the earth

and

hang-

ing

them

high

on the

posts

of the doorsof

the

temple,

while

he defeated ationswalked

n

long

procession

n all

theirdifferent ostumes nd

n

all

their

different

rmour,

peaking

ll

the

tongues

of

the

earth.

Lines

715-16

specifically

efer

o

Augustus' uilding rogramme,

nd

ook

forward to the

passage

from

Res Gestae

already

quoted.

But then

we seem

to take

off

into the realms

of

fantasy

(to

make

use

of

Fordyce's

word)32

when

Virgil

desribes

Augustus

as

sitting

before

the

temple

of

Apollo

reviewingthe captive nationsgoing by. For a normal Romantriumphwas

simply

not like

this.

It would end

up

not

on

the Palatine where

Apollo's

temple

stood,33

but

on the

Capitoline.

We have

an account

of

the

triumphs

of

29

B.c.

from

Dio

Cassius

(51.21.5-9)

who makes the

point

that,

save

in

respect

of

Augustus'

place

in

the

procession,

they

were conducted

in

the

conventional

anner

(Ka-rda

7

VOL

tu6ftEvov,

51.21.9).

o

the

setting

n

the

Palatine nd

Augustus'

eview

f the

conquered

ationshere

revouched

for

neither

by history

nor

by

precedent

and

certainly

draw

emphatic

attention

o

themselves.

A

second

puzzle

s the fact thatthe

temple

of

Apollo

on

the

Palatine

was

incomplete

at the time

of the

triple

triumph

n the summerof 29. It

had

been

begun

in

36 and was

dedicated

n

28.

If

we

wish to steer clear

of

Fordyce's

view

of a

Virgilian

antasy,

we can

suggest

a reasonable

his-

torical

olution

o thesetwo

puzzles.

The

triumphal rocession

ould

have

moved n

after

reaching

ts

normal estinationn

the

Capitol

o

present

spoils

to

Augustus

while

he

sat at

the entrance to the

magnificent

uncompletedemple

to

the

god

of Actiumon the

Palatine.34

his would

havebeena superbcoupde the'dtre.nd t maybe significanthattheonly

parts

of the

temple

specifically

mentioned

by

Virgil

are the limen

and

postes

(720

and

722).3

This would be consistent

wih

the situation

n

August



AENEAS,

AUGUSTUS,

AND

THE

THEME

OF THE

CITY

221

29

B.c.

when

these elements

would

have been

completed though building

was

still

going

on elsewhere in the

temple.

If we

accept

this

solution,

the

poet

is

bringing

nto

his

work

a

description

of

a

major

Augustan building

n

the

process

of

being

erected.

Whether

Virgil

is

dealing

in fact or

fantasy,

we must now ask

ourselves

why

he

lays

such

stress

on

this

particular

building.

The

temple

of

Apollo

was

in fact a

keystone

of

Augustus'

building programme,

one

which,

together

with

the

Mausoleum,

he concentrated

on,

despite

other

commit-

ments.36

t

was

a

project

that

was

intensely

personal

to

him,

built

when his

house was hit

by

lightning

(Suet.

Aug.

29.3)

and connected to it

by

a

ramp.

It constituted

the climactic

statement of the

identification

with

Apollo

that

had played so significant a part in his propaganda (cf., of course, the

previous

picture

on

the

shield,

8.704-5).37

Here we have the

major

Augustan

building

of

Virgil's

day.

In

giving

the

Augustan

building programme

a recurrent

place

and these

two moments

of colossal

emphasis

in

the

Aeneid,

Virgil

is

doing

far

more

than

merely

direct our attention to

some of

Augustus'

buildings.

He

is in

fact

incorporating

hese

buildings

nto the

literary

texture of

his

poem,

and

they

respond

to and

fill

the

vacuum

suggested by

the

city

theme which we

explored

earlier

in this

article.

Virgil

celebrates

the achievements of

Aeneas, the founderof the Roman race but clearlynot of Rome itself, and

of

Romulus,

who founded Rome

but

a Rome

of humble thatch.

He

also

celebrates a third

founder,

the

great

imperial

builder

Augustus

-

who,

the

poet

asserts,

not

only

recreated

the

idea

of Rome

embodied

n

the character

of

Aeneas,

but constructed its

very

bricks,

mortar and

marble.

Augustus

the builder

is one of the

great

heroes of the

Aeneid.

It

is

in

him that

the

themes

of

city

and

builder become

one.

NOTES

*

This

article

began

life as a

talk

at

Phillips

Exeter

Academy

n

New

Hampshire.

When delivered

n

a

revised form at Newcastle

University,

it received most

helpful

criticism.

David

West

has

generously

given

permission

for the use of

his

new

prose

translation

of the

Aeneid

(Penguin,

1990)

for the

render-

ings

into

English.

1. 'altae

moenia

Romae'

(1.7)

and 'Troiae

sub

moenibus

altis'

(1.95).

2. From about 400

(The

Aeneid

of Virgil,

Books

1-6,

ed. T.

E.

Page

(London, 1894),

n. ad

loc.).

3. For a

fine

aerial view

of

the two

artificial

harbour

basins

at

Carthage

which

go

back to

the Punic

period,

see

The

OxfordHistory of

the Classical

World,

edd.

Boardman,

Griffin

and

Murray

(Oxford,

1986),

p.

583.

4. Contrast the barbarityand perfidyof the Carthaginians n standardRoman thought.See P. G.

Walsh,

Livzy

Cambridge, 1961), pp.

104-5,

and

Livy

21.4.9

(of

Hannibal):

...

inhumana

crudelitas,

perfidia plus quam

Punica,

nihil

veri,

nihil

sancti,

nullus

deum

metus,

nullum

ius

iurandum,

nulla

religio'.



222

AENEAS,

AUGUSTUS,

AND

THE THEME OF

THE

CITY

5.

See P.

Zanker, ThePower

of Images

n

the-Age

of

Augustus,

trans. A.

Shapiro

(Michigan,

1988),

pp.

147,

148.

The monolithic columns

implied

by

1.428-9

belong

to the

Augustan

era.

6. The 'down-motifs'

occur

in

2.290, 306-7,

310, 426, 432, 446-7,

449, 458-9, 464-7, 492-3,

505,

532, 565-6, 571, 575, 603, 608-12, 624-31,

653.

Note how the book ends on

an

'up'

(804)-

a

striking

hint of optimism.

7. See above

all

11.

21

where the river rushes over the

plain.

8.

Earlier in 3

(303-4)

Andromache has made

offerings

to

a

tomb that is 'inanis'

-

'empty'

of

Hector's

corpse,

but also

a

'futile' monument to

a

past

which is as

dead

as

Hector. Cf the word

'effigiem' (497).

The

key

text here

is

Panthus' comment

at

2.325-6: 'fuimus

Troes,

fuit Ilium et

ingens/

gloria

Teucrorum'

('The

Trojans

are

no

more.

Ilium has

come

to an

end and with it the

great

glory

of

the race

of

Teucer').

9.

Virgil

has

presented

this section with less than

full

narrative

clarity.

We

are not told about the

work

starting

up

again, only

that it

has

done so.

But

the

poet's point

is made

thematically.

Dido's

leadership

s

symbolized

by

her

organization

of

the

building

of

Carthage.

Her

leadership

breaks down.

Before

long

we see Aeneas

as

the

organizer.

He

is

now the leader

-

but

of

the

wrong people

in

the

wrong

city.

10.

E.

L. Harrison

(edd.

Woodman

&

West, Poetry

and Politics

in the

Age ofAugustus(Cambridge,

1984),

p. 101)

finds

it

extraordinary

that

Virgil

should

have shown

Carthage being

built,

not built

already:

...

the

epic

is lumbered with

a

strange.

mixture of

work

in

progress

on

the one

hand and

finished

masterpieces

on the

other.' One answer

s

that

Virgil

wished to focus

on

the act

of

building.

See

1.366.

11.

fatisque

datas non

respicit

urbes

('without

a

thought

for the

cities

granted

him

by

the

Fates')

(4.225).

Mercury

refers

to

Aeneas's

activity

as 'otia'

(271).

To

build

Carthage

is to

neglect

the

serious

business

of

founding

the

Roman race

(tantae

molis

erat.

..,

1.33).

12.

SeeJ.

Morwood,

JRS

75

(1985),

55.

On

the word

'uxorius',

see

R.

O.

A. M.

Lyne,

Words

nd the

Poet

(Oxford, 1989), pp.

46-8.

13.

During

the

siege

the

Tyrians

sent

away

the old

men,

women

and children to

Carthage.

14. 'Dido's death means the death of her own

Carthage,

and it foreshadows

he

ultimate destruction

of the city' (Aeneid4, ed. R. G. Austin (Oxford, 1973) n. 669 (in a fine passage)).For the imageryof

Dido herself as a

city

under

siege,

captured

and

abandoned,

see

1.673,

719 and

4.330.

15.

Contrary

to

popular

mythology

the site

was

not

sown with

salt.

A

curse was

pronounced

on

it.

16. See

e.g.

R.

D.

Williams,

The

Aeneid

(London, 1987), p.

80.

17.

See

Morwood,

art.

cit.,

59.

18.

That

passionate

Virgilian

Hector Berlioz ended

his

opera

The

Trojans

with

a

vision

of the eternal

city rising

behind Dido's

pyre.

19. Its humble state is

stamped

all

over Evander's settlement. For

the

thatch,

see 8.654.

In

Virgil's

day

there was a straw-thatchedhut on the Palatine

Hill

called the House of

Romulus and

a

repro-

duction

on the

Capitoline.

The

original

was restored when

damaged

but never

made

more

grand

(D.H.1.79.11).

Situated

near

the scalae

Caci,

it

would

inevitably

come to mind for

Roman

readers

of

Book 8. See G.

Binder,

Aeneas und

Augustus

(Meisenheim

am

Glan,

1971), p.

186.

For

the

unimpres-

siveness of Rome

when

Augustus

came to

power,

see

Zanker,op. cit.,p.

19.

20.

Further

Augustan buildings,

completions

and restorations take

up

the next

one and a half

chapters.

21. Suet.

Aug.

28.3;

cf.

Aen.

8.98-100,

a

translation nto hexameter verse

of

Augustus's

boast.

22.

A new

temple

to

Apollo

is vowed

by

Aeneas to

Apollo

at 6.69-74. Aeneas' vow

was to

be

fulfilled

by Augustus

when

he built the

temple

to

Apollo

on the

Palatine.

After

the

death of

Lepidus

n

13

B.c.

he

stored

the

Sibylline

books

(cf.3.452-7)

under the

pedestal

of the statue

of

the

god

there

(Suet. Aug.

31).

This

seems

to me characteristic

of the

way

in

which

Augustus

came to echo

Virgil's

poem

in his

archi-

tectural statements.

The colonnades

surrounding

the

temple

of Mars

Ultor,

dedicated in

2

B.c.,

contained

statues of famous

Romans in

niches.

Was this

inspired

by

the

poet's

pageant

of heroes

(Aen.

6.755-886)?

23. See

Zanker,

op.

cit.,

pp.

73-4,

76: 'The monument was

first

of

all a

demonstration

of

its

patron's

great

power.....

[Its]

sheer size

far

overshadowed

all

earlier

such

stuctures

in

Rome....'

It became

known as tumulusJuliorum cf.6.874).

24. The reference here

is

in

fact to

Leucate,

some 30

or

40 miles south of Actium.See R.

D.

Williams

ed.

The

Aeneid

of

Virgil,

Books

1-6

(London, 1972),

n. 3.274

f.:

'Virgil

.. combines Leucas

and

Actium

into

a

single stage

without

reconciling

the

geographical

facts.'



AENEAS, AUGUSTUS,

AND THE

THEME

OF

THE

CITY

223

25.

JRS

4

(1914),

193-226.

See

Prop.4.1.3-4:tque

ubiNavalistant

acra

Palatia

Phoebo,/Evandri

profugaeprocubuere

oves

('and

where the Palatium sacred to naval Phoebus

stands,

the exiledcattle

of

Evander

sank to the

ground').

26.

Virgil,

Aeneid

8,

ed.

Gransden

(Cambridge,

1976), pp.

30-2.

27. Richmond

(art.

cit.,

201,

214 and

215)

strongly

supports

this

identification.

7.183

may

well look

forward to 8.721-2

as well as back to

3.286-7.

28.

'The

emotional

impact

of this

experience

can

hardly

be over-estimated'

Zanker,

op.

cit.,

p. 154).

29.

Harrison

(op.

cit.,

p.

96)

counsels

us

against

'(for example)

reading

too

much into

Virgil's

reference

to

strata viarum

(1.422),

however

tempting

it

might

be to recall that the

wide,

straight

roads

of

Roman

Carthage

were

its most

celebrated

feature'. But

why

is such caution

necessary?

After

all,

in

1.427

Virgil

could well

be

referring

to the

enlargement

of the harbours which occurred

during

the

Augustan

colonization

(E.

Lennox

Manton,

Roman North

Africa,

London, 1988,

p. 103).

For

a

useful

summary

of the work

of French scholars on the

identification

of Dido's

Carthage

with

Augustus'

colony,

see

J.-M.

Lassere,

UbiquePopulus

(Paris,

1977),

p.

206.

30.

Zanker,

op.

cit.,

p.

154.

31.

It was called Colonia

Iulia

Concordia

Carthago.

There

is

a

tomb here which carries the

name L.

Vergilius.Lassere(op.cit.,pp. 163-4) dates this to the secondhalf of the first century(to the coloniza-

tion of Caesar

n

46).

If

I

may

be

forgiven

for

dallying

with

pure conjecture,

I

put

forward

he

possibility

that the

poet

had one or

more relatives in the new

colony

who

kept

him

informed of

building

develop-

ments there.

32.

Virg.

Aen.

7-8,

ed.

C.J.

Fordyce

(Oxford,

1977),

n.

8.

720ff.

33. There

was

a

temple

of

Apollo

in

Circo

to

the west of the

Capitol.

But the

Augustan

theme makes

the

identification

with

Augustus'

temple

on the

Palatine

irresistible.

n

any

case,

C. Sosius'

rebuilding

of

the former

temple

was not

finished

until after the

completion

of

Augustus'

on the

Palatine,

and its

frieze

illustrated

Augustus'

triple triumph.

The

triumphal procession

went round but not

up

the

Palatine

with

its

hut

of Romulus

(E.

Kiinzl,

Der

romische

Triumph Munich,

1988), p. 16).

34.

A

certain colour is

given

to

this

solution

by

the fact

that,

at

another

great

Augustan

extrava-

ganza,

the Ludi

Saeculares

of 17

B.c.,

Horace's

Carmen

Saeculare

was

sung

both on

the Palatine and on

the

Capitol

(Cambridge

Ancient

History,

Vol.X

(1934),

p.

478).

35.

Just

as

Augustus hangs

the

offerings

from

previous

enemies on the

posts

of the doorsof

Apollo's

temple

on the

Palatine,

so had

Aeneas

hung

a

Greek

enemy's

shield from the

doorposts

of the

god's

temple

at Actium

(3.286-8).

But in the

latter

case,

the

Greeks

had

been the winners

(victoribus,

3.288

-

R. D.

Williams,

Aeneid

7-12

(London, 1972),

n. ad

loc.),

while in

Augustus'

case he is

very

much the

victor

(though

observe the hints of

trouble

in

8.728).

36.

Zanker,

op.

cit.,

p.

72:

Augustus

'concentrated

all

his

energy

on

the

two

buildings

which

were to

be

the clearest statements

of

self-glorification.

..' K.

Chisholm and

J.

Ferguson

refer

to the Palatine

temple

as

'Augustus' greatest

foundation'

(Rome,

The

AugustanAge

(Oxford, 1981), p.

150).

It 'was

one of the most

splendidtemples

in

Rome. First to

be built

of

the brilliant

white marblefrom

Carrara,

t

was

elaborately

decorated,

and

extravagantly

praised.'

(ibid., p.

195).

37.

In

the

library

attached to the

temple

of

Apollo,

Augustus

had

a

statue set

up

which showed

him

as

Apollo Caesar

ibi

n

bibliothecatatuam

osuerat

d habitumt

staturam

pollinisSchol.

Crug.

o

Hor. Epist.1.3.17)).There was gossip about a feast of the twelve gods, staged by Octavian and his

friends.

Octavian

appeared

dressed

as

Apollo

(Zanker,

op.

cit.,

p.

49;

Suet.

Aug. 70).

The

Apollinine

propagandamay

have started

early;

see

Suet.

Aug.

94 for

Atia's

incubation and

Octavius's

dream.

The

podium

of the

great

statue

to

Apollo

of

Actium ouside

the

temple

on

the Palatine

was decked

out

with

captured

rostra

Zanker,

op.

cit.,

p.

85).

They

are in fact

three-pronged ibid.,

fig.

68)

like those

at

Aen.

8.690.

aeneas, augustus, and the theme of the city

Documents