In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Michael Ehrman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >I'm am working on a research paper that hopes to arrive at some >conclusion that relates Augustus patronage of Vergil to the Aeneid. My >feeling is that one of the purposes of writing the Aeneid was so that >the Romans could "feel good" about themselves, and also that Augustus >would be able to take and maintain control of the empire. I see the >Aeneid as being a powerful tool of Augustine Propoganda. My paper also >seeks to relate other works of literature in more modern times to >political issues (ex: _Uncle_Tom's_Cabin_ and the issue of slavery). >Any comments, suggestions, of direction towards research materials would >be GREATLY appreciated.
If you mean that Vergil was, in some sense, commissioned to write the _Aeneid_, you will have to engage with Peter White, _Promised Verse: Poets in the Society of Augustan Rome' (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993), which denies this widely accepted model of Augustan literary life. Of course, there is nothing to stop Vergil writing 'Augustan propaganda' on his own initiative; the notion that poets are natural oppositionists and support the government only when they have been bought is sheer bosh. List-members will know I have made no secret of my own view that Vergil (a) was sincerely pro-Augustus and (b) had no earthly reason not to be; so of course I am sympathetic to your account of his purpose, but I emphasize the word 'his'. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Leofranc Holford-Strevens 67 St Bernard's Road usque adeone Oxford scire MEVM nihil est, nisi ME scire hoc sciat alter? OX2 6EJ tel. +44 (0)1865 552808(home)/267865(work) fax +44 (0)1865 512237 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (home) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (work) -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. You will just prove to everyone that you can't read directions. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body.
