There can be no doubt that there is a great difference between the social and economic conditions for patronage in antiquity and for more modern critics; and the a priori notion that the poets' rightful place is in opposition to the establishment does seem to be characteristically modern. On the other hand, the projection of this idea onto ancient Rome, and onto the Augustan Age in particular, is not as anachronistic as some make it out to be. Consider that,
1) while most poets, then as now, were little more than producers of cacata carta, the fact is that a great or even a popular poet was regarded as a marvellous, somewhat uncanny figure - 'divine', as an ancient might say. A major poet was seen as doctus, prudens, sapiens; informed, canny, and wise. For this reason, poets on the level of Vergil and Horace possessed a certain power. Readers knew that they were great men, even if they could not always say why (cf. Propertius' nescio quid maius Iliade). The safest course was simply to praise them, to kick them upstairs into a snug canonicity. 2) Part of their power resided in their unpredictability. Major poets are the constant object of requests for panegyric; most of these commissions they refuse, and they have the luxury of choosing the ones they want. When they accept a commission, the inevitable result is never *just* a piece of panegyric. Callimachus wrote in praise of his patrons on a number of occasions; no doubt Ptolemy and Berenice expected their requests to be fulfilled with something to make the heart throb. Instead what they get are things like a chattering lock of hair, lamenting its apotheosis. The praise is there, sure; but the poem itself is surprising and comes ever so close to being - crazy. Vergil's and Horace's panegyrics can have the same over-the-top character (cf. the prologue to the first Georgic and H's Cleopatra Ode.) Are they being serious? Comic? Laudatory? Cynical? You can't pin them down. That is not an accident of scholarship; it is an essential characteristic of their poems. 3) Precisely because it is so unpredictable, good poetry always has the *potential* to serve as an expression of dissent. 'Dissent', of course, is a broad term - it has to cover phenomena as diverse as Ovid's cheerfully immoral poems (and the carmen that won him exile), Catullus' tiff with Caesar over some lines of poetry, Lucan's hyper-republican epic, with its ambiguous praise of Nero, and Curiatius Maternus, the star of Tacitus' Dialogus, who 'broke the power of Vatinius' in Nero's time by 'reading tragedies'. Now to suppose that Vergil and Horace express not the least amount of dissent or disagreement with Augustus and his policies is naive, I think; two parties can court each other, one seeking verse laudations, the other seeking patronage, without liking each other or even agreeing with each other's politics. The praises Augustus gets from both poets are hard won; and there are clearly other passages in their poetry (like the end of the Aeneid, for one) where Augustus is admonished, even criticized, albeit in an indirect manner, for things he had done or had a tendency to do. At the same time, we may also say that Augustus had an interest in closing his eyes to such passages. Sometimes it is a sign of greatness to ignore dissent, especially when it can be easily ignored (and that is the weakness of a poet's dissent: that it is so easily ignored). Philip Thibodeau Brown University >Exactly: where does all this guff about poets' rightful place being in >opposition, this restriction of their rights of free speech to anti- >government or anti-establishment activities, come from? From the >decision by the holders of power, wealth, and influence in the >eighteenth and later centuries that they did not need poets' praises in >order to maintain their standing, and therefore weren't going to pay for >it, or in the case of monarchs after the Glorious Revolution had no >interest in the talents of their Poets Laureate, only in their loyalty. >(Contrast the first Laureate Dryden, as great a poet and as unscrupulous >a Minster of Propaganda as Claudian himself.) They were still prepared >to pay for portraits, however, which is why painters, by this curious >pseudomorality, are allowed to paint favourable pictures of persons whom >poets are expected either to ignore or to denounce. The rulers and >commanders who killed thousands on the battlefield had their >panegyrists, because they wanted them; the businessmen who make killings >on the Stock Exchange are reviled because none of that money comes the >poets' way. Poets will forgive everything except being ignored; and even >if Augustus was not so deeply involved in Vergil's and Horace's projects >as some have thought, he certainly did not ignore them. It would be >absurd to expect, as a matter of principle, that they should not praise >him, when real despots, far worse than the most embittered Republican or >Antonian ever thought Augustus, still have their laureates if they seek >them: Ceaus,escu in Romania had his court poets, who lived rather better >than most of their compatriots. As Brecht put it in 'Die Musen' > >Wenn der Eiserne sie pr�gelt >Singen die Musen lauter. >Aus gebl�uten Augen >Himmeln sie ihn h�ndisch an. >Der Hintern zuckt vor Schmerz >Die Scham vor Begierde. > >When the Man of Iron thrashes them, the Muses sing louder. Out of >blackened eyes they gaze on him in canine adoration. The backside >twitches with pain, the pudendum with lust. > >Augustus had a much better right to their praise than that. > >Leofranc Holford-Strevens >*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_* > >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. >Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message >"unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). 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