Alicia Matz, Boston University
Although Grattius begins his Cynegetica with an invocation to Diana as the goddess of the hunt, scholars have noted that he sets himself up as the expert in hunting rather than as a conduit of the goddess (Anderson 1985; Fanti 2018; Tsakhaki 2018). And yet, as Henderson has pointed out, Diana “echoes through the programme,” even if it seems like a “carapace of pious puffery” (Henderson 2001, 9). In this paper, I will argue that Grattius’ choice of Diana as muse reflects her particular importance to Augustus. Grattius portrays her as engaged in three Augustan activities allegorically represented by hunting in the poem: ‘civilizing’ through imperialism, moral reform, and religious renewal.
In the Cynegetica, Diana, as a patroness of hunting, also becomes patroness of imperialism. In the proem, Grattius calls upon Ratio, through which rectus ordo (7-8) is produced, new skills are created (contiugas…artis, 8), and violence disappears (hinc…retro, 9). By aligning Diana with Ratio in this way, Grattius depicts hunting as an imperialistic force that brings civilization to others. This characterization echoes her treatment in Augustus’ regime, where new temples in colonies were built using the regulations of Diana’s Aventine cult as a template (Price 1996, 845; Cooley 2006, 245) and her role in the Ludi Saeculares helps further the festival’s imperialistic goals as laid out by the Sibylline oracle (FGrH 257 F 37.67-9)
Grattius also depicts hunting as a tool of moral reform. When speaking about how to raise the best hunting dogs, Grattius states that the best mothers are those reserved for uni…marito (280). This depiction of breeding hunting dogs draws upon Diana’s own role in Augustus’ moral reforms. In the Carmen Saeculare, Horace portrays Diana as the patron goddess of Augustus’ moral legislation by asking her to make prosperous the “decrees about marrying women and the marriage law for new and abundant children” (decreta super iugandis / feminis prolisque novae feraci / lege marita, Horace CS 18-20). By framing dog-breeding in similar terms, Grattius is drawing upon his muse’s pre-established relationship with Augustus’ moral reform.
Finally, Grattius also makes Diana an important goddess of health and healing in a way that mirrors her prominent role in Augustan religion. Towards the end of the extant poem, when discussing treatment for ill dogs, Grattius says that if nothing else works, the owner can always pray to Diana for help (479-96). Although Ratio and Grattius were the emphasized praeceptores of hunting, as Henderson notes, with these lines they take a backseat (Henderson 2001, 16) and “Grattius vindicates religio from Lucretian scorn” (Henderson 2001, 21). In this vindication of religio, Grattius takes Augustus as his model: Grattius venerates the goddess through his poem and the princeps featured Diana prominently in his religious reforms with temple renovations (Glinister 2020, 52) and an affiliation with the Lares (Ovid Fasti 5.132-46). By turning attention to the political aspects of this much-neglected poem, my paper adds new dimensions to our knowledge of the religious elements of Augustan ideology and iconography.