Augustan Rome

This paper analyses the solitary instance of a monumental Latin inscription in De architectura. Attributed to one Diognetus of Rhodes near the end of end of the treatise, the inscription is almost surely a Vitruvian invention, as is the narrative in which Vitruvius embeds it (cf. Plu. Demetr. 21). In combination, both the inscription and its context offer a powerful and a literal example of the recent suggestion (Lowrie 2009) that successful Vitruvian monuments are in some sense 'legible.'

Beneath the elegiac topos of the Propertian amator in thrall to his mistress’s beauty and talents, Elegy 2.3 rhetorically enacts Rome’s rivalry with and appropriation of Greek culture within the imperial context of Roman geographic conquest. Analysis of the poem’s use of spatial and cartographic imagery reveals Cynthia as a variable symbol of Roman imperialist expansion, with both her appearance and her artistic skills suggestive of Roman culture imitating, assimilating, and ultimately aspiring to eclipse its Greek forerunners and origins.

Among the conspirators who are alleged by later historians to have plotted against the princeps Augustus, the senator Marcus Egnatius Rufus presents a peculiar case. According to Cassius Dio and Velleius Paterculus, Egnatius obtained the popularity of the Roman people and a series of offices in succession. When the presiding consul blocked him from canvassing for the consulship in 18 B.C., Egnatius conspired against the life of Augustus (Vell. Pat. 2.91-92; Cass. Dio, 53.24). But his plans were detected and he and his co-conspirators were imprisoned and executed.

In this paper, I explore the dialogue between princeps and poets surrounding the 23 BCE death of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Augustus’ nephew, son-in-law, and potential heir. Scholarly treatments of Marcellus’ passing often focus on a single reaction (see, e.g., Falkner, Freudenburg, Shaya), but a synoptic analysis reveals the debate about the youth’s commemorative value.