Reasons for commissioning/accepting the Aeneid

AUGUSTUS, PATRON?
 What do we know?
 The Aeneid is a Roman epic poem by Virgil, written between
29 B.C. and 19 B.C., concerning the founding legends of
Rome.
It deals with the journey of Aeneas from Troy to Italy and the
ensuing battles to establish Rome.
Virgil was known to the Imperial court of the time as a poet, based
on the success of his Eclogues and Georgics.
 It is unlikely that Augustus truly commissioned the Aeneid,
but as Virgil would have wanted Augustus as his patron to be
pleased with the work, he made many references to
Augustus and his rise to power.
 Virgil tells the story of Aeneas because of its relation to
Roman history and because he believes it has reference to
contemporary Rome.
 Augustus and the Civil War
 Antony, Octavian and Lepidus formed the Second
Triumvirate in 43 B.C. and turned their attentions to
Caesar's assassins, defeating them in Greece at the
battle of Philippi (42 B.C.).
 Antony's involvement with Cleopatra and divorce of
Octavia resulted in the alienation of Antony and Octavian.
Antony's plan to use Egypt to unite the eastern Mediterranean
under his rule pushed him further from Octavian.
The resulting civil war was ended by the defeat of Antony and
Cleopatra at Actium in 31 B.C. After Octavian's victory, he
started a program of restoring order by reuniting the Roman
present with its old moral, religious and political traditions.
 Augustus and the Civil War
 Octavian pretended to restore the old
Roman republic, but his control of the
army and the finances meant he was in
charge of the empire.
 In 27 B.C. the senate awarded him the title
'Augustus' symbolising his position of
authority within the state. Octavian was
welcomed as a saviour by the Roman
people for ending the civil war and bringing
peace to Rome.
 Relevance:
Augustus and the Julian Clan
 There are many parallels in the Aeneid
to the rise to power of Augustus.
The basic, the entire story of the destruction
of Troy and the resulting wanderings of
Aeneas before founding a new state in Italy
is a connection to Roman history of the first
century B.C.
including the destruction of the Republic,
civil war, and the creation of peace and
order by Augustus.
 Relevance:
Augustus and the Julian Clan
 There are many similarities of Augustus and Aeneas
leading us to identify one with the other.
Augustus claims Aeneas as his ancestor so to does Virgil.
... standing and listening with all their attention while his
words command their passions and soothe their hearts'
(Aeneid Book II Lines 2-4)
Augustus was the master of propaganda
Augustus would be shown an image of heroic splendor,
moral elevation and true patriotism, this can be a form of
pressure on the ruler to live up to these virtues.
Or perhaps Virgil wanted to be the laureate of Rome's
revival.
 Augustan Propaganda

 Augustus had to be presented as a great

military leader, but everyone knew he was ill at
the battle of Philippi and there was very little
actual fighting at Actium.
Virgil uses Aeneas' shield (Aeneid Book VIII Lines
620-730) as a way of creating a symbolic image of
Augustus' victories.
The technique allowed Virgil to evade the problems
created by some of the more less heroic events of
Augustus' rise to power, and to create a strongly
symbolic image of the clash between the Romans
and Mark Antony's Eastern forces.
 Augustan Propaganda

 Virgil explicitly writes about Rome is when Aeneas is in the underworld

and sees the parade of future Roman heroes (Aeneid Book VI Lines
757 ff.).
The context of this is the spirit of Anchises showing Aeneas who is to come
after him when he succeeds in founding Rome, it provides Aeneas with another
push towards his destiny.
Virgil's use of this is to make reference to the glorious history of Rome, and to
show off the past glories of Rome and the Roman myth.
 Augustus himself had no problem with managing his self-image, to the
degree that he was worshipped as a deity in some parts of the empire
even before he died.
Octavian's use of the title of Augustus reflects his interest in religion, including
the imperial cult and his position of Pontifex Maximus
His portrayal to the Roman people was of a third founder of Rome, a bringer of
peace and stability after years of war. His work, the Res Gestae (literally:
'Things Done') was inscribed on the great bronze pillars outside his
mausoleum.
 Problems with the association

 One problem with identifying Aeneas with

Augustus' propaganda image is Aeneas'
actions in Book XII, where for the first time he
is referred to as furens as opposed to pius.
perhaps this is a portion he intended to revise.
could be a reference to Augustus' attacks on his
political enemies, perhaps a commentary by Virgil
on Augustus' overly harsh methods.
Or simply, a way of describing Aeneas' extreme
anger with Turnus for killing Pallas and taking the
baldric as spoil.
 In Conclusion
 The Aeneid is a piece of pro-Augustan propaganda,
but it is more than that, it has elements of Augustan
propaganda within a wider story of Roman founding
myth, elaborated and collated into an epic by Virgil.
 The Roman attitude of respect and worship to
ancestors and the fact that the Julian clan trace
ancestry back to Aeneas means that the story of
Aeneas has particular relevance to the them.
 This re-enforces Augustus' legitimacy by placing
associations with Aeneas and his shield with
Augustus' recent victories, convincing the reader that
it was fate.