Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T13:50:01.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Poet and the Praetor: Travel Narratives from Early Second-Century Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2015

Andrew Turner*
Affiliation:
The University of Melbourne, [email protected]

Extract

Travel was an inescapable fact of life for the citizens of early second-century CE Rome. People constantly travelled from Rome to Italy, from Rome to the provinces, and from the provinces to Rome; on business, public or private, as immigrants, or for personal reasons, including health and tourism. News of travel was also ever present. In a rigidly hierarchical society which paid continual homage to the princeps, but which also maintained the fiction that his actions were accountable to the Roman people, his extensive travels throughout Italy and the provinces were constantly documented and available for all citizens to see – through inscriptions, through panegyric, and through coins.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Australasian Society for Classical Studies 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 The appearance of the profectio and aduentus motifs in Domitian's coinage, and their development under Trajan and Hadrian, are discussed in Halfmann, H., Itinera principum: Geschichte und Typologie der Kaiserreisen im römischen Reich (Stuttgart 1986) 145–6Google Scholar.

2 For an argument that Umbricius' interlocutor should not necessarily be identified with Juvenal, given the generic convention established by Lucilius that satire is expressed exclusively through autobiographical monologue, see Braund, S.M., Juvenal: Satires Book I (Cambridge 1996) 2-3 and 229Google Scholar.

3 For views that the persona of Juv. 15 is not meant to be identified with the author, but rather is gradually revealed as a bigot progressively discredited by the author, see Anderson, W.S., ‘Juvenal Satire 15: Cannibals and Culture’, in Boyle, A.J. (ed.), The Imperial Muse: Ramus Essays on Roman Literature of the Empire: To Juvenal through Ovid (Berwick 1988) 203–14Google Scholar, and McKim, R., ‘Philosophers and Cannibals: Juvenal's Fifteenth Satire’, Phoenix 40 (1986) 5871CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For the ways in which the setting of this poem in Egypt plays off and undermines a discussion in Cicero of Egyptian uirtas, see Keane, C., ‘Philosophy into Satire: The Program of Juvenal's Fifth Book’, AJP 128 (2007) 2757, at 41-8Google Scholar.

4 See Braund (n. 2) 228 for discussion of how this particular incident plays on the stock depiction of the displaced herdsman leaving his homeland (cf. Virg. Eel. 1.83).

5 For ways in which these accounts relate to themes closely associated with the city itself, such as the circus and the arena, see Larmour, D.H.J., ‘Holes in the Body: Sites of Abjection in Juvenal's Rome’, in Larmour, D.H.J. and Spencer, D. (eds), The Sites of Rome: Time, Space, Memory (Oxford 2007) 168-210, at 179-80 and 187Google Scholar.

6 Laguna Mariscal, G., ‘Satirical Elements in Statius’ Silvae: A Literary and Sociological Approach’, in Nauta, R. R., van Dam, H.-J., and Smolenaars, J. J. L. (eds), Flavian Poetry (Leiden 2006) 245-55, at 249Google Scholar.

7 Compare the discussion of Merli, E., ‘Identity and Irony: Martial's Tenth Book, Horace, and the Tradition of Roman Satire’, in Flavian Poetry (n. 6) 257–70Google Scholar. Her analysis relies to a certain extent on the assumption that Martial's poems dealing with his prospective return to Spain are part of a wider scheme which includes the travels of his patrons (‘the choice of topics is strongly determined by his imminent return to Spain: seven epigrams deal with the return, and six others either address friends … about to depart for vacation or embark on long journeys, or praise peaceful, pleasant country estates and seaside residences’, 259), but for discussion of the possibility that the Spanish poems may be late inclusions in the text, made when Martial revised it after Domitian's assassination, see n. 44 below.

8 See, L. and Watson, P. (eds), Martial: Select Epigrams (Cambridge 2003) 143–4Google Scholar.

9 Cichorius, C., Untersuchungen zu Lucilius (reprinted Zürich/Berlin 1964) 261Google Scholar.

10 The indebtedness of Horace to Lucilius was noted by the third-century commentator, Pomp-onius Porphyrio (Porph. Hor. Sat. 1.5).

11 Gowers, E., ‘Horace, Satires 1.5: An Inconsequential Journey’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 39 (1993) 48-66, at 49Google Scholar; see also 62 n. 9 for a list of related poems.

12 Compare the comments of Rimell, V., ‘The Satiric Maze: Petronius, Satire, and the Novel’, in Freudenburg, K. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire (Cambridge 2005) 160-73, at 170–2Google Scholar.

13 E.g. by Gowers (n. 11) 62 n. 9. See Vita Persi 45, in Clausen, W.V. (ed.), A. Persi Flacci et D. Iuni Iuuenalis Satarae (Oxford 1959, revised 1992)Google Scholar, where the manuscript reading is +opericon+ the reliability of and sources for this Vita are discussed by Schmidt, P.L. in Brill's New Pauly 10.828–9Google Scholar.

14 von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, U., Griechische Verskunst, 2nd edn (Bad Homburg 1958) 42Google Scholar n. 1.

15 See Knoche, U., Die Römische Satire, 3rd edn (Göttingen 1971) 45Google Scholar.

16 Cf. Muecke, F., ‘Rome's First “Satirists”: Themes and Genre in Ennius and Lucilius’, in Freudenburg, (n. 12) 33-47, at 42Google Scholar.

17 Rüpke, J., ‘Wer las Caesars bella als commentarii?’, Gymnasium 99 (1992) 201–25, at 201Google Scholar.

18 For the topographical imagery employed here by Juvenal, its further relevance to ideas of battle and the circus, and a possible inspiration from Ovid (Am, 3.15.2-3), see Larmour (n. 5) 178-9.

19 Rimell, V., ‘The Poor Man's Feast: Juvenal’, in Freudenburg, (n. 12) 8194, at 83Google Scholar.

20 For the relevance of this particular destination in terms of the poem's overall meaning, see Braund (n. 2) 232-3.

21 E.g. translatus subito ad Marsos mensamque Sabellam (3.169)Google Scholar; quis … timuit gelida Praeneste ruinam, / aut positis nemorosa inter iuga Volsiniis…? (3.190–1)Google Scholar etc.

22 Bond, R., Urbs satirica: The City in Roman Satire with Special Reference to Horace and Juvenal’, Scholia 10 (2001) 77-91, at 91Google Scholar.

23 Braund (n. 2) 230-1.

24 For discussion of this issue, see Campbell, B., ‘Teach Yourself How To Be a General’, JRS 77 (1987) 1329Google Scholar. Note also the remark of Braund (n. 2) 231: ‘This [sc. use of literary models] does not mean that none of these details can be drawn from “real life”, but it establishes that the literary tradition is another important element in the appreciation of Satire 3.’

25 See Baines, V., ‘Umbricius’ Bellum dulie: Juvenal, Satire 3’, G&R 50 (2003) 220–37Google Scholar; Connors, C., ‘Epic Allusion in Roman Satire’, in Freudenburg, (n. 12) 123-45, at 138–40Google Scholar.

26 Braund (n. 2)231, 236.

27 Larmour (n. 5) 192.

28 Gowers (n. 11)49.

29 For the suggestion that this may have been a rare occurrence, see Sherwin-White, A.N., The Letters of Pliny: A Historical and Social Commentary (Oxford 1966) 386Google Scholar. But Sherwin-White's argument is based solely on the rhetorical point that Pliny does not provide a third fabula according to the scholastica lex which he mentions at Ep. 2.20.9.

30 Discussed by Watson and Watson (n. 8) 3.

31 For discussion of senatorial factionalism in the early years of Trajan which lurks below the polished surface of Pliny's correspondence, see Eck, W., ‘An Emperor is Made: Senatorial Politics and Trajan's Adoption by Nerva in 97’, in Clark, G. and Rajak, T. (eds), Philosophy and Power in the Graeco-Roman World: Essays in Honour of Miriam Griffin (Oxford 2002) 211–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Pliny's own circle, as well as the prominent contemporary figures who are not mentioned in his correspondence, have been the subject of a number of studies, summarised in Aubrion, E., ‘La “Correspondance” de Pline le Jeune: Problèmes et orientations actuelles de la recherche’, ANRW 2.33.1 (1989) 304-74, at 343Google Scholar.

32 For the dates of the letters, see Aubrion (n. 31) 318-19, and for Trajan's travels, Halfmann (n. 1) 184-5.

33 Braund, S.M., ‘Praise and Protreptic in Early Imperial Panegyric: Cicero, Seneca, Pliny’, in Whitby, M. (ed.), The Propaganda of Power: The Role of Panegyric in Late Antiquity (Leiden 1998) 33-76, at 64–5Google Scholar.

34 For discussion of the comparison drawn by Pliny between the aduentus of Domitian and Trajan, see also Seelentag, G., Taten und Tugenden Traians: Herrschaftsdarstellung im Principat (Stuttgart 2004) 273–4Google Scholar.

35 Seelentag (n. 34) 22-3.

36 Seelentag (n. 34)113.

37 The (perhaps apocryphal) story of Hadrian racing to be first to announce Nerva's death to Trajan illustrates the importance of access; when his carriage was sabotaged by his jealous brother-in-law, Hadrian completed the journey on foot (Hist. Aug, Hadr. 2.6). See Seelentag (n. 34) 54-5.

38 For discussion of the titles contained in the first coin issues for Trajan, and of the uncertainties expressed in Pliny's first letter to him (Ep. 10.1), see Seelentag (n. 34) 57-61 and 62-77.

39 Seelentag (n. 34) 198-211.

40 For an argument that Juvenal intended Eppia's behaviour to be understood as representative of immorality under Domitian, see Ramage, E.S., ‘Juvenal and the Establishment: Denigration of Predecessor in the “Satires”’, ANRW 2.33.1 (1989) 640-707, at 691–2Google Scholar. Ramage's argument depends mainly on identification of the figures, Paris and Veiiento, mentioned in the poem (6.87, 113) with historical figures who flourished under Domitian, which is by no means assured; besides the famous pantomimus Paris who flourished under Domitian, there was another of this name under Nero (see Brill's New Pauly 10.534–5Google Scholar), so that the name may simply be used as a type.

41 For discussion of the date and circumstances of this revision, see Sullivan, J.P., Martial; The Unexpected Classic (Cambridge 1991) 4450CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42 Translated by Shackleton Bailey, D.R., Martial: Epigrams (Cambridge MA 1993)Google Scholar.

43 Translated by Shackleton Bailey (n. 42).

44 For Italy, see Ep. 10.12 (Northern Italy), 30 (Formiae); for provincial appointments, Ep. 10.44 (Britain), 78 (Dalmatia); for Spain, Ep. 10.13(20), 37, 78, 96, 103, 104. The complex of ideas in these poems was seen by Merli (n. 7) as integrated and inspired by Horace, but for the Spanish epigrams see Watson and Watson (n. 8) 4, who suggest that they may have been included in Book 10 to disguise the fact that Martial had lost his main source of patronage with the death of Domitian; for Martial's loss of patronage, see also Turner, A.J., ‘Frontinus and Domitian: Lausprincipis in the StrategemataHSCP 103 (2007) 423-49, at 425–6Google Scholar.

45 Seelentag (n. 34) 24-6.

46 Thus with regard to Satire 4 Braund (n. 2) 248 comments that: ‘The length and arduousness of the fisherman's journey … reflects the intense fear that permeates society under Domitian.’

47 A reluctance to refer to leading political figures had in any case been encoded in the genre during the imperial period. Explicit references to the current princeps ate absent from Persius; see Cucchiarelli, A., ‘Speaking from Silence: The Stoic Paradoxes of Persius’, in Freudenburg, (n. 12) 6280Google Scholar, noting his comment: ‘it remains a fact that one cannot find in Persius’ satires clear allusions to the persons and events of contemporary political life in Nero's Rome. In his case, the encounter between Stoicism and satire has not produced the expected attitude of political opposition’ (76). Augustus is also virtually absent from Horace Satires Book 1; see Lowrie, M., ‘Horace and Augustas’, in Harrison, S. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Horace (Cambridge 2007) 77-89, at 81Google Scholar.

48 But see also Marache, R., ‘Juvenal - peintre de la société de son temps’, ANRW 2.33.1 (1989) 592-639, at 606–8Google Scholar, for discussion of how peripheral this panegyric is to the main theme of the satire, the misery of the modern writer (‘On a l'impression que ces vers ne sont qu'une précaution pour exempter l'empereur des reproches qui vont suivre’, 607).

49 For discussion of the dates of Juvenal's publication, see Braund, S.M. in OCD3, 804–5Google Scholar (c. 110-30 CE) and Schmidt, P.L. in Brill's NewPauly 6.1146–8Google Scholar.

50 Halfmann (n. 1)43.

51 For the scattered sources for this voyage and its chronology, see Sijpesteijn, P.J., ‘A New Document concerning Hadrian's Visit to Egypt’, Historia 18 (1969) 109–18Google Scholar.

52 For Greek inscriptions from Rome, see IGRRP 1.31-2Google Scholar (IG 14.960–1Google Scholar); for Latin by-laws from Lanuvium, ILS 7212 (CIL 14.2112)Google Scholar. However, the argument of Grenier, J.-C. and Coarelli, F., ‘La tombe d'Antinous à Rome’, MEFRA 98 (1986) 217–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar, that Antinous was buried in Rome and his tomb marked by the Barberini obelisk (now located in the Monte Pincio gardens) has been disputed; see Eck, W. in Brill's New Pauly 1.756–7Google Scholar.

53 See n. 3 above.

54 Keane (n. 3) argued that the derogatory reference in 15.45-6 to Canopus, ‘a resort town in Egypt frequented by Greeks and Romans’, as a model of luxuria and decadence, allows the satirist to undermine subtly ‘his own representation of the empire as an emblem of moderation and enlightenment’ (46).

55 Seelentag (n. 34) 24-6.