Roman literature

Roman literature

I. The Age of the Republic

1. The most ancient period.
2. Literature III-II centuries. BC e.
3. Literature of the period of civil wars.
II. The era of transition to the empire ("the age of Augustus").

3. LITERATURE OF THE PERIOD OF CIVIL WARS. - In the second half of the II century. BC e. literature of the Greek type finally established itself in Rome, along with the economic relations that gave rise to it; Greek education became a class distinction of the Roman aristocracy. In the aggravated situation of the ensuing period of civil wars, the ruling class is no longer satisfied with literary service from people from other classes; aristocrats begin to take a direct part in literature. On the other hand, Roman themes penetrate into all areas of literature. Even the mythological tragedies of Action* (L. Accius, 170 - c. 86) are politically pointed: tirades against "tyrants", in defense of republican "freedom", reflect the ideology of the conservative layers of the nobility, who defended the "freedom" of the expansion of latifundia and the predatory exploitation of the provinces. But the mythological tragedy generally ceases to be an actual genre and becomes the sphere of literary exercises of noble dilettantes. The masses of the landless peasantry that flocked to Rome and filled the ranks of the Roman proletariat needed a more accessible spectacle, and the "togata", "comedy in a toga", that is, on Roman themes, takes the place of the former "palliata". The “Togata” poets (Titinius * (Titinius), Afranius * (Lucius Afranius, p. 154), Atta * (Atta, d. 78)) create, according to ancient evidence, a genre “middle between comedy and tragedy” (Seneca) , in many ways depart from the conventional plots and typical masks of the "palliata" with its slaves and getters and transfer the action to the setting of Latin towns, to the sphere of small free people, artisans and merchants. This pseudo-democratic genre for the mass audience avoids sharp social topics and is limited to Ch. arr. around family conflicts (unfairly suspected wife, marriage against the will of parents, social inequality of lovers, etc.) with an attitude of pity, continuing like this. arr. "humane" trend of "tearful" comedies "palliata". No examples of "togata" have survived, and the genre itself did not last long. In connection with the growth of an unproductive and declassed proletariat (in the Roman sense of the word), politically unstable and giving its votes to that grouping of the ruling class, which promised more handouts and entertainment, “togata” was replaced by a sharper and more spicy atellana (see) ( Pomponius * (Pomponius Comicus), Novius * (Novius)), a literary reproduction of the folklore comedy of masks. Typical figures of Atellana acted in a wide variety of situations (for example, “Mac” - “fool” - in the role of a “warrior”, “tavernkeeper”, “exile”, even “girl”), the action took place in Ch. arr. in the circle of the lower classes (peasants, slaves) and declassed elements of the population (thieves, prostitutes) with a very wide capture of various spheres of public life: the upper classes with their Greek education, as well as individual political figures, were ridiculed, but on the whole, atellana retained the character of an unprincipled farce; like the Greek drama of the satyrs, it was staged after the tragedy. At the end of the republican period, atellana, in turn, was supplanted by the Hellenistic mime (see), which remained a favorite theatrical spectacle during the era of the empire.
At the beginning of the period of civil wars, a new poetic genre is created, which has immediate relevance as its subject. Lucilius * (S. Lucilius, c. 180-103, see), the first Roman poet who emerged from the environment of the ruling class, transfers to literature the tense atmosphere of political and ideological struggle between various groups of the Roman nobility. Using various Greek genres - parody, iambography, popular philosophical diatribe - he creates a satire (satura - "mixture"), often dressed in the form of an entertaining story (advice of the gods, a court scene, a description of a journey, etc.), cruelly ridiculing opponents of the Scipio circle, to which Lucilius belonged and from whose positions he tried to fight the moral decay of the aristocracy. Unlike most Greek moral accusatory genres, the satire of Lucilius is not limited to general reasoning and has a personal character. The poetic form becomes traditional for Roman satire.
Prose develops intensively in this era. The civil wars gave rise to an extensive journalistic, pamphlet and historiographical literature - autobiographies, memoirs, monographs and voluminous chronicles that set out, and often falsified, the entire history of Rome from the point of view of various political groups. In connection with the increasing political role of the people's assembly and the judiciary, questions of the theory and practice of public speech and the prose style in general are becoming the focus of attention. Hellenistic rhetoric, the science of eloquence, which was still in the middle of the 2nd century. seemed a politically dangerous innovation, is now a necessary part of the aristocratic education. What importance was attached to eloquence as an instrument of influence on the masses is evident from the fact that in 92 a persecution was undertaken (albeit without result) against "Latin rhetoricians" who tried to democratize the teaching of rhetoric and substantiate it on Latin models instead of ordinary Greek ones. Already in the speeches of the Gracchi * the penetration into Rome of the pathetic ("Asiatic") style of Hellenistic eloquence is noticeable. However, the characteristic features of this style - the desire for ornamental overload of speech to the detriment of the content and for the maximum effectiveness of each part of the phrase - take less sharp forms in Roman practice, since Roman eloquence continues to be an instrument of political struggle, while in the Hellenistic monarchies it has only the character solemn, "ceremonial" recitation. "Asianists" to a greater or lesser extent are all the outstanding speakers of the period under review (Crassus * (L. Crassus), Anthony * (M. Antonius), Hortensius * (Quintus Hortensius Hortalus), etc.). To the same direction, to a large extent, adjoins (although he dissociates himself from it in theory) the finalist and the largest master of oratory in republican Rome - Cicero (M. Tullius Cicero, 106-43, see). The ideologist of the "horsemen" (representatives of commercial and usurious capital), who began his political career by flirting with the "people's" party during the Sullan reaction, and then frightened of the radicalization of the masses, Cicero migrated to the camp of the optimates and tried to pursue a policy of reconciling the interests of the nobility and the "horsemen"; by virtue of this intermediate conciliatory position, and also due to personal qualities - indecision, vanity, the desire to play the first role in the state at a time when the intensified class struggle put forward people of a more active, strong-willed warehouse to command positions - until the end of his life he remained an advocate of agreement between various factions of the slave class on the basis of the traditional republican constitution and recognition of the leading political role of the senate. Cicero is therefore the last, somewhat belated representative of the outlook of the slave-owning society of the period of growth, with an optimistic assessment of human "nature" (statically understood) and its social instincts and a belief in the beneficence of its all-round deployment in rational behavior. Continuing the traditions of the Scipio circle both in politics and in literature, he substantiates, with the help of Greek political theories, the state structure of Rome and the ethical attitude towards a humane attitude towards people, respect for someone else's personality and its aspirations, and activities aimed at the common good. This "liberalism" is sharpened against the democratic party, the slogans of the redistribution of land and the abolition of debts, demands that "shake the foundations of the state, internal harmony and justice." As a theorist of eloquence, Cicero invariably emphasizes the insufficiency of the public and already democratized rhetorical education and requires from the speaker an in-depth philosophical education, dialectical training, and the ability to analyze specific human behavior in its correlation with theoretical problems. The "abundance" (copia) of speech, the art of a comprehensive deployment of thought, the richness and variety of means of expression are characteristic features of Cicero's style. He is a master of a period with a clear logical and syntactic structure, balanced in all its parts, richly ornamented and largely rhythmic: the problem of rhythmic ending ("clause") is given a lot of space in Cicero's rhetorical treatises (especially in the treatise "Orator"). In Cicero's speeches, another of his theoretical postulates is practically realized - fluency in various "styles", flexibility of language, the ability to adapt expressive means to shades of thought and mood. The significance of Cicero as a master of "classical" language is extremely great in the history of Roman literary prose; a huge role in this regard was played not only by his speeches, but also by philosophical dialogues, popularizing in an easy and elegant form the basic teachings of Hellenistic philosophy.
Contemporaries, however, were clear about the internal falsity of Cicero's republicanism, his desire for an artificial pose and magnificent phrases. The fierce class struggle of the last decades of the republic demanded simpler and more effective slogans, more concise and concentrated eloquence. On the other hand, the civil wars created in the circles of small and medium landowners in Italy disbelief in the traditional state system, a desire to move away from public interests. The cultural elite openly broke away from the masses, went into mysticism or into antiquity. These conflicting aspirations found literary reflection in the reaction against the Ciceronian style that arose in the 50s. 1st century Representatives of the new direction (Calidius * (Calidius), Calv * (Calvus), Brutus * (Brutus)) Cicero's style seemed too "Asian", pompous and not energetic enough; their literary slogan was, in connection with similar trends in Greek literature of the time, Atticism, a return to strict verbal discipline, to the unornamented style of the early Attic prose of Lysias and Thucydides. The style of the "Attic" created a pose of cold efficiency or severe ethical intransigence. The deliberate artlessness and strict linguistic purism of Julius Caesar's "Notes" (Commentarii de bello Gallico) (S. Julius Caesar, 102-44) bring them closer to the "Attic"; Sallust (S. Sallustius Crispus, 87-36), striving to preserve the mask of an impartial narrator and incorruptible moralist in historical treatises sharpened against nobility, clothes his essentially tense and dramatic exposition, compiled according to the methods of pathetic historiography of Hellenism, into an archaic-solemn, compressed to darkness form, oriented to the style of Thucydides.
If during the period of the growth of Roman slave-owning society, literature took predominantly an orientation towards the old “classical” genres, in the era of civil wars, the lines that separated Roman culture from Hellenistic culture are largely erased, and in R. l. stylistic forms of Hellenism begin to predominate. Even the conservative grammarian-scholar M. Terentius Varro Reatinus * (M. Terentius Varro Reatinus, 116-27), an amateur and versatile researcher of Roman antiquity, explained the advantages of the old time over the present in the novelistic and didactic form of the Menippean satyrs (Menippae saturae), combining elements of the Italian folklore style with the "Asian" manner. The aristocratic historian Sisenna * (Sisenna) translated a fashionable novelty of Greek literature, a collection of frivolous short stories by Aristides of Miletus. Tendencies towards exquisite form, complex “curly” meters, erotic-mythological themes (“Erotopegnia” by Levius * (Laevius)), towards a genre depiction of the life of the rural population and the lower strata of the city according to the models of Theocritus (see) and Gerondas (Matius * (Matius ), Sway * (Sueius)), growing as social indifference grows, introduce Roman poetry into the mainstream of Hellenistic literature. The traditionalist Cicero, in his poetic experiments, is still following in the footsteps of the epigones of Ennius; a new school ("neoterics"), which had a closed circle character - the grammar poet Valery Cato * (Valerius Cato), orator-atticist Calv * (S. Licinius Calvus), Catullus (S. Valerius Catullus, c. 87-54, see .), - comes from the literary program of the Alexandrian poets, ch. arr. Callimachus; these "learned" poets strive for a small form and careful finishing of details and develop either the mythological genres of Hellenism, epillia (small epic) and elegy, or small lyrical forms that capture fleeting moods and the smallest events from the life of members of the poetic circle. In both spheres of creativity, the dominant place is occupied by erotic themes - the psychology and pathology of passion. The "scientific" coloring of poetry is created both by the choice of rare and little-known myths, and by the processing of the material - by saturating a literary work with borrowings and reminiscences from other authors, accessible only to a sophisticated and literary educated connoisseur; these hidden quotations and half-quotes are regarded as a literary compliment, as an acknowledgment of the stylistic merits of the author used. In the small poems of Catullus, the direct force of lyrical experience (for example, the verses to Lesbia) and the lively stream of Italian folklore are combined with the refinement of the Hellenistic epigram; His “scientific” poems are distinguished by their complex “framework” composition and the desire to bring the rhythmic-syntactic structure of Latin verse closer to the Hellenistic model. The Neotherics prepared that reform of Latin poetic syntax which was subsequently completed by Virgil. Social issues were alien to the new school: the political epigrams of Catullus are unprincipled and boil down to personalized ridicule. It is characteristic, therefore, that the poet-philosopher Lucretius (T. Lucretius Carus, about 99-55, see) stands apart from the new school; his poem "On the Nature of Things" (De rerum natura), which is an exposition of the mechanistic materialism of Epicurus, is also associated with the growth of social indifference; but Lucretius, deeply shocked by social unrest, is looking for a way out of the anxiety that has gripped significant sections of the Italian population, in contemplation of the laws of the natural process, which frees from the fear of death and the gods and the petty passions caused by this fear; from the gloomy present, the poet is carried away by a dream to the past, to the era of Scipio and Ennius, which remains for Lucretius and a formal stylistic model. An intermediate position between the old and the new school was occupied by P. Terentius Varro Atatsinsky * (Varro Atacinus), to whom the poets of the "age of August" often refer as their predecessor.

II. THE AGE OF TRANSITION TO EMPIRE ("CENTURY OF AUGUST"). - Civil wars led to the creation of an empire, a military dictatorship with partial preservation of external republican forms, a dictatorship based on a compromise between the most powerful groups of the ruling class, large landowners and representatives of commercial and usurious capital and established itself in the struggle of Italian slavery with slave owners of the Hellenistic provinces. The new regime established by Octavian Augustus put an end to the civil war and stabilized social relations for a long time: the nobility retained the appearance of political predominance; the estate of "horsemen" served as the most faithful support of the new system. The establishment of the empire took place, on the one hand, under the national-conservative slogans of restoring the ancient state system and ancient cults, and on the other hand, under the slogan of the religious consecration of new institutions, the deification of the emperor as a "savior", the conqueror of darkness and the bearer of "prosperity", who established a lasting " peace" after long internecine strife. These slogans did not meet with sincere enthusiasm, although the Italian landowners welcomed the end of civil wars, the growth of the external power of the empire, and the establishment of the economic primacy of Italy; only the idealization of the Roman past found a wider response, which was supported by the aristocracy, which had lost real political power. The new system was therefore not equally favorable for all kinds of literature. Eloquence, which previously served political purposes, lost ground with the establishment of the empire and turned into a rhetorical declamation far from life, in which the principles of the “Asiatic” style soon triumphed. The idealization of the historical past found literary expression in the voluminous history of Titus Livius (Titus Livius, 59 BC - 17 AD), but his mournful reflections on the past greatness of Rome concealed the danger of a significant divergence from the official ideology in assessing the present. August patronized Ch. arr. poetry, and his assistant Maecenas gathered poets around him in order to involve them in the propaganda of the ongoing reforms. This attraction proceeded slowly, since broad circles of the population did not so much support the new regime as reconciled with it; in the literature of the “age of Augustus” official jubilation is often accompanied by tones of passive resignation, melancholy and fatigue, especially since the ideology of the “citizen” had to give way to the ideology of the “subject”, no matter how masked by ingenious legal and religious constructions. However, the transitional era is characterized by the desire to comprehend the turning point, to introduce an atomized individualistic worldview into a system consistent with the socio-political trends of the new system, to internally justify reconciliation with it in the idea of ​​a new flourishing of the Roman state.
The literary expression of this process was a reaction against Alexandrinism, a return to an ideologically significant content and a large form oriented towards the classical literature of the Greeks, a combination of the filigree art of Hellenism with the wide scope of the classical style. The generation that survived the fall of the republic skillfully gave this combination a certain depth of a worldview that had been through suffering and raised Roman poetry to a higher level (“the golden age of R. l.” is the traditional designation for the prose of the Ciceron period and the poetry of the “age of Augustus”).
In the work of Virgil (R. Vergilius Maro, 70-19, see), the focus on the classics is intensified in parallel with the increase in the social significance of the subject. Having started his literary path with poetic experiments in the style of Catullus, he continues the line of "neotherics" in Bucolics; developing the Hellenistic genre of idyll during the years of fierce civil wars, Virgil perceives modernity through the prism of the conditional lyricism of "shepherds" devoted to love and poetry, and creates a gentle melodious style, in which the reform of Latin poetic syntax begun by the "neotherics" was carried out, bringing it closer to the norms artistic prose; however, compared with the intellectual refinement of the Hellenistic idyll (Virgil reproduces the themes and motifs of Theocritus), Virgil's poems are distinguished by emotional intensity and a more in-depth development of the psychology of affect; the shepherd's mask of the Roman poet is an attempt to escape from a keenly felt social impasse. In the “Poem on Agriculture” (“Georgics”), where Virgil already acts as a propagandist for the restoration policy of Octavian, the scientific and business-like didactics of the Hellenistic epic gives way to a sympathetic perception of nature and solemn pathos in proclaiming ethical values. Finally, in the Aeneid, formally oriented to Homer, Virgil turns to the past of Italy and Italian myths and creates a new type of epic poem of great style: a series of episodes, processed according to the technique of the Hellenistic epillium, with its concentrated drama, is united into a whole not only by plot connection, but also the idea that permeates the entire poem, the idea of ​​fate, which leads Aeneas to Latium, and his descendants (Augustus included himself among them) to power over the world. At the same time, in the interpretation of the mythological material, the religious philosophy of Stoicism merges with the national-conservative aspiration of the religious reforms of Augustus. The primitivism of Homer's characters has been replaced by lofty affectations: the setting for the "sublime" characterizes both the poem as a whole and the elaboration of details; in the image of the protagonist, virtues are concentrated, which the official ideology recognized as primordially Roman. The style created by Virgil is far from the "Asiatic" pomposity and from the artificial simplicity of the "atticists"; The greatest effects are achieved by revealing the expressive possibilities of ordinary words and formulas through skillful word combinations. This stylistic method is also recommended by Horatius (Q. Horatius Flaccus, 65-8, see) - the literary theorist of the mainstream - in his "De arte poetica" (On the art of poetry): old R. l. does not satisfy Horace from a formal stylistic point of view, he condemns the alexandrinists for lack of ideas and calls for a new study of the Greek classics; accepting the slogan put forward by neotherics for a long and thorough finishing of a poetic work, he emphasizes the primacy of content and the need for philosophical training: "Wisdom is the beginning and source of correct writing." The work of Horace is predominantly meditative and remains within the limits of small forms. The virtuoso stylistic and metrical mastery of "Od" clothes the motifs of poetry and philosophy of Hellenism in the forms of ancient Greek lyrics, reflecting the worldview of a small slave owner who found peace after civil wars, avoiding the hustle and bustle of life and city bustle and wanting to serenely enjoy the benefits of life and culture under the protection of the new regime. In the relief-finished lyrics of Horace, erotic and drinking themes alternate with philosophical and political meditations; Horace even becomes the official singer of a national conservative policy that is internally alien to him. In Horace's Satires, the sharpness and political sharpness of Lucilian satire are replaced by a tone of humorous casual conversation on abstract topics, only with illustrations from modern life, but this weakened polemical orientation of the Satires further softens and turns into the calm didactics of the Epistles. In his youth, a republican, Horace began his literary activity with invective and denunciation ("Epodes") - in the ironic philosophy of quietism and moderation, he finds a means to "preserve his inner independence" (Leo) under changing political conditions.
The opposition to official ideology finds expression in a brief flourish of an erotic elegy. The conditional sentimentality of Hellenistic erotica, which in its literary origins goes back to the images of unfortunate lovers in tragedy and the “new” comedy, acquires from the Roman elegiacs, in connection with the general tendencies of the era towards an ideological deepening, the appearance of a fundamental life attitude. The mask of a poet in love, a “servant” of a stern “mistress”, an enemy of war and profit, inactive in practical life, made it possible to express moods hostile to the conservatism of Augustus, his attempts to revive the ancient Roman “virtues” and the severity of family mores. The perception of the world from the point of view of love longing finds expression in the cycles of elegies dedicated to some real or fictitious beloved, who appears under some poetic pseudonym (as with the Hellenistic poets and Catullus). In literary terms, the school of Roman elegiacs follows the traditions of "neotherism" and, opposing the elegy to the epic under official patronage, relies on the literary program of the Hellenistic masters. The creation of the Roman elegy by Cornelius Gallus * (Gallus, 70-27) was the same continuation of the poetic work of Catullus and his group, like Virgil's Bucoliki, and in terms of stylistic orientation, the elegy at first remained associated with Roman "atticism". Propertius (Sextus Propertius, c. 50 - c. 15, see), the “Roman Callimachus”, develops a difficult, agitated style to depict “heavy” love for Kinthia, in its condensation reminiscent of the stylistic tendencies of Sallust, and equips the elegy with cumbersome mythological scholarship ; later, Propertius moves on to another branch of the Hellenistic elegy, to the "learned" development of antiquarian themes from Roman antiquity. Tibull (Albius Tibullus. c. 54-19, see), a member of the poetic circle of the Republican Messalla, completely avoids current political topics, in dreamy elegies that stylize love against the backdrop of rural life and approach Caesarian simplicity and clarity in strict polishing of the language. In this closed, conditionally sentimental world, in which reality occupies an insignificant place and serves only as a motivation for an elegiac outpouring, Ovid (R. Ovidius Naso, 43 BC - 17 AD, see) introduces a frivolously corrupting elegy - realistic moment. The external brilliance of August Rome and the hustle and bustle of the Roman street are captured by the poet's lively observation and conveyed in a virtuoso light and smooth style. While the former elegies claimed to depict a serious and deep feeling, Ovid's erotic poetry turns into a parlor ironic play with literary motifs, into a sophisticated art of psychological and stylistic variation, sparkling with the effects of fashionable rhetoric: setting for variation, multiple interpretations of one theme in different styles and in many ways, is the organizing principle of both the elegiac Heroides and the epic Metamorphoses. Tearing off the traditional sentimental mask of a poet in love, Ovid moves from a “subjective” elegy to the development of erotic-mythological themes, but the mythological characters are reduced to the level of a gallant Roman society, and the myth becomes an erotic short story. This circumstance draws a sharp line between Ovid and the stylistic tendencies of the beginning of the "age of Augustus" and leads to a clash between the poet and the emperor's policy draped in a conservative mask. Augustus found a reason to expel from Rome the frivolous author of the "didactic" poem on the "Science of Love" (Ars amatoria).

III. THE ERA OF EMPIRE. - Ovid grew up in the atmosphere of the empire, and in his work there are already a number of characteristic features of the new stage of R. l. In all areas of the social life of the empire soon began to show signs of stagnation, and then decline. The decrease in the influx of slaves after the end of the era of great conquests and the growth of the "supply" of "free" labor with the ongoing process of concentration of landed property led to the replacement of large latifundia farming by a system of giving small plots for rent ("colonat"); the growing economic independence of the western provinces undermined the welfare of Italy; agricultural and industrial machinery slowly but steadily degraded. Raising bloody persecution against the aristocratic opposition, the emperors concentrated in their hands huge land wealth; the state apparatus was transformed into a bureaucratic machine. “The material support of the government was an army much more like an army of landsknechts than the old Roman peasant army, while the moral support was the general conviction that there was no way out of this situation, that not this or that emperor, but this empire based on a military dictatorship is an inevitable necessity... General lack of rights and despair about the fact that the onset of better times is impossible, corresponded to general apathy and demoralization. The few surviving old Romans of a patrician spirit and way of thinking were eliminated or died out. The last of them was Tacitus. The rest were glad that they could keep away from public life. Their existence was filled with the gain of wealth, the enjoyment of wealth, private gossip, private intrigues” (Engels). In connection with public apathy, literature also acquires a "private" character: interest in everyday details, in nature, in the inner life of the individual increases; in a certain sense, the literature of the era of the empire is "more realistic" and "more psychological" than the literature of the preceding period. For the first time in ancient literature (both Greek and Roman) in this era, an in-depth characterization of the individual, and not just a typical mask, the art of a detailed literary portrait, the ability for thorough introspection appears. However, in the absence of problems of broad social capture, inner life is either poor or colored with religious and mystical moods, and the “realism” of the literature of the ruling class of the era of the empire revealed only a picture of a class devoid of a future, incapable of creating cultural values. The literary expression of social stagnation was the dominance of rhetoric, a cult of exquisite form in the absence of any new and significant content. Literature is becoming a favorite pastime of the aristocracy that has lost political significance: hence the huge quantitative growth of cast products with their negligible quality. Already in the era of Augustus, the opposition orator and historian Asinius Pollio * (Asinius Pollio, 76 BC - AD 5) lays the foundation for the custom of "declamations", public readings of poetry and prose. works. This literature, not pursuing social and educational goals, is primarily secular entertainment and develops in isolation from the masses. Its characteristic feature is also the fact that it relies mainly on the Roman literary tradition (this is already noticeable in Ovid) and in many respects departs from Greek literature: Rome, the economic hegemon of the empire, begins to dictate its literary tastes to the Greeks.
Of course, stagnation does not occur immediately. The first century of the empire was also marked by the semblance of economic growth and significant cast products (“the silver age of R. L.”), in which the predominance of rhetoric is only a symptom of the coming decline. If the astrological poem ("Astronomica") by Manilius (14-37), written under Tiberius (14-37), the Stoic equivalent to the Epicurean poem of Lucretius, is sustained in the style of the poets of the "age of August", then the period of struggle between the emperors and the aristocratic opposition creates a new style that seemed "powerful", - passionate, sensually bright, unfolding in the injection of brief, but figurative and pointed maxims, with the wide use of means of poetic expression in prose. The best master of this style, which was already being developed by the rhetoricians of the "August Age" and observed in the beginnings of Ovid, is Seneca (L. Annaeus Seneca, 4 BC - 65 AD, see), a moralist who adapted rigoristic ethics the Stoics to the needs of the Roman aristocrats, who hoped to find in Stoic fatalism the power of passive resistance to the imperial regime. Along with the denunciations of "tyrants", the sermon of retreat into private life sounds in the tragedies of Seneca, which, like the tragedy of this time in general, are intended not for the stage where the mime dominated, but for recitation. In these rhetorical tragedies, written on traditional mythological subjects, pathetic declamation plays the main role; the action is reduced to the most tense moments with a clear predilection for the terrible and pathological. The poets of Nero's time systematically renew the literary genres in which the writers of the "age of Augustus" who had already become "classical" and entered the school education, worked. Bucolic poetry (Calpurnius (T. Calpurnius Siculus)) heralds the onset of a new "golden age"; Caesius Bass* (Caesius Bassus) continues the line of Horatian lyrics. An attempt to seriously update traditional forms was made in the historical poem of Lucan (M. Annaeus Lucanus, 39-67, see) “Civil War” (Bellum civile), where the opposition-aristocratic concept of the fall of the republic is expounded with great oratorical pathos in the style of new rhetoric: sympathy the author - on the side of Pompey and especially Cato, Caesar is depicted as a bloodthirsty villain. The epic of Lucan approaches rhetorical historiography: the narrative is repeatedly interrupted by passionate digressions, the traditional mythological apparatus is completely eliminated, but "scientific" - geographical and natural-historical - material is willingly introduced. The stoic preaching of the primacy of inner life over external blessings underlies the satires of Persia (A. Persius Flaccus, 34-62), which interpret popular philosophical and literary topics in an armchair-teaching tone; Persius contrasts the polished pathos of the rhetoricians with the sharp discontinuity of the "low" style, rich in unexpected and strong images. Outside of aristocratic opposition, the new style did not find wide acceptance. In the comic-realistic novel of Petronius (Petronius, d. 66, see), which came out of court circles, which parodies love stories in the form of Menippean satire, literary controversy occupies a lot of space, and the author invariably remains on a classicist position; the ironically careless tone and merciless frankness of the novel, which paints in paints close to mime, provincial freedmen, petty people and the scum of society, reflect the contempt of the decomposed elite for the rising businessmen; the literary slogan of “frankness” and naked vitality put forward by Petronius is only a mask hiding the ideological emptiness. The fables of Phaedrus (Phaedrus, see), the only surviving literary monument of the work of the lower classes of the early era of the empire, are not affected by the new style: a veiled social satire, the fable of Phaedrus reflects the mood of hopelessness that has gripped the broad masses; from political strife among the ruling class, Phaedrus does not expect an improvement in the life of the lower strata of the population.
From the 70s. 1st century n. e. (Flavian dynasty) in the empire came more peaceful times. The old patrician aristocracy was broken; the consolidation of the Italian, and then the provincial landowners, who became the service class, gave a more monolithic character to the Senate College and the army reorganized according to a more strict class principle; the emperors themselves came from the Italic or provincial nobility. The nervous atmosphere of the period of palace intrigues gave way to a craving for "good rights" and modest nepotism. In literature, this turn was marked by a classicist reaction. Rhetoric puts forward the slogan of returning to the manner of Cicero (Quintilian (M. Fabius Quintilianus), c. 35-95), which in practice comes down, however, only to the rejection of the excesses of the "new" style and superficial borrowings. The epic with mythological themes, or at least with an abundant mythological apparatus, flourishes again. Valery Flakk (S. Yalerius Flaccus) reworks the poem of Apollonius of Rhodes about the Argonauts ("Argonautica"), making extensive use of the epic technique of the "Aeneid"; Silius Italicus (Silius Italicus, 25-101), using the mythological props borrowed from Virgil, transcribes Livy's narrative of the second Punic war into verse. Even the most prominent epic poet of this time, the laureate of the emperor Domitian, Papinius Statius (R. Papinius Statius, c. 40-96), the author of the learned Thebaid and the unfinished Achilles, recognizes himself only as an epigone of Virgil. Intended for public recitation in parts, The Thebaid contains a number of episodes rich in effective rhetoric, but the poet is best at descriptions and sensitive scenes. A prominent place is also occupied by the descriptive element in the collection of poems "Sketches" (Silvae) Statius, quickly sketched poems for the occasion: descriptions of villas, statues, festivities, etc. alternate with congratulatory verses on serious and insignificant occasions and expressions of condolence. This new genre of rhetorical lyrics reflects the decline of public interest, the desire to withdraw into the sphere of private life. Despite the rhetorical schematism of the general construction, Statius is able to grasp individual traits and, in accordance with the nature of the theme, vary lyrical tones - from solemn pathos to soft intimacy. The sensitive experience of calm picturesque nature, which develops in the ancient society of the era of decline, finds a lyrical expression in the Station: for example, he is the first singer of the Gulf of Naples in world literature. The tendency towards the literary embodiment of small life events and everyday details gives rise to the flourishing of small genres. The epigram in the era of the dominance of the rhetorical style received that sharpened sharpness that is associated with this term in its later understanding. Martial (S. Valerius Martialis, circa 42-102, see), a master of a mocking epigram, uses it to sketch the most diverse aspects of Roman life, contrasting his "human-smelling" poetry with learned mythological genres. A client poet dependent on wealthy patrons, Martial is often a crooked mirror, but his humiliated position gives him the opportunity to unfold a much more realistic picture of society than the ruling class poet Statius is able to do.
Artistic writing also becomes an instrument for the literary fixation of single facts and fleeting moods. The letters of Pliny the Younger (Plinius Secundus, c. 62-114), while remaining real letters addressed to real addressees, usually concentrate around some small topic, concisely but exhaustively developed, and in relation to lit-th succession are more closely related to poetic epistolography Roman alexandrinists and poets of the "August age", than with the letters of Cicero, whom Pliny in theory recognizes as his model. In Pliny's letters, much attention is paid to literary life: numerous noble dilettantes (to which Pliny himself belonged to a certain extent), unable to play a serious political role and burdened by state and public duties, prefer a quiet life in their villas and wait fame from poetic exercises in the style of ancient writers. While the self-satisfied aristocrat Pliny is delighted with the “happy times” and composes a solemn “eulogy” to the emperor Trajan, the satires of Juvenal (D. Junius Juvenalis, 47-130, see), a representative of the middle strata, ousted from their economic and social positions, draw a gloomy picture of the life of Roman society, the luxury and debauchery of the rich, the humiliation of clients, the poverty of the proletarians, the plight of intelligent professions, the depopulation of Italy. With the accuracy and realistic power of individual sketches, Juvenal's affected moralistic declamation does not rise to the level of social protest, which the stratum he represented was not capable of; The point of "indignation" of the satirist is not directed against the social system: he objects to the lack of handouts from the nobility. A keen sense of social decline, an old patrician hatred of despotism, together with a sense of the hopelessness of the situation and a premonition of an impending catastrophe, intensify the atmosphere of doom in the historical writings of Tacitus (Cornelius Tacitus, c. 54-117), the most original writer of the era. Historical outlook of Tacitus is limited - he is interested in Ch. arr. the imperial court, the city of Rome and the army - but in this class limitation, in fear of the movements of the masses - the key to the historical concept of the Roman aristocrat, frightened by the decline in the moral strength of his class. In the tense drama of his narrative, bringing Tacitus closer to Salustius and Hellenistic historiography, all the achievements of R. l. 1st century n. e. - the art of a psychological portrait, a picturesque depiction of details, a chiseled brevity of style. Tacitus is also interested in historical and literary problems: he explains the decline in eloquence in the era of the empire by the lack of political freedom (“Dialogue about orators” - “Dialogus de oratoribus”). Tacitus, however, rises significantly above the average level of political thought of the ruling class: for the historiography of this period, more characteristic are the rhetorical presentation of individual spectacular episodes of Roman history (Flor (R. Annius Florus)) or registering or classifying the raw material of the biography of emperors (Suetonius (S. Suetonius Tranquillus ), about 75-150).
In the II century. in connection with the growth of the economic independence of the provinces, Italy is losing its economic primacy. The dominant position of the provincial landowning nobility, supplying emperors and the highest bureaucracy, on the one hand, religious movements in the masses coming from the East, on the other, create a cosmopolitan cultural unity of the empire, in which the Greek language takes on the leading role. While in the Greek literature of this time there is some revival (“second sophistry”, see Greek literature), R. l. wanes: Roman writers of the 2nd c. use either both languages ​​or exclusively Greek (Favorin (Favorinus), Marcus Aurelius (M. Aurelius)). The ideology of the ruling classes is becoming stagnant: solutions to social problems are sought in philanthropy, substantiating it with the teachings of the Cynics and Stoics. Literature is characterized by a craving for simple, artless content (nature, rural life) and sensitivity, combined, however, with an elaborate artificiality of form (“curly” poems, complicated metrics, etc.). In the cultural elite of the slave-owning society of the era of decline, admiration for the era of growth, antiquarian and stylistic interest in Roman antiquity, in republican pre-Ciceronian literature and the ancient language is spreading. In parallel with Atticism, an archaistic trend develops on Greek soil in Rome. Noticeable already in the 1st century, but not playing a significant role in literature, it reaches its peak by the middle of the 2nd century. (rhetor Fronto (M. Cornelius Fronto), c. 100-175; grammarian and antiquarian Aulus Gellius, c. 200). Relying on ancient writers, archaists wrote in a language free from strict classical norms, but still extremely far from ordinary language, which was already developing in the direction of Romance ("vulgar Latin"). Thanks to the interest of archaists in ancient writers, significant fragments of R. l. have come down to us. era of the republic, while from the numerous minor writers of the time of Augustus and the first century of the empire there are almost no traces left.
The literary movement was more lively in the Romanized provinces that entered the cultural arena, where Latin remained the main language of culture. So, in Africa, the flowery and pretentious "second sophistry" found a bright representative in the person of Apuleius (Apuleius (see)), a mystical philosopher and wandering rhetorician, who labored in various genres of "sophistical" prose: a religious-mystical bias has also his novel "Metamorphoses", stringing numerous realistic episodes on an allegorically interpreted fairy tale frame, with extensive use of folklore and frivolous novelistic material. In Africa, earlier than in other areas, original Christian literature in Latin appears: it is opened by Tertullian (Q. Septimius Florus Tertullianus, ca. 150-230), transferring, like his Greek contemporary Clement of Alexandria, techniques into Christian literature " sophistical" style, and Africa for a long time remained the center of Christian literature in Latin.
3rd century revolution put an end to the slave system. The despotic monarchy that was created at the end of the century is already based on the predominance of feudal forms of exploitation; the center of the empire moves from Rome to Constantinople, and Christianity becomes the dominant religion; however, along with many other remnants of the slave-owning society, ancient literary forms still continue to exist until the final collapse of the Roman Empire and its destruction by the "barbarians". School, grammatical and rhetorical "learning" support the art of mastering the "classical" style and the old quantitative (based on the distinction between long and short syllables) metrics, which have already lost all support in the living language. The task of reviving R. l. puts himself in the second half of the IV century. grouped around the speaker Symmachus (Q. Aurelius Symmachus, c. 350-410) a circle of Roman aristocrats, remaining faithful to the ancient religion and opposing the traditions of Roman culture to both Christianity and "barbarism" (we owe the activities of this circle, among other things, the preservation of carefully verified texts of many ancient authors). "Panegy" of Gallic rhetoricians and Symmachus, his own letters, figurative version of Optatian Porphyry (Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius), rhetorical poems of Ausonius ((see) Decimus Magnus Ausonius, about 310-395), history of Ammianus Marcellinus (Ammianus Marcellinus, c. 330 - c. 400), which is a continuation of the "History" of Tacitus, biographies of emperors that continue the work of Suetonius, numerous concise presentations of Roman history - all this testifies to the desire of writers of the 4th century. join the literary tradition of the 1st-2nd centuries. (Pliny, Statius, Flor, poets of the 2nd century, etc.). When at the end of the 4th c. the separation of the Western Roman Empire returned the importance of the political center to Italy, court poetry with political themes reappeared, glorifying the successes of Rome in the fight against the "barbarians" (Claudian (Claudius Claudianus, in the 5th century), Merobaudes (Merobaudes) and Apollinaris Sidonius (Apollinaris Sidonius, about 430-480)). Enthusiastic praise of Rome as the center of world domination is contained in the poem by Rutilius Namatianus, which describes the author's return from Rome to Gaul in 416. Back in the 5th-6th centuries. African poets under the rule of the Vandals practiced in the interpretation of mythological themes, in rhetorical descriptions and epigrams (Dracontius (Dracontius), Luxorius (Luxorius), etc.), and in Italy Maximian (Maximianus) composes erotic elegies. Separation from the eastern part of the empire and the decline of the knowledge of the Greek language in the west from the middle of the 3rd century. give rise to numerous translations of ch. arr. scientific works, but also literary works - didactic poems (Avien (Avienus)), fables of Babriya (Avian (Avianus)), novels. But all this poetry is nourished exclusively by the literary tradition of the past, works to a large extent by “centones” (ch. arr. from Virgil) and rests on the formal rhetorical art of style, which continued to be a class distinguishing feature of the ruling elite. Pretentious form, school pedantry intertwined with symbolic and allegorical fantasy are the characteristic features of this literature. The rhetorical style also dominates Christian literature (Lactantius (Lactantius), Jerome (Hieronymus, ca. 331-420), Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus, 354-430), etc.). Having gained a foothold in the ruling elite, Christians no less than “pagans” cultivate the traditions of classical R. l .: poets retell biblical stories using Virgil’s epic technique (Juvencus, Marius Victor, Cyprian (Cyprianus), Sedulius (Sedulius), Avitus (Avitus)) or follow in their lyrics the forms of Horace and Ausonius (Prudentius (Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, ca. 348-410), Paulin Nolansky (Paulinus Nolanus)); even in the liturgical hymns (Ambrose (Ambrosius, c. 340-397)), which to a certain extent reproduce the techniques of "folk" poetry, the quantitative metric is preserved. Only the conquest of the Roman Empire by the “barbarians” finally destroyed ancient society and created the conditions for the transition of the ancient formation to the feudal one, and at the same time broke off the tradition of old literary forms, which only partially transformed into the genres of medieval Latin literature. Bibliography:
Fabricius J. A., Bibliotheca latina, Hamburg, 1697; Teuffel W., Geschichte der romischen Literatur, bearbeitet v. W. Kroll and F. Skutsch, Lpz., I6, 1916, II7, 1920, III6, 1913; Schanz M., Geschichte der romischen Literatur, 4 Bde, 3 Aufl., Munchen, 1907-1922 (B. I appeared in 1924, 4th ed.); Leo F., Geschichte der romischen Literatur, Bd I, Berlin, 1913; His, Die romische Literatur d. Altertums (Kultur der Gegenwart, T. I, Abt. 8), 3 Aufl., Lpz., 1912 (Russian translation: Essay on the history of Roman literature, St. Petersburg, 1908); Martini E., Grundriss d. Geschichte der romischen Literatur, T. I, Munster, 1910 (Russian translation: History of Roman Literature, Part 1, St. Petersburg, 1912); Norden E., Romische Literatur (Einleitung in d. Altertumswissenschaft, hrsg. v. E. Norden, Bd I, H. 4), Lpz., 1923; Kappelmacher A., ​​Die Literatur der Romer bis zur Karolingerzeit, "Handbuch der Literaturwissenschaft", Potsdam, 1925-1933; Klotz, A., Geschichte der romischen Literatur, Bielefeld, 1930; Nageotte E., Histoire de la litterature latine, P., 1885 (Russian translation: History of Latin Literature, M., 1914); Lamarre C., Histoire de la litterature latine depuis la fondation de Rome jusqu'a la fin du gouvernement republicain, 4 vv., P., 1900; His own, Histoire de la litterature latine au temps d'Auguste, 4 vv., P., 1907; Amatucci, A. G., Storia della letteratura romana, Napoli, 1912; Duff J. W., A literary history of Rome from the origins to the close of the Golden Age, 7 ed., L., 1927; Ribbeck O., Geschichte der romischen Dichtung, Stuttgart, I2, 1894, II2, 1900, III, 1892; Plessis F., La poesie latine (De Livius Andronicus a Rutilius Namatianus), P., 1909; Patin H. J. G., etudes sur la poesie latine, 2 vv., P., 1869; Sellar, W. Y., Roman poets of the Republic, 3 ed., Oxford, 1889; Him, Roman poets of the Augustan Age, Oxford, 1884; Kroll, W. Studien zum Verstandnis der romischen Literatur, Stuttgart, 1924; La Ville de Mirmont H., de, etudes sur l'ancienne poesie latine, P., 1902; Muller L., Quintus Ennius, SPB, 1884; Leo F., Plautinische Forschungen, 2 Aufl., Berlin, 1912; Norden E., Die antike Kunstprosa, 2 Bde, 3 Aufl., Lpz., 1915-1918; Michaut G., Le genie latin, P., 1900; Ussani V., Originalita e caratteri della letteratura latina, Venezia, 1920; Jachmann G., Die Originalitat der romischen Literatur, Lpz., 1926; Coccheia E., La letteratura latina anteriore del influenza ellenica, 3 vv., Napoli, 1924-1925; Weyman K., Beitrage zur Geschichte d. christlich-lat. Poesie, Munchen, 1926; Modestov V. I., Essay on the history of Roman literature, St. Petersburg, 1888 (“Additions”, M., 1906); Naguevsky D.I., Fundamentals of Bibliography on the History of Roman Literature, Kazan, 1889; His own, Bibliography on the history of Roman literature in Russia, Kazan, 1889; Varneke B. V., Essays on the history of the ancient Roman theater, St. Petersburg, 1903; His own, Observations on Ancient Roman Comedy. On the history of types, Kazan, 1905; Malein A.I., Bibliographic index of books and articles on Roman history in Russian. (in the book: B. Nize, Outline of Roman History and Source Studies, ed. 3, St. Petersburg, 1910); Naguevsky D.I., History of Roman Literature, vols. I-II, Kazan, 1911-1915; Malein A.I., The Golden Age of Roman Literature, P., 1923; Deratani N. F., History of ancient Roman literature, M., 1928.

The formation and development of both Russian and world literature was greatly influenced by the literature of Ancient Rome. Roman literature itself originated from Greek: Roman poets wrote poems and plays, imitating the Greeks. After all, it was quite difficult to create something new in the modest Latin language, when hundreds of plays were already written very close by: the inimitable epic of Homer, Hellenic mythology, poems and legends.

The origin of Roman literature

The first steps in the development of poetry are associated with the introduction of Greek culture in the Roman Empire. The direction of lyric poetry has become widespread. Thanks to Greek writers and thinkers, Roman poetry acquired the sensuality and feelings of a lyrical hero, behind whom stands the author of the work.

The first Roman writer

The discoverer in Rome, the first Roman poet was Livy Andronicus - an ethnic Greek, a native of the city of Tarentum. He began to show his talent as a child, but when the Romans captured his hometown, he fell into slavery and remained a slave for quite a long time, teaching literature and writing to the offspring of his owner. For good merits, the master presented Livius Andronicus with a free letter, and he was able to fully engage in literary work.

It was Andronicus, the first Roman poet, who translated Homer's Iliad from Greek into Latin, and he also translated Greek tragedies, plays and dramas. And once the college of pontiffs instructed him to write a hymn glorifying the goddess Juno.

Livy Andronicus did not translate accurately - he allowed himself to change names, scenes and dialogues.

Nevius and Ennius

The contemporaries of Livius Andronicus were such Roman poets as Nevius and Ennius. Nevius in his work preferred tragedies and comedies, often borrowed plots from Greek writers and adapted them to the culture and life of Ancient Rome. His most important work was a poem about the first Punic War, in which he also briefly told the history of the Roman Empire. Ennius described the history of Rome in detail - with dates and facts.

Nevius is a Roman poet whose poem became the first original literary work of ancient Rome. He can rightfully be considered one of the most famous writers of antiquity.

Actor who wrote poetry

No less a contribution to the development of Roman literature and poetry was made by Titus Maccius Plautus, a theater actor. He lived at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd century. BC e. and throughout his life he wrote about 300 poems, 20 of which have survived to this day. And although he worked exclusively in the comedy genre, his plays were staged in theaters throughout the Roman Empire even after his death.

The plots of his works are not very original, but always exciting and varied. He wrote both about the everyday life of ordinary citizens and about the life of a soldier's barracks. And always in his plays there were slaves, as a rule, resourceful, smart and dexterous.

The Roman satirist poet Titus Maccius Plautus is also considered one of the first writers of ancient Rome and occupies not the last place in its history.

Age of Golden Latin

Another prominent representative of early Roman literature was Tacitus, a Roman poet, author of the Annals. Together with the "Punic War" of Nevius, the "Annals" became the most significant and great work of literature of Ancient Rome.

The Aeneid written by Virgil is considered to be the pinnacle of the Roman epic. All Roman poets glorified it as the best work of the reign of Octavian Augustus.

Many have also compared it with Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, although unlike them, the Aeneid is a poem about the future rather than the past. The Roman poet Virgil tells in his poem about the wanderings and adventures of the legendary Aeneas, whose descendants the citizens of the Roman Empire considered themselves to be. It also tells about the romance of the protagonist with the queen of Carthage Dido, whom he was forced to leave on the orders of the main god of the Roman pantheon - Jupiter, in order to initiate the existence of Rome.

Lyrics of Ancient Rome

The talented poet Catullus became the founder of the lyrics in Rome. For the most part, he wrote lyrical love sonnets. Especially famous was the poem about the love of the Roman poet to the beautiful Clodia, the famous secular lady of Ancient Rome. Catullus managed to reflect in his work all the shades of love: from delight and admiration, to torment and burning longing.

But the lyrics reached their climax in the works of the no less famous Roman poet Horace. Glory to him was brought by his magnificent "Odes" - four books of poems with different themes. Horace wrote, unlike Catullus, not only about love. In his works, he paid a lot of attention to Octavian Augustus, singing and glorifying his mind and the strength of Roman weapons, life and friendship.

Often Horace satirically ridiculed the mores of his contemporaries.

Love songs

By right, Ovid, their younger contemporary, is considered one of the most gifted Roman writers along with Horace and Virgil. Already a famous Roman poet, Ovid wrote such works as The Art of Love and The Remedy for Love, which have successfully survived to this day. And he was glorified by his early poems, which were included in the collection called “Songs of Love”.

The Art of Love and The Remedy for Love are more of a parody, giving advice to young lovers, delivered with wit and satire. This was the reason for sending Ovid into long-term exile. Emperor Octavian August saw in his poems a mockery of his policies, which affected the institution of marriage and the family.

Ovid died away from Rome, having managed to write before his death "Messages from Pontus" and "Sorrowful Elegies".

Philosophy in Ancient Rome

Philosophical systems did not originate in Ancient Rome and in general long before its formation, but nevertheless the Romans were able to give the world many outstanding philosophers, writers and thinkers, one of whom was Lucretius Carus. He was a freethinker, not afraid to rethink existing systems, for which he gained fame.

He was also a poet - he wrote both lyrical sonnets and plays for the theater. As a Roman poet, Lucretius also achieved considerable success. His poem "On the Nature of Things", written in a unique Latin hexameter, is undoubtedly a masterpiece of all ancient Roman literature.

Comedy and tragedy

The comedic and tragic genre in Rome developed under the influence of the images of Ancient Greece. Therefore, since ancient times, comedy and tragedy have not been considered native genres for Roman culture. Originally Roman was a genre called satura. This word has the meaning of a dish filled with various products.

Then it began to denote a mixture of verses of various directions, united in a single image. Size did not matter, so the size of such poems could be both large and small.

One of the poets who worked in a similar style is Ennius. He published his collection, which included both semi-entertaining and instructive poems.

A significant contribution to the development of satura was made by Lucilius Gaius. In his work, this genre left a big mark. In less than 72 years, Lucilius wrote about 30 saturas, in which the vices of humanity and contemporaries are denounced:

• corrupt practices;
• self-interest;
• moral "rot";
• greed.

For his works, Gaius Lucilius found characters from real life. In those days, slavery flourished, the economy flourished, and the successful conduct of the hostilities of the Roman Empire led to an increase in wealth accumulated and concentrated in one hand among a narrow circle of the elite. Aristocrats in pursuit of gold and money went through the so-called moral decay.

According to historians, satura gave birth to such a direction of literature as Roman realism. After the death of the great writer Lucilius, satura was defined as a work of small volume, with accusatory overtones.

Development of Roman literature

The works of Roman poets were very poetic, and their form was poetic. With the advent of more and more new poets, poetic speech in Latin developed. In poems, poets began to express their philosophical thoughts and ideas. With the help of images and literary devices, movements of human feelings were created.

Deepening into the study of mythology, religion and art of Greece led to the enrichment of Latin poetry. The writers, coming into contact with the rich history of Greek literature, expanded their horizons, creating more and more new and improved works.

At the end of the existence of the Roman Empire, Catullus can be distinguished. He was a master of poetry who created lyrical poems of small volume. In them, the Roman poet described the basic feelings of any person:

• love;
• jealousy;
• joy;
• friendship;
• love of nature;
• love for home.

But besides them, in the work of Catullus, works directed against the reign of Caesar, as well as against his minions, who were unbearably greedy, stand out. The main lever that had a significant impact on the poetry of Catullus was the Alexandrian work of poets. Alexandrian literature is distinguished by references to mythology, personal feelings and experiences of the poet himself. The work of Catullus occupies an important place in world poetry. Even Pushkin himself highly appreciated the poems of the Roman writer.

According to a tradition dating back to the Renaissance, Roman literature is usually divided into periods according to the stages of development of the literary Latin language, which distinguishes between “archaic” Latin, “classical” (“golden” and “silver”) and “late”. From this point of view, Roman literature is periodized as follows.

I. The most ancient period - before the appearance in Rome of literature on the Greek image (until 240 BC).

II. Archaic period - before the beginning of the literary activity of Cicero (240 - 81 BC).

III. Golden Age of Roman Literature:

a) the time of Cicero - the heyday of Roman prose (81 - 43 BC),

b) the time of Augustus - the heyday of Roman poetry (43 BC - 14 AD).

IV. The Silver Age of Roman literature - until the death of Emperor Trajan (14 - 117 AD).

V. Late imperial period (117 - 476 AD).

This periodization, although based on the one-sided principle of the "evaluation" of the language ("gold" and "silver" Latin, etc.), essentially quite satisfactorily outlines the main milestones of the literary process in Rome. We will distinguish the following periods in the history of Roman literature.

I. The era of the republic (until the 30s BC):

a) the pre-literary period (until the middle of the 3rd century);

b) the first century of Roman literature (until the middle of the 2nd century; the time of the growth of the slave-owning republic);

c) literature of the last century of the republic (the period of civil wars from the end of the 2nd century to the 30s BC).

II. The era of the empire (30s BC - 476 AD):

a) the literature of the time of transition from the republic to the empire (“the age of Augustus”, before 14 AD);

b) the literature of Imperial Rome:

1) 1st century AD e. ("silver Age");

2) later Roman literature (II - V centuries).

31. Early Roman Literature (Review)

The first Roman poet was a captive Greek from Tarentum, a freedman of the Livius family, Livius Andronicus (d. circa 204 BC). He staged tragedies and comedies based on Greek models. He also owns the translation into Latin of Homer's Odyssey.

Before the appearance of the "Odyssey" by Livy Andronicus, little Romans were taught Latin according to the code of laws of the XII tables. Thanks to Livy Andronicus, a more entertaining text was created - the Roman Odyssey. Insignificant fragments of the poem have been preserved, and therefore it is not possible to get a complete picture of this first translation in the history of world literature. Only a few features of the monument can be noted. The Roman poet tells about the wanderings of Odysseus, about the Listrigons, about the Cyclopes and Kirk; in an effort to bring his presentation closer to the understanding of the Roman reader, he introduced the Roman gods, sometimes commenting on Homer. However, the presentation of fairy-tale episodes was apparently deprived of the rich Homeric imagery. The author often uses artificial archaisms. Livy's language is dry and prosaic. The poem is written in Saturn verse.

The tragedies of Livy interpret the plots of ancient Greek dramas - "Achilles", "Trojan Horse", "Aegisthus", "Andromeda", "Hermione", etc.

From the very beginning, the Roman drama was characterized by a combination of conversational scenes with singing, however, unlike the Greek, it did not have a choir.

In comedy, Livy is the ancestor of the palliata - the comedy of the cloak (from pallium - "Greek cloak"), that is, a play that is a reworking of Greek comedy. The characters of the Palliata were dressed in Greek clothes. We know only a few names of Livy's comedies - "Actor", "Boastful Warrior", etc.

Livy also composes cult hymns. On the occasion of the gloomy signs that frightened the Romans in 207 BC. he wrote the anthem "Parthenius", performed by a choir of 27 girls.

Livius Andronicus was not the only poet of the early period of Roman literature. Others also wrote poems in Saturn verse. Grammarians mention a poem dedicated to Priam ("Carmen Priami") and the mythological hero Neleus ("Carmen Nelei"). However, we do not have more detailed information about these poems and their authors. The successor of Livy Andronicus was Gnaeus Nevius (274-201 BC). An Italian from Campania, he fought as a soldier in the Italic legions in the first Punic War. This war was dedicated to the poem "Punic War" ("Bellum Punicum").

The literary activity of Nevius is unfolding at a time when the democratic movement is somewhat revived in Rome. After the first Punic War, G. Flaminius, the tribune of the people in 232, became the head of the democratic forces. With his assistance, a law was passed on the division between citizens of the lands seized from the Gauls. Gnaeus Neviy is a supporter of the democratic group. In his comedies, he attacks representatives of the Roman nobility. FROM

a fragment was preserved, which tells how the son takes home his father - a famous commander who got tipsy at a fun feast. Roman grammarians indicate that Nevius is here teasing the famous statesman Scipio Africanus the Elder. Scipio at that time led a large grouping of the Roman nobility, against which the representatives of the Roman plebs took up arms. In separate fragments of Nevius, the feast of Dionysus - "Liberals" is glorified, during which the people spoke "free language".

For his political attacks, Nevius, according to the comedian Plautus, was even subjected to judicial repression, put up in a pillory. However, the fact that he ended his life outside of Rome, in Africa, in Utica, in 201, when Scipio Africanus was there, suggests that the poet sought reconciliation with the head of the Roman nobles.

The titles and a few fragments of the comedies indicate that Naevius not only used Neo-Attic comedy, but also introduced local Italic elements into his plays.

In fragments of the comedy "The Foreteller" one of the characters makes fun of the tastes of the inhabitants of the cities of Preneste and Lanuvia. The play "About the tunic" ("Tunicularia") got its name from Roman clothing.

The heroine of the comedy "Tarentinochka" is a cheerful hetera from Tarentum. She resorts to various tricks to keep numerous admirers near her: she nods to one, waves to another, loves one, holds another, touches one with her hand, touches another with her foot, allows one to admire her ring, makes signs with her lips, sings with one, and another gives signals with his fingers." The tragedies of Nevius were, like the dramas of Livius Andronicus, a reworking of ancient Greek dramas. He puts the tragedies "Iphigenia", "Trojan Horse", "Lycurgus" and others. Roman Theme Pretexta - the ceremonial attire of Roman priests and magistrates The heroes of the pretextata are dressed in Roman clothes, and the themes of the drama are taken from Roman life.

According to the testimony of the ancients, two pretexts belonged to Nevius: "Clastidius" and "Romulus". One was dedicated to the victory of the commander Markell over the Gauls under Clastidia in 222, the plot of the other was the legend of the founder of Rome - Romulus.

In his poem on the Punic War, Naevius tried to combine the epic style of Homer with the dry narrative style of the Roman chronicles. For the style of the chronicle, for example, the description of the Roman attack on the island of Malta is typical: "The Roman army is transported to Malta, the flourishing island ruins, destroys, devastates, brings to the end its enemy cause."

The poem began with a description of the siege of the Sicilian city of Agrigentum in 262. Here was the famous temple of Zeus. On the eastern pediment of the temple, the struggle of the gods and giants was depicted, on the western - the destruction of Troy.

Starting with a description of the temple, Nevius then moved, apparently, from a historical theme to a mythological one, from the siege of Agrigentum to the story of the flight from Troy of the future founder of the Roman state, Aeneas. The second book was devoted to the wanderings of Aeneas and his arrival in Italy. The remaining five books dealt with various episodes of the first Punic War.

The poem also contained an Olympic plan, like that of Homer. Separate fragments are devoted to the conversation between Venus and Jupiter about the fate of the Roman state.

Of the literary monuments of the most ancient period, only the comedies (palliates) of Plautus and Terentius have come down to us in full.

1. The emergence of Roman poetry and drama in the middle of the II century. BC.

2. Early Forms of Roman Prose

3. The first Roman poets

3.1. Plautus

3.2. Terence

3.3. Satyrs of Lucilius

II. Roman Literature of the Late Republican Period

1. Roman prose

1.1. Gaius Julius Caesar

1.2. Gaius Sallust Crispus

1.3. Mark Terence Varro

2. Roman poetry of the 1st century. BC.

2.1. Titus Lucretius Kar

2.2. Gaius Valerius Catullus

III. Literature of the early Empire

1. Literary life of the Augustan era

2. Virgil

3. Creativity Horace

IV. Roman literatureI-2nd century AD

1. General character of the literature

2. Martial

3. Juvenal

V. Literature of the late Roman Empire

VI. Literary heritage of Roman civilization

XII. Bibliography

I. The origin of literature in Rome

1. The emergence of Roman poetry and drama in the middle2nd century BC.

The first steps of Roman fiction are associated with the spread of Greek education in Rome. Early Roman writers imitated the classical models of Greek literature, although they used

Roman subjects and some Roman forms. There is no reason to deny the existence of oral Roman poetry that arose in a distant era. The earliest forms of poetic creativity are undoubtedly associated with a cult.

This is how a religious hymn arose, a sacred song (carmen), a model of which is the song of the Salii that has come down to us. It is composed of Saturnian verses. This is the oldest monument of Italian free meter, analogies to which we find in the oral poetry of other peoples.

In patrician families, songs and legends were composed that glorified famous ancestors. One of the types of creativity was elogies, composed in honor of the deceased representatives of noble families. The earliest example of elogy is the epitaph dedicated to L. Cornelius Scipio the Bearded, which also gives a sample of Saturnian size. Other types of Roman oral art include funeral songs performed by special mourners, all kinds of incantations and incantations, also composed in verse. Thus, long before appearance Roman fiction in the true sense of the word, the Romans create a poetic size, saturnine verse, which was used by the first poets.

The beginnings of the Roman folk drama should be sought in various rural festivities, but its development is connected with the influence of neighboring peoples. The main types of dramatic performances were atellani.

Oki appeared in Etruria and were associated with cult activities; but this form was developed by the Oscas, and the very name "atellan" comes from the Campanian city of Atella. Atellani were special plays, the content of which was taken from rural life and the life of small towns.

In atellani, the main roles were played by the same types in the form of characteristic masks (glutton, boastful fool, stupid old man, hunchbacked cunning, etc.). Initially, the Atellani were presented impromptu. Subsequently, in the 1st c. BC e., this improvisational form was used by Roman playwrights as a special comedic genre.

2. Early Forms of Roman Prose

The beginning of Roman prose also belongs to ancient times. In the early era, written laws, treaties, and liturgical books appeared. The conditions of social life contributed to the development of eloquence. Some of the speeches delivered were recorded.

Cicero, for example, was aware of the speech of Appius Claudius Caecus, delivered in the Senate on the proposal of Pyrrhus to make peace with him. We also find indications that eulogies appeared in Rome already at an early age.

3. The first Roman poets

Roman literature arises as imitative literature. The first Roman poet was Livy Andronicus, who translated the Odyssey into Latin.

By origin, Libya was a Greek from Tarentum. In 272 he was brought to Rome as a prisoner, then he was released and taught the children of his patron and other aristocrats. The translation of the Odyssey was done in Saturnian verse. His language was not distinguished by elegance, and even word formations alien to the Latin language were found in it. It was the first poetic work written in Latin. In Roman schools for many years they studied according to the translation of the Odyssey made by Andronicus.

Livius Andronicus wrote several comedies and tragedies which were translations or adaptations of Greek works.

During the life of Livy, poetic activity began Gnea Nevia(circa 274-204), a native of Campania, who owns an epic work on the first Punic war, with a summary of the preceding Roman history.

In addition, Nevius wrote several tragedies, among them those that were based on Roman legends.

Since the tragedies of Naevius were performed by the Romans, dressed in a solemn costume - a toga with a purple border, - these works are called fabulae praetextae.

Neviy also wrote comedies in which he did not hide his democratic convictions. In one comedy, he ironically spoke of the then omnipotent Scipio the Elder; addressing the Metellus, he said: "The fate of the evil Metellus in Rome is consuls." For his poetry, Nevius was imprisoned and released from there only thanks to the intercession of the people's tribunes. However, he had to retire from Rome.

After the second Punic War, the works of the poet appeared Ennia (239-169). He was from Bruttium. Ennius participated in the second Punic War, after which he served as a centurion on the island of Sardinia, here he met with Cato the Elder, who brought him with him to Rome. Since that time, Ennius lived in Rome and was engaged in teaching and literary work. Ennius received the rights of Roman citizenship and rotated among the noble Romans; he was especially close to the circle of the Scipios.

The main work of Ennius was the Chronicle (Annales), but, in addition, like his predecessors, he wrote tragedies and comedies. Ennius was the first to introduce the hexameter into Latin literature. Thus, Greek metres, based on certain alternations of long and short sounds, could also be used for Latin poetry.

Ennius enjoyed fame during his lifetime, and after his death was revered as one of the best poets.

From the writings of all three listed poets - Livy, Andronicus, Nevius and Ennius - only fragments have survived to this day.

3.1. Plautus

Roman comedy is better represented. For many centuries, the comedies of Titus Maccius Plautus (circa 254-184) were considered exemplary. Plautus was born in Umbria. Arriving in Rome , he became a servant in a troupe of actors, then was engaged in trade, but unsuccessfully, after that he worked for hire, and in his spare time he wrote comedies, which he managed to sell. The further fate of Plautus is unknown to us. We only know that he died in 184. Plautus had to travel a lot, meet people who belonged to the most diverse strata of the Italian population.

In plot, arrangement and character, Plautus' comedies are imitative. They were created under the influence of neo-Attic comedy, which, unlike the political comedy of the classical era, was an everyday comedy. Heroes of Plautus have Greek names, action his Comedy takes place in Greek cities. In the comedies of Plautus, as in the neo-Attic comedy, conditional types appear.

The comedies of Plautus are usually published in alphabetical order. The first is called "Amphitryon". The plot is the following. The Theban Amphitryon goes to war. Jupiter comes to his wife in the form of Amphitryon himself and Mercury in the guise of Amphitryon's servant. After some time, the true servant returns to announce his master's arrival to his wife, but he is driven out of the house. The same fate befell Amphitryon himself. The wife does not recognize him and assures him that her husband has long since returned. Finally, the gods decided to leave. Jupiter revealed the whole secret to Amphitrion and, together with Mercury, flew to heaven. Amphitrion is happy that Jupiter himself descended to his wife.

The comedy "Boastful Warrior" was more popular. The action takes place in Ephesus. The main character is Pirgopolinik, a warrior in the service of Seleucus. He managed to take the girl away from Athens. An Athenian youth comes to Ephesus, her a lover who is making efforts to free the girl. The main part in this is taken by the slave Palestron and the good old man, the neighbor of the warrior. The old man's client pretended to be in love with the warrior, made an appointment with him, and he, wanting to get rid of the Athenian girl, let her go with rich gifts. In the last act, the intrigue is revealed, the boastful warrior, with general laughter, is beaten by the slaves of the wise old man. Despite the fact that the action of the comedies of Plautus is played out

in Greek cities, and their heroes bear Greek names, they contain many lively responses to Roman reality.

Plautus did not have aristocratic patrons, he depended, first of all, on from mass audience, his comedies reflect to a certain extent the interests and views of the broad masses of the urban plebs. We find in his comedies a protest against usury, against aristocratic swagger. The comedy "The Boastful Warrior" was probably directed against mercenary troops and reminded the audience of the victory over Hannibal.

The plots of Plautus are not original, conditional types are derived in his comedies, but Plautus has inimitable comic situations. They are easy to remember. Plautus created a language of comedy that is fresh and varied; skillfully using a play on words, he created new figurative expressions, successfully introduced neologisms, parodied expressions accepted in the official language and in court. He took a lot from colloquial speech, from the language of the lower classes. In the language of Plautus there are many rude expressions, but nevertheless, he was considered exemplary.

3.2. Terence

To the circle Scipio Aemilian belonged to another comedy writer, Publius Terentius the African (circa 190-159). He was originally from Carthage and at an early age came to Rome as a slave. His master gave him an education and set him free.

Terentius moved in the circles of high Roman society, and his comedies are designed for educated audiences. Terentius also imitated Greek authors, and most of all, Menander, the famous author of the neo-Attic comedy. All the works of Terence were distinguished by the elegance of the language. In this regard, they were considered models and were repeatedly commented on by grammarians.

3.3. Satyrs of Lucilius

Another representative of the Scipio circle, Lucilius (180-102) is known for his satyrs which reflected the social life of the era. Lucilius attacked the vices of his contemporary society: he condemned perjury, greed and luxury, but along with this he touched on literary and other topics. The word satura originally denoted a dish consisting of various fruits, and had various meanings before Lucilius. Lucilius applied it to his works to indicate a mixed literary form, but since his time this concept usually refers to didactic works that aim to condemn the vices and correct the morals of the society contemporary to the poet. From the satyrs of Lucilius, only fragments have survived.

From the time of Lucilius, satire became a purely Roman literary genre, which received its development in the following era. Between the end of the 3rd c. until the middle of the second century. BC e. Roman literature, at first imitative, gradually acquires original features and develops independently. Literature introduced Roman society to new ideas, it contributed to the creation of that Latin language, which was then studied for many centuries.

II. Roman Literature of the Late Republican Period

1. Roman prose

1.1. Gaius Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar occupies a prominent place in Roman literature at the end of the Republic. Behind him established the glory of the second, after Cicero, the Roman orator. Remarkable both in form and content are his military memoirs, known as "Notes on the Gallic War" and "Notes on the Civil War". He also owned other works that have not come down to us. As an orator, Caesar joined the Atticists. His speeches have not been preserved, but Cicero called them graceful and spoke of Caesar's ability to stay on the podium; they were pronounced, says another source, with the same ardor with which Caesar waged wars.

Caesar's memoirs pursued political goals. "Notes on the Gallic War" justified his wars in Gaul and pointed to the significance of new conquests. "Notes on the Civil War" placed all responsibility for the war on Caesar's opponents and showed their military incapacity.

Caesar's story is striking in its consistency and clarity. His judgments about his actions are distinguished by restraint; nowhere does he give comments to those of his actions and events that he tells about. A lively and unconstrained story is matched by a simple and polished language. Cicero found Caesar's Notes charming; according to him, they are devoid of artificial techniques, as if naked.

The genre to which Caesar's Notes belong found its imitators: Hirtius, an officer close to Caesar (consul of 43, who died under Mutina), continued Caesar's work and wrote the eighth book of Notes on the Gallic War. Hirtius and other participants in the wars of Caesar described other campaigns of Caesar.

1.2. Gaius Sallust Crispus

Close to the memoir literature were also historical works dedicated to individual events in Roman history. Of the historians of that time, Guy Sallust Crispus, a supporter of Caesar, was especially famous. His writings "On the Conspiracy of Catiline", "The Jugurtine War" and even "Letters to Caesar" are not only important historical sources, but also major literary works.

1.3. Mark Terence Varro

One of the most prolific writers of that time was Mark Terence Varro (116-27). He amazed his them readers by the variety of subjects that were touched upon in his works, and the amount of everything written.

The works of Varro covered almost all branches of knowledge. But Varro is not only a prose writer, he also owns a number of poetic works. He was famous satire. Based on the passages that have come down to us, we can say that they pursued certain political and didactic goals. Barren philosophical reasoning, for example, is contrasted with Roman worldly wisdom. Varro also touched on burning political issues. After the establishment of the first triumvirate, he published a satire called "The Three-Headed Monster".

2. Roman poetry of the 1st century. BC e.

The last century of the Republic was marked not only by the flowering of Latin prose, but also by outstanding successes in the field of poetic creativity. Versification was taught in schools, and the ability to compose poetry was a sign of good taste.

In Roman poetry of that time, two currents fought: one of them sought to find vulgar poetic forms, to use the diverse poetic techniques that were cultivated by Hellenistic, especially Alexandrian, poets; the other defended the traditional form of versification, which came from Ennius. Cicero considered himself an adherent of this form; Titus Lucretius Carus, the author of the famous philosophical poem "On the Nature of Things", also joined this trend.

2.1. Titus Lucretius Car

Little is known about the life of Lucretius. He dedicates his poem to the praetor Memmius, addressing him as an equal. Perhaps because he belonged to the highest circle , although some tend to consider him a man of democratic origin. Christian writer IV-V centuries. n. e. Jerome says that Lucretius lost his mind from drinking a love drink, that he wrote his poem only in those moments when he regained consciousness, and committed suicide. However, in the poem there are no traces of morbid consciousness; this version apparently belongs to the subsequent period and was composed by opponents of the philosophy of Lucretius.

The poem "On the Nature of Things" is a philosophical work. The author used rhythmic speech and various forms of poetic presentation to make the subject of his work accessible to the reader. Outlining his teaching "in sonorous and sweet verses", he acts, in his words, like a doctor "who smears the edges of the bowl with honey when he gives children a bitter healing drink."

Lucretius is a staunch supporter and passionate preacher of the teachings of Epicurus, which, in his opinion, should rid people of superstition and give them happiness.

The poem begins with a hymn to the all-good Venus, the personification of a single and eternally living nature. In the first book, the law of the eternity of matter is formulated as the basis of the doctrine of everything that exists: nothing comes from nothing, but everything is born and grows from the smallest primary bodies , of which all bodies are made. A significant part of the next book is also devoted to the development of this idea.

Book Three deals with the issue of life and death. Lucretius denies the immortality of the soul. The spirit and soul of a person are born and die together with the body. Therefore, death is the inevitable end of existence. Book Four establishes that our senses are the main source of knowledge of things. In the fifth book, a majestic picture of the universe is unfolded. The world arose as a result of various couplings of individual bodies. The world does not stagnate in its position, everything is transient, nature is forever changing. Lucretius tells the story of the formation of the earth and the appearance of living beings on it. He gives a sketch of the development of primitive society. The first people looked more like animals, they had no laws and rules of the hostel, violence reigned among them. But gradually people subjugated the forces of nature, they learned how to make fire, began to use the skins of animals, a family appeared, as a result of the contract, a society arose. In the sixth book, various natural phenomena are explained: thunderstorms, earthquakes, temperature fluctuations, epidemic diseases.

The poem reveals a holistic, basically materialistic and mechanistic worldview. Its author is not only a rationalist thinker, but also a poet, he not only studies nature, but also bows before it.

Some descriptions (thunderstorms, clouds) speak of the power of the author's poetic perception of natural phenomena. One of the main tasks of Lucretius is to free people from the fear of death and from superstitions. The natural picture of the world leaves no room for divine intervention. In agreement with Epicurus, Lucretius says that the gods lead a serene life and do not touch human affairs. Man's impotence before nature, his helplessness in explaining its phenomena were the causes of religious delusions, which can be the source of all evils.

The ideal of Lucretius is a sage who knows the laws of life and nature, freed from superstition, removed from worries and enjoys his peace of mind. Epicurean ethics is fundamentally apolitical. It justifies individualism, the removal of a person from public life.

He prefers the life of a primitive society to a life full of fussy worries, remote from nature and burdened by struggle. However, Lucretius is alien to pessimism. Admiration for nature, faith in its inexhaustible forces, he combines with an apology for the human mind, penetrating into the deepest secrets of the universe and being the source of true wisdom. This is the strength of Lucretius's optimism.

The poem "On the Nature of Things" is the greatest work of world literature, it continues to amaze with the depth of thought, and more than once has been a source of creative inspiration. Teaching, in essence, in conflict with many phenomena of the Roman social order, filled with ritual and superstition, Lucretius clothed in a traditional Latin poetic form. He did not follow the Alexandrian models, but the Roman poet Ennius, for whom he held great respect.

Lucretius's reform of Ennius's verse was significant for later poets, especially Virgil. About 100 BC. e. Latin poems appear, written under the influence of Alexandrinism. This direction arose at the court of the Ptolemies, and it is characterized by the following features: 1) underlined erudition the author (especially in matters of mythology); 2) elegance and sophistication forms; 3) exceptional attention to personal experiences, especially love. At the end of the first half of the 1st c. alexandrinism comes into fashion in Rome. He finds many supporters, mainly among the aristocratic youth. People of a conservative direction stood for the old Ennie verse, and Cicero disparagingly called the new poets neotheric("young men", "innovators").

2.2. Gaius Valerius Catullus

The first place among the new poets undoubtedly belongs to Catullus. Gaius Valerius Catullus (about 87-54 BC) was born in the Transpadanian city of Verona. Having settled in Rome, he became close with representatives of the aristocratic youth, among whom there were many talented people.

Catullus was well aware of Greek and Hellenistic poetry. A number of his poems were written in a purely Alexandrian spirit ("The Wedding of Thetis and Peleus", two wedding songs - epithalami, etc.). Catullus paid tribute to the underlined scholarship that was required of a poet of the Alexandrian school, but at the same time he gave true, full of realism characteristics of human feelings and passions. The lyrical poems of Catullus acquired special significance in world literature, the main of which he dedicated to his beloved Lesbia.

Under this fictitious name, as it was established in antiquity, the aristocrat Clodia, the sister of the famous tribune of 58, was hidden, more than once mentioned in the works of Cicero. The poems of Catullus introduce us to the vicissitudes of the whole novel: Catullus speaks of his passion, leading him to timidity. The first passion and joy of success was followed by disappointment: Catullus has suspicions that cause jealousy and are soon confirmed. Catullus experiences opposite feelings, which he captures with particular force in a couplet that begins with the words: “Though I hate, I love.”

In the end, Catullus breaks with Clodia, and this break causes him, as it were, a stupor. He prays to the gods to save him from love sickness; he is disappointed in love and subsequently did not want to return to his former lover.

Love for Clodia is not the only motif in the lyrical works of Catullus. He writes poems about the death of his beloved brother and numerous and varied poems dedicated to friends. The verses of Catullus about nature are remarkable. The poem, addressed to the native peninsula of Sirmium, was written by the poet upon his return from Bithynia; native lands are dearer to Catullus than all other "peninsulas and islands, the Tiny and Bithynian fields."

Thus, the lyrics of Catullus reflect the complex range of personal experiences of the poet. He was influenced not only by the Alexandrians - he was influenced by the early Greek lyricists (especially Sappho and Archilochus). Catullus managed to find words of exceptional power and charm to express complex human experiences, and he can rightly be considered the first major Roman lyric poet. In the lyrical works of Catullus, the development of individualism in Roman society is most clearly reflected.

Catullus was not alien to political motives. His father was considered a friend and guest of Caesar, while Catullus himself revolved in the circle of anti-Caesarian youth; he owns several sharp epigrams addressed to Caesar and especially to the latter's favorite, Mamurra. True, in one of the poems, Catullus admires the success of Caesar in Britain.

At the end of the period under review, the outstanding poets of the beginning of the Empire, Virgil and Horace, began their activities, but their works, published by them during the last civil wars, are inseparable from all their work, which is closely connected with the political and social relations of the times of the principate of Augustus.

III . Literature of the early Empire

1. Literary life in the era of Augustus

The Augustan era is the heyday of Roman culture. In his time, such works of literature and art were created that acquired world-historical significance and remained models for many centuries. These works are the result of the centuries-old development of Roman culture, but at the same time they express those ideological currents that are characteristic of the Augustan era.

By the reign of Augustus is the heyday of Roman poetry. Civil wars did not stop the line of development, the beginning of which dates back to the middle of the 1st century. BC e. The poets of the August era continued the tradition of Lucretius and Catullus.

Of undoubted importance was the peace established by Augustus, which was especially favorable for the privileged sections of Italian society. No wonder all poets are Italians by origin. Italy gave Rome talents that made Roman poetry immortal.

For the artistic prose of this time, the historical genre is characteristic. An outstanding work of the era is the "History" of Titus Livius. Other historical works of the Augustan era have not come down to us. Many of them, judging by the meager information at our disposal, apparently were of a journalistic nature.

The age of Cicero is the heyday of Roman eloquence. Rhetoric retains its importance in the age of Augustus; it is taught in schools, it influences a wide variety of literary genres. But oratory begins to decline, social conditions did not contribute to its prosperity. Tacitus explained this phenomenon in this way: “The prolonged calm, the continuous inaction of the people, the constant silence in the senate and the most strict orders of the princeps pacified the most eloquence, like everything else.”

At the same time, the era of Augustus is the time of creativity of the best Roman poets. The eldest of them - Virgil and Horace - began their poetic activity during the civil wars.

2. Virgil

Publius Virgil Maron (70-19 years before to, c.) Born in northern Italy, near the city of Mantua, in the family of a wealthy landowner, he received a good education, studied literature, rhetoric, and was familiar with Epicurean philosophy. The turbulent events of the era of civil wars were reflected in the fate of Virgil. His small estate was to go to the veterans. He was saved, however, by the intercession of friends before Octavian. This time Virgil kept his land, but he still had to lose it in the next partition. However, with the help of the Maecenas (whose circle included Virgil), he became the owner of another small estate.

Virgil gained notoriety for his Bucolics. They consist of ten poems, an eclogue, written under the influence of the idylls of a Greek poet of the 3rd century BC. BC e. Theocritus. In a number of eclogues, Virgil depicts shepherds competing in the bosom of nature in poetic creativity. They sing of the surrounding nature, their herds. Some eclogues have love motifs; a significant place is given to various mythological images. Like Theocritus, the action in some eclogues takes place in Sicily, while in others it takes place in the poet's native northern Italy. In these works, dedicated to nature, peaceful herds and village life, political motives contemporary to the author were also reflected. The ninth eclogue speaks of godless warriors who seize the earth. AT In the first eclogue (probably written later than the others), one of the shepherds is forced to leave his native arable land, while the other promises to offer prayers in honor of the new deity, which is in Rome and by which Virgil meant, no doubt, Octavian.

The fourth eclogue, written in 40, after the Brundisian peace, stands somewhat apart. In it, the author predicts the birth of a divine baby who will bring peace and happiness to people on earth. This eclogue is not like the others; it has the character of a solemn prophecy. Already in antiquity, they argued about who Virgil had and what he meant by the eternal baby, whose birth he predicted. Commentators saw in him the son of Asinnius Pollio, the consul of 40, a well-known public figure and writer, to whom the eclogue is dedicated. But, in all likelihood, this work was created under the influence of Eastern prophecies, which, under the name of the Sibylline Books, were widely used at that time.

About 29 BC. e. there is a new work of Virgil - "Georgics". This is a didactic work giving guidance to the farmer. The work was written on the initiative of the Maecenas; it encouraged the honorable work of the farmer, and glorified Italy. The merit of the Georgic is that it is not a dry treatise on agriculture written in verse. Various digressions, genre scenes, descriptions of nature, sonorous verses, skillful use of figurative means of speech - all this makes it possible to classify "Georgics" as highly artistic works. Virgil poeticizes Italy, Saturn's land, the most fertile and best in the world. The glorious past of Rome should be proud of all of Italy. Many lines are dedicated to the glorification of Octavian. The main poetic work of Virgil, named after the legendary ancestor of the Julius family, Aeneas, is called the Aeneid. It is modeled on the greatest Greek poems - the Iliad and the Odyssey.

The idea and the main idea of ​​the Aeneid are quite consistent with the political tendencies of Augustus. Virgil sang of his legendary ancestor, who achieved success not only because of his courage, but also because of his piety, which is manifested both in relation to deities and to his loved ones. In the image of the pious Aeneas, an ideal Roman is given, whose behavior should serve as an example for posterity. The poem is religious and didactic in nature. It must restore the old Roman piety, respect for the gods, fear of them, faith in signs and encourage the fulfillment of the precepts of piety and religious rites.

In the history of Roman literature, the work of Virgil is one of the most important stages. Virgil was familiar with the Alexandrian school; Alexandrism influenced his work, but nevertheless, Virgil created purely Roman poetic works.

3. Creativity Horace

Horace Flaccus (65-8 BC) belonged to the patron's circle, another outstanding poet of the time of Augustus Crete. One of the early works of Horace were satires. Horace follows the example of Lucilius, but more than he pays attention to the elegance of form. Horace condemns the vices and shortcomings of the people around him: stinginess, swagger, excessive luxury, the pursuit of inheritance. He condemns mediocre poets, wealthy upstarts. There is no bitterness and indignation in his poems. Satires were written in the difficult times of the reign of the second triumvirs; this explains, perhaps, the fact that the author does not mention names or social groups.

Horace expressed his political sentiments in "epodes", which, like satires, were written in the early period of his work.

The best works of Horace, no doubt, are his odes. And they reflected the political life of that time. However, the main thing in Horace's odes is not political themes. Like Catullus, Horace is a lyric poet. He preaches moderation, but at the same time the reasonable use of pleasure. Carpe diem - "Take advantage of the day" - that's his slogan.

In his famous work, known as the "Monument", which subsequently caused many imitations, Horace says that his name will be honored as long as Rome exists, since he "transfused the Aeolian chant into the Italic song."

IV. Roman literatureI-2nd century AD

1. General character of the literature

The epoch of Augustus is marked by the activity of the Roman poets; No wonder this time is called the golden age of Roman literature. But already in the last years of the reign of Augustus one can notice a certain decline in literature; but despite this, poetry "came into fashion." Passion for poetry is typical both for the time of Nero and for subsequent periods. Pliny the Younger speaks of a "harvest of poets" who yearn for listeners and connoisseurs. The works of the Roman satirists Martial and Juvenal testify to the same.

On the basis of what has come down to us from the works of poets of that time, it is possible to establish some features characteristic of fiction of the 1st-2nd centuries. Poetry spread in Rome. The custom of recitation, the public reading of one's works, introduced under Augustus by Asinius Pollio, became generally accepted. Professional poets appeared who lived not so much by publishing their works as by the grace of their patrons.

During this period, all kinds of aphorisms and short ones, designed for the effect of poetry, became widespread. There is little originality in the poetry of this era. Imitation of Latin samples is one of the characteristic features. Canonized Virgil. Many poets imitate him, even Columella, who wrote a completely prosaic work on agriculture, a book on caring for fruit trees, expounded it in verse, as if filling in thereby an essential gap in the "georgics". Italy and Rome in the time of the Julio-Claudians and the Flavians retained their priority in cultural life. But if in the time of Augustus almost all the poets were Italian natives, in subsequent periods provincials acquired great importance. Lucan, Colomella, Seneca, Martial, Quintilian were from Spanish cities, and Apuleius is an African.

Of the writers of this time, two poets, Martial and Juvenal, gained the greatest fame.

2. Martial

Mark Valery Martial (about 40 - 104), a native of Spain, received a rhetorical education in his homeland and arrived in Rome in the time of Nero. In his works, he repeatedly returns to describing the life of a poor man - a poet who eats handouts from the rich, dependent on his patrons, among whom are arrogant, stingy and heartless people. Martial does not spare clients who are waiting for mercy from their patrons.

Literature of Ancient Rome

Of the many tribes that have inhabited the Apennine Peninsula since ancient times, by the 10th century. BC e. the most prominent role began to be played by the Etruscans and Italians, primarily the Latins, who occupied its middle part. In 753 BC. e. Rome was founded - the center of the Latins, and later the whole vast Roman Empire. But the real development and glory came to the Romans much later than to the Greeks. The Greek colonies in Italy played a significant role in the development of Etruscan and Italic culture. The Greeks brought with them more advanced farming methods, the alphabet and the polis (among the Romans the polis was called "civitas", but we will keep the familiar name) form of government. At the very end of the VI century. BC e. after the expulsion from the city of the Etruscans, the ancient rule of the kings is replaced by a republican system. From the earliest years of the Republic, Rome asserts itself as an aristocratic state. From the patricians and wealthy plebeians, a new senatorial nobility (nobility) was formed, the effectiveness of the people's assembly was limited to the clientele - the obedient execution of the will of the owners. By this time, the transition from the primitive communal system to the slave-owning system, which began back in the era of the kings, is being completed.

Although writing in Latin spread from the VI century. BC e., for artistic creation in

In ancient Rome, it remained banned for a long time. The letter was used by priests, magistrates, from the 5th century. BC e. laws began to be written. Later, public speeches, praising speeches at the funerals of noble persons began to be recorded. Literature, and with it, first of all, poetry was associated, which was considered a frivolous matter, turned out to be the last to be admitted to the written word (circumstances that changed in the 3rd century BC forced us to see in it a constructive force important for social life). Following Greek models, which is quite clearly manifested in the literature of Rome, had its own specifics. After all, the Romans did not start from individual stages, but from the entire practically completed history of ancient Greek literature. At the same time, the closest Hellenistic artistic experience, linked to the ideological attitudes relevant to Rome and the local cultural tradition, had the greatest influence. Although there is no unambiguously established periodization of ancient Roman literature, the following option seems convincing enough to us.

I. Literature of the era of the republic:

1) pre-literary period (V century BC - III century BC);
2) the early literary period (the heyday of the policy) - (240 BC - the middle of the 2nd century BC);
3) the initial period of the classics (crisis of the policy) - (mid-2nd century BC - 30s BC).

II. Empire Literature:

1) the culminating period of the classics (August principle) -
(31 BC - 14 AD);
2) the period of stabilization of the empire (I-II centuries);
3) the period of the crisis of the empire (III-IV centuries).

Republic era literature

pre-literary period. The oral cult-mythological, epic and folk-poetic tradition of the Romans was formed by an original combination of borrowings, reworkings of the heritage of the Greeks and Etruscans with a rather rich own folklore.

Mythology. The names and functions of the central Roman deities, directly ascending to the Greek ones, are well known: Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Mars, Venus, Diana, Mercury, Vulcan, etc. However, in everyday life, the Romans perceived the world around them as filled with good and evil spirits, which had to be appeased by prayers, magic spells and sacrifices. Especially numerous were the deities who took care of almost all types of work of the farmer and shepherd. For example, Vervactor, Redarator and Obatorator assisted in the plowing of virgin lands. Seya helped to strengthen the first shoots, and Segetia helped their growth. The goddess Flora contributed to flowering, the god Lakturnus helped ripen the ears, and the god Messis was in charge of the harvest. There were many deities to whom the Romans entrusted the safety and well-being of their home and family. Lares and Penates took care of the dwelling, Janus guarded the doors, Vesta guarded the hearth. Finally, each person had his own patron spirit - a genius, who gave the vitality of an individual. All these deities and spirits, unlike the central ones, the Romans did not represent in human form, did not put statues for them, did not build temples. Nevertheless, they not only largely determined the way of life of ancient people, but also turned out to be widely demanded images of subsequent art.

oral epic. With all the variety of unrelated gods, the Romans had practically no heroes. They revered their ancestors, but imagined them to be ordinary people. Perhaps only the legendary Romulus, one of the twin founders of Rome, can be considered similar to the Greek hero. Therefore, Roman narrative folklore developed primarily in the form of historical legend. Such are the legends about the girl Tarpeya, who betrayed the enemy the fortress that her father defended; about the duel of three Roman twin brothers Horatii with three twin brothers from Alba Longa - Curiatii; and of course, about Romulus and Remus and the Capitoline she-wolf who nursed them. Generic tales, transcriptions of Greek epic stories were also quite common. It was alleged that Odysseus traveled near Sicily and Italy, there were Polyphemus and Aeolus, Kirk and the entrance to the underworld. In Latium, the Trojan Aeneas, the hero of the Iliad, was especially often mentioned. The son of Aphrodite and Anchises, he left the burning Troy and after long wanderings arrived in Latium, where he married Lavinia, daughter of King Latinus. His son Ascanius was recognized as the founder of Alba Longa, the largest Latin city before the rise of Rome. In turn, Romulus was considered a descendant of Ascanius.

Song folklore. We can say that with its diversity, connection with almost all aspects of the life of that time, it is not inferior to the ancient Greek. The following genre groups are distinguished:

1) cult hymns in honor of the god Mars - originally the patron spirit of plants, and later the god of war;

2) work songs - characteristic thematic tunes during the grape harvest, yarn, weaving, as well as songs of rowers and shepherds;

3) ritual songs, of which a funeral lament, neniya, performed to the sounds of a flute, stands out;

4) lullabies and songs of children's games;

5) Fescennin songs - reminiscent of ancient Greek iambs, they accompanied fertility holidays and were distinguished by cheerful, comical and satirical content;

6) triumphal songs were performed during solemn marches in honor of outstanding victorious commanders;

7) feast (table) songs were sung in turn by those present to the sounds of a flute and glorified famous men.

Dramatic art in this period takes only the first steps through ritual games in agricultural communities (mimicry, processions of mummers, dialogic improvisations). The feast of Saturnalia (December) was distinguished by the greatest dynamics and carnivalism, the ritualism of which required a “reversal” of the existing social relations: the masters served the slaves, the “King Saturnalia” was appointed by lot - the main person in Rome throughout all the festivities. At the Roman Games, where at first only circus masters, riders and chariots competed, from the 4th century. BC e. uncomplicated stage performances are given. The actors participating in them were called histrions, and the most popular were small plays with a constant set of caricature masks - atellani.

The written sources of this time, as already noted, cannot be attributed to artistic creativity, but they were a serious contribution to the formation of the Latin literary language. In the 5th century BC e. The "Laws of the XII Tables" were compiled, recorded on copper plates and exhibited at the Forum for public viewing. This ancient text in subsequent times became an indispensable guide not only for lawyers, but also for philologists, and in Roman schools, students had to learn it by heart. It turned out to be the foundations of the original style, which is found in the construction of periods, the use of the word order characteristic of later Latin. Very close to literature can be recognized as published in 304 BC. e. Flavius ​​denounces the secular calendar (until now such materials were the professional secret of the priests), which opened up access to all citizens to the knowledge of a scientific, political and legal nature necessary in life practice. Also noteworthy is Appius Claudius, the author of the first published political speech and the collection of moral teachings "Sentences".

Early literary period (the heyday of the policy). The strengthening of republican Rome led to its more and more active expansion to the north and south of the Apennine Peninsula, to Sicily. He begins to claim dominance in the Mediterranean. Accession in 263 BC e. The Sicilian city of Messana caused a 23-year war between Rome and Carthage, which became the 1st Punic and predetermined not only the economic, but also the cultural flourishing of the policy. In this regard, it will be opportune to recall that as early as 272 BC. e. after the capture of Tarentum by the Romans, the young Greek Andronicus was captured by them (we know that from ancient times Southern Italy and many islands, including Sicily, were inhabited by Greeks). Later set free by his master Livy, he took the name of Lucius Livius Andronicus (c. 284-204 BC), and it was he who was destined to become the founder of Roman literature.

Entertaining theatrical performances have long accompanied the Roman Games (September), but only by Andronicus in 240 BC. e. productions of his translations of Greek tragedy and comedy became a literary event. Rome celebrated the victory in the 1st Punic War, and scenes from Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides were the best suited to raise the feeling of patriotism, triumph, civil unity. Andronicus introduces the principle of free translation, where the main thing was not so much following the source text as its adaptation to current cultural and ideological needs. For many years, the Latin Odyssey, written by him according to the same principle, became a textbook. Thanks to the authority of Andronicus, a college of writers and actors was created, which received the right to gather in the temple of Minerva on the Aventine Hill, and dramatic performances at the Roman Games gained official status. Further Hellenization of Roman society, especially its elite, was facilitated by the work of Gnaeus Nevius (c. 270-201 BC). He writes mainly comedy palliata, where the characters act in a Greek setting, wear Greek names and clothes - raincoats. To the principle of free translation, he adds the principle of contamination - the arbitrary combination in a work of several plots borrowed from different plays. Gnaeus Nevius is also the author of the first Roman epic, The Song of the Punic War.

Indicative of the early period of ancient Roman literature was the work of Plautus and Terentius, who reworked mainly the authors of the neo-Attic comedy - Menander, Philemon, Diphilus.

Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 250-184 BC) became famous for his comedies during the 2nd Punic War. A connoisseur of theatrics and the tastes of the Roman public, he chose plots with dynamic intrigue, where in the center is either a cunning rogue slave who triumphs over his master, or a hetera, who turns out to be a free-born citizen at the end. In his comedies there are buffoonery, and violent fun, and rude humor, which, combined with musical accompaniment, gave his productions a resemblance to modern musicals. The comedy "Pot" ("Pod") is played mainly around the ironically presented behavior of two elderly neighbors. Euclion lived in poverty, and the rich treasure unexpectedly found by him in the hearth of his own house not only does not improve his existence, but makes him an unfortunate hostage of discovery. Plautus laughs at those who are only capable of mindless hoarding, who are ruined by their heaviness of capital not put into circulation. Euclion's daughter liked his peer Megador, who is rich and therefore afraid of an unsuccessful marriage. The audience was amused by his reasoning that brides from wealthy families are capricious and prone to extravagance, and therefore, you need to marry poor, young girls, modest and not spoiled by luxury. By the end of the comedy, he will remain with his utopias. The protagonist of the "Boastful Warrior" Pirgopolinik (in translation, this pretentious - the Victorious Tower) was easily correlated with the contemporary warriors of the Punic Wars to Plautus, many of whom sat out in the commissariat carts. Returning with the winners, they were especially distinguished by boasting about their imaginary victories in battles and love affairs. In the comedy "Pseudolus", as in many others, Plautus makes the central figure of an intelligent, dexterous, incredibly energetic slave. He helps his young master arrange his personal life, while not forgetting about his own benefit.

Terentius Afr Publius (c. 195-159 BC) unlike Plautus, who was oriented towards a broad democratic audience, he wrote for the educated elite of Roman society. His somewhat epicurean attitude to life is well formulated by himself: "I am a man, and nothing human is alien to me." And in his comedies, where the main conflicts take place between fathers and children, husbands and wives, he is in no hurry to condemn, calling for a respectful, humane attitude of people towards each other. So, he attractively depicts the main character of the comedy “Mother-in-law”, who was very friendly towards her daughter-in-law. In the comedy "Brothers" in the images of the stern Demeya and the liberal Mikion, not only two polar characters are presented, but also two different principles of education - "hard" and "soft". By the end of the play, the author leads to the idea that not only any extremes are harmful in education, but also indifference to the personality of the educated person, formalism and demagogy. The heroes of Terentius speak in an elegant literary language, freed from archaic forms and striving for stylistic perfection. Quite rightly, Terence is considered one of those who prepared classical Latin.

The initial period of the classics (the crisis of the policy). The dynamic expansion of subject territories, the need to control huge masses of free citizens and slaves by the second half of the 2nd century. BC e. finally reveal the inefficiency of the polis form of the Roman state system. There was a need for a new power, on the one hand, firm and concentrated in one hand, on the other hand, based on a broader social base than the totality of "Roman citizens". There comes a crisis period of civil wars, bloody dictatorships and powerful uprisings of slaves (136th, 104th and under the leadership of Spartacus 73-71 BC). In culture and art, this turbulent time was reflected in decisive transformations and achievements. The time of apprenticeship with the Greeks is ending, and from the turn of the II-I centuries. BC e. we can talk about the priorities of artistic creation in Latin, which absorbed both the purity and rigor of Attic art, and the lightness, grace, and sophistication of Alexandrian poetry.

Literature is updated, the artistic word is effectively used in the political struggle. The personality of the writer is fundamentally changing: he is no longer a former slave, not a freedman, but a full-fledged Roman, often a prominent political figure. Noticeably pushing back the dramatic genres, prose genres begin to predominate, and the literary struggle is waged mainly around questions of prose style. A classical literary language is being formed, the so-called "golden" Latin, which in the next period will provide a "golden age" of poetry.

In the tragedies of the famous Roman playwright Lucius Action (c. 170-90 BC), as sublime and pathetic as the Greek ones, one can feel the pulse of Roman political life ("Brutus", "Aeneads", "Decius").

They mainly depict tyrants and the cruel punishments that befall them. The Roman theme also penetrates into the comedy, where the palliata gives way to the togata (the toga is typically Roman clothing). In the togata, attention is concentrated on private life, love is transferred to the sphere of free citizens, a lot of attention is paid to women (“Stepdaughter”, “Sister-in-law”, “Lawyer”). At the same time, the theater is obviously being supplanted by spectacular gladiator fights and topical speeches by orators.

An unsurpassed master of eloquence was Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC). He left behind many treatises on philosophy, jurisprudence, and eloquence. Although they do not shine with independence of thought, they are always excellent stylistically, often being the only source of acquaintance with lost Greek originals. His judicial and political speeches are distinguished (in particular, the “Philippis” against Anthony), the treatises “On the State”, “On the Orator”, “On Friendship”, “On Duties”. Both for contemporaries and for subsequent generations, his language was exemplary; classical Latin was studied from it.

Poet and materialist philosopher Titus Lucretius Car (c. 96-55 BC)) is best known for his didactic poem On the Nature of Things. Based on the teachings of Epicurus, he paints a picture of the surrounding physical world through the prism of atomistic theory, the doctrine of the mortality of the soul, of the independence of nature from the will of the gods. However, Lucretius interprets the life of society in his own way, defending the active position of each person. He sharply condemns the decline of morals in the upper strata, rejects the war with its horrors, which only get worse with the development of material culture and technology. Only labor and the ability to reasonably manage one's capabilities can ensure the well-being of both the individual and the state built on the basis of a natural contract.

The most notable phenomenon in the poetry of this period was the neotheric movement - supporters of renewal through an orientation towards the Alexandrian poets, especially Callimachus. They propagate small genres, scholarship, by which they mean the search for little-known mythological plots, hidden quotations, borrowings from other authors. Neoteriks were the first of the Romans to approve the perception of literature as an art, they found a poetic form for expressing intimate experiences. Perfectly mastering the language and poetic technique, they formed the highest criteria for poetic classics. Belonged to the neotheric circle Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 80-54 BC)- one of the brightest lyric poets of antiquity. He writes elegies, epithalamics, epigrams, epillias (short poems), but his love poems were especially famous and popular. Full of passion and poetic expressiveness, they close on the story of the love experienced by Catullus for the beautiful and frivolous Clodia, called Lesbia in verse. The poetic narrative of happy moments, jealousy, disagreement, reconciliation and final break is the only one of its kind in Roman literature.

Marked by the highest examples of artistic prose, this period also laid the foundation for the flourishing of Roman poetry.

Imperial Age Literature

The culminating period of the classics (principle of Augustus). Long civil wars, the tragic death of Julius Caesar and the ensuing long-term rivalry between Antony and Octavian increasingly affirmed in the Romans the psychological need for stable, predictable power. The victory of Octavian, who remained the only successor of Caesar, the ability to compromise with the Senate in order to achieve not only his own goals, but also the much-desired peace and tranquility, created for him an aura of exclusivity, god-likeness. In 27 BC. e. he assumes the honorary title of Augustus (majestic, almost sacred) and becomes princeps (first among equals in the senate), effectively gaining absolute power and establishing the principate as a veiled form of imperial government. Princeps August favors those who glorify him as the savior and restorer of the state, fulfilling the imperial mission and reviving the basic values ​​​​of the Roman people. The first to respond to the requests of the era were poets, primarily Virgil and Horace, in whose versatile work Roman poetry reached classical perfection. They were part of the circle of Guy Cylnius Maecenas, a friend of Augustus, who financially supported the poets, oriented their work towards the glorification of the moral and political ideals of the principate.

Publius Virgil Maro (70-19 BC)- the most famous poet of imperial Rome. His work began under the influence of Catullus in line with the neotherics. Literary fame came to him with the publication of the book eclogue "Bukoliki", written in the genre of shepherd's idylls on the model of the Hellenistic poet Theocritus. In it, he draws the carefree life of the villagers in the bosom of nature, emphasizing not so much its beauty as emotional and pathetic mood, the intensity of inner experience is unusual for the classical pastoral of intellectual shepherds. In the fourth eclogue, Virgil predicted the birth of a baby who would bring peace to earth, that is, he described the appearance of Jesus Christ in the world. For this, in the Middle Ages, he was declared the first Christian poet. Later, on the advice of the Maecenas, he wrote the didactic agricultural poem "Georgics", where in a vivid artistic form he sang almost all types of peasant labor. Especially famous is his epic poem "Aeneid", where, in conjunction with the demands of the time, the legend of the Trojan hero Aeneas, the prehistory of not only Rome, but also the ancestors of Augustus, is presented. The author deliberately uses the experience of Homer, and compositionally 1-6 books of the poem resemble the Odyssey, and 7-12 are similar to the Iliad. Like Homer, gods and heroes, opponents and allies of the Trojans, act in the poem, through complex collisions, military clashes, eventually coming to reconciliation, to the unanimous exaltation of Rome predetermined by fate. Aeneas himself is a true model of the future Roman, pious and courageous, at the same time charming, refined, sensual. In all his actions, he follows the fateful destiny and will of the gods, subduing his desires and skillfully overcoming the most difficult obstacles. After all, it was no coincidence that it was he who was destined to stand at the beginnings of Rome, which by providence itself is called to fulfill people's dreams of eternal peace. And it is especially emphasized that the divine origin of Aeneas - the son of Venus - is naturally transmitted to his distant descendant Augustus, who thus became a symbol of the harmony of the forces of the earth and the forces of heaven.

Horace Flaccus Quintus (65-8 BC) also enjoyed the patronage of Maecenas, gladly responded to the victories of Augustus, glorified his undertakings, praised the officially resurgent old Roman morality. Throughout his literary activity, Horace acts as a supporter of meaningful poetry, as a master of verse and metrical form. He began his creative career with "Satire" and "Epodes", where, avoiding generalizations, he caustically exposes the vices of certain individuals unpleasant to him, not the most powerful and high-ranking. The poet here is not a formidable judge, he laughs at human shortcomings and, not thinking of correcting them, calls on everyone to be stricter with themselves. The four books of "Od" became the pinnacle for Horace.

The themes developed by the Greek lyricists in elegies and epigrams dominate here. Such are love, friendly feasts, the delights of a solitary life in nature, the victory of reason over death, and at the same time the success of Roman weapons, the greatness of ancient religious cults, the immortality of poetry itself (recall the famous "Monument"). Philosophical reflections on the fate of the poet and the nature of poetry stand out in the last cycle of his poems, "Messages". It is here that the “Epistle to the Pisos”, known to European poets of all times, is placed, which also got the name “Science of Poetry”. Knowledge of life, comprehensive education and tireless work on every line, every word - such is the classic testament of Horace.

Along with the circle of apologetically inclined towards Augustus Maecenas in Rome, there were several other associations of creative people who quite consciously evaded official generosity and praise, paying more attention to the inner world of a person. Let us recall the circles of Gaius Asinius Pollio and Valerius Corvinus Messalla, whose patronage was enjoyed by such lyricists as Tibull, Propertius, Ovid.

Nason Publius Ovid (43 BC - 18)- a poet refined and sophisticated, the most talented of the Roman elegiacs, creators of erotic poetry. In his first collection of poetry, Love Elegies, the muse of the poet, bred under the name of Corinna, the ancient Boeotian poetess, is sung at length, with pathos and vivid rhetorical figures. Although the poems contain more artificial passion than direct feeling, they attract with their focus on searching for it. Ovid claims the role of a teacher of love in "Heroines", where mythological heroines narrate about their love and pain of separation, referring to the heroes who left them. And especially - in the didactic poem "The Science of Love", where the poet teaches young people the art of winning the hearts of women. Ancient legends about Roman holidays are embodied in the book "Fasta" ("Methods of Months"). The most famous work of Ovid was the poem "Metamorphoses", consisting of 15 books and incorporating about 200 plots. The poet artistically revives ancient myths, ending with the transformation of heroes into a river, a mountain, an animal, a plant, a constellation. Events are arranged by the poet in a peculiar chronological order. The poem begins with the creation of the world - after all, when Chaos was divided into Heaven and Earth, the first transformation happened. And it ends literally yesterday: a year before the birth of Ovid, Julius Caesar was killed, and at the same time a large comet appeared in the sky. The Romans believed that Caesar became a god and ascended into the sky.

The period of stabilization of the empire. The closest heirs of Augustus and subsequent princeps will develop relations with the Senate and the army in different ways, they will shed a lot of blood, and many of them will die in civil strife, nevertheless, the power of the Roman Empire will grow. This does not mean at all that literature continued to develop along the path outlined by Augustus: the new rulers were not up to its organizing, didactic mission. The postclassical period is the time of “silver” Latin, when poetry and prose are pushed aside by rhetoric, and epic and lyrics by satire. In the work of Phaedrus (c. 15 BC - 70) a fable according to the Greek model takes on new life. The five books of his "Aesop's Fables" not only retell old stories in iambic verse, but also touch upon topical issues. The author cherishes the traditional idea of ​​a fable as a weapon that strikes the greats of this world, and he himself, referring to the lower strata of society with his simple verses, free from rhetorical learning, ridicules the vices of "powerful persons".

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC - 65) became famous as a statesman, and as an orator, and as an educator of the heir to the throne, and as a multifaceted writer. His moral-philosophical “Letters on Moral Themes”, epigrams, satires (for example, “Pumping of the Divine Claudius”) are known. His tragedies deserve special attention (Oedipus, Medea, Agamemnon, Phaedra, The Trojan Women, etc.), whose highly pathetic, rhetorical style indicates that they were conceived as dramas for reading. In the tragic aesthetics of Seneca, based on the pathos of the powerful and terrible, there is no compassion. To enhance the frightening dramatic effect, he boldly brings to the stage the murder of Medea's own children or the dialogue of Oedipus, blinded himself, with his wife-mother Jocasta and then her suicide. The main thing in the tragedies of Seneca is not the action, but the text itself, which aroused real fear and horror in the listeners by describing the atrocities and physical torment of the heroes. Of course, the effect of bloody spectacles to which the public was already accustomed is evident here. But there is also the realization of the philosophical principles of Seneca, in order, proceeding from the opposite, to teach a person to live and die with dignity, to give inner independence and peace of mind despite any surprises.

Mark Valerius Martial (c. 40-c. 102) wrote 15 books of epigrams, among which "Spectacles" is dedicated to the opening of the Colosseum in Rome, as well as "Hotels", "Gifts". His epigrams were distinguished by subtle humor, perfection of language, great imagination, accuracy and brilliant wordplay. Quite sharply ridiculing entire social groups (philosophers, lawyers, artists, doctors, grammarians, barbers), he retains a sense of tact and does not name the real names of his characters. With insight, knowledge of human characters, aphoristic brevity and brightness, the images of Martial's epigram far surpassed the Greek examples of the genre contemporary to him and became a good source of knowledge about the realities of the Roman life of his era.

Decimus Junius Juvenal (c. 60-c. 127) is not limited to irony, creating sharply accusatory and accusatory satires, where he is extremely specific in his moralizing speeches against social vices and individual carriers of social evils. He aptly strikes the servility of the courtiers, the excessive luxury of the rich, the shamelessness of upstarts and their venality. With bitterness and pessimism, Juvenal depicts the shady side of life in Rome, the unworthy existence of the poor, the perversion of relationships and the miserable pastime of clients, the empty desire of people for wealth, fame and money. He gives readers practical advice with examples from the real life of some worthy people, ancient legends. The poet entered the history of literature as a prominent representative of the so-called indignant satire, a master of philosophical and rhetorical reasoning in the spirit of stoicism.

Gaius Petronius Arbiter (?-66), as later Apuleius, opposes defiant pictures of reality in the variant of Menippean satire to the idyllic Greek novel about the sublime feelings and misadventures of loving heroes, so far from the prose of life. His novel Satyricon, which has come down to us only in fragments, is a story about the adventures of not only the central character Encolpius, pursued by the god of fertility Priapus and carried away by his young slave-lover Giton. In the course of a calm, laid-back narrative, a whole series of loafers, hangers-on who have lost their human appearance of rich freedmen like Trimalchio emerges. The author is not afraid to look into the hidden depths of the human spirit and being (belief in miracles and witches, crude erotica and perversions). The samples of colloquial folk speech recorded in the novel are an original monument of the history of the Latin language, an invaluable source of vulgarisms.

Lucius Apuleius (c. 125-c. 180) with his novel "Metamorphoses" (or "The Golden Ass"), as it were, completes this literary period, hilariously mocking his contemporaries. He notes both the apparent decline in morals and the degradation of the ancient pagan religion. Oriental cults spread widely and new ones gained strength, base faith in magic, in slander, in witchcraft and all kinds of miracles swept through all strata of society.

In the novel, Apuleius uses a plot that was quite common at that time about the transformation of a person into an animal by the spell of a sorceress and her drugs, followed by the acquisition of a newly lost appearance. The central character of the novel, Lucius, a young man windy and not burdened by high moral principles, being in a donkey's skin, suddenly, as if from the outside, sees his true self and his own kind. After all, those around are not embarrassed by the animal, doing with it, among other things, what they are used to hiding from prying eyes. This behind-the-scenes and so often simply dirty life of people amuses and frightens Lucius, forcing him to be more and more critical of his former, humanoid self. And when the goddess Isis, who responded to his prayers, helps Lucius to throw off the spell, he can no longer return to the old one, devoting himself to serving the cult of this Egyptian deity. However, quite in the spirit of the Menippean satire, where any "happy" end necessarily contains motives for a new round of skeptical reflections, the ending of the novel does not at all testify to the suddenly born piety of Lucius. The worship of Isis, and then the new supreme god Osiris, turns out to be a very profitable business for him, miraculously ensuring success in law practice. The writer always manages not to be boring, because colorful pictures of the misadventures of Lucius the donkey, and the mercantilism of the renewed hero, and curious insert stories, and the only ancient fairy tale "Cupid and Psyche" are very vividly presented - the decoration of world literature.

The period of the crisis of the empire. By the third century, the Roman Empire had clearly crossed the peak of its development: its largest territorial conquests were already behind, it was becoming increasingly difficult to protect its borders, the failure of the slave system and pagan religion was becoming more and more obvious. In 395, the empire was officially divided into two parts - the eastern one, with Constantinople as its capital, and the western one, headed by Rome.

And when in 476 the Germans, led by Odoacer, deposed the last Roman emperor, one might say, a line was drawn under all antiquity. In this crisis era, literature has not put forward any major names. The growing alienation between the eastern and western provinces of the empire led to the displacement of the Greek language from Rome, but here Christianity is switching to Latin. Christian authors borrow the forms of pagan literature, transforming them in accordance with new needs. The affirmed philosophy of Neoplatonism is imbued with the spirit of exaltation of the ascetic, abstract, spiritualistic and the denial of the bodily, mundane. For example, Origen of Alexandria (c. 185-c. 254), who headed the Christian catechetical school of Alexandria, identified the eternal Logos, or Word, with the image of the gospel Son of God, Jesus Christ. The greatest preacher of the preservation of the old religious principles was the orator Quintus Aurelius Symmachus (c. 345-c. 403), the author of the Epistles and Orations, who rallied a circle of writers around him. They conducted philological work with the works of famous Roman poets (in particular, Livy and Virgil), republished them and thereby saved precious cultural monuments from destruction. Of the poets, Rufio Festus Avien, Decimus Magnus Ausonius, and Claudius Claudian may be mentioned.

The most prominent Christian thinker of this period, who left a significant literary legacy, was Aurelius Augustine (354-430). Along with exegetical and soul-saving works, sermons, letters and poems, his speeches against the Manicheans, Pelagius, Donatists deserve attention. Augustine managed to synthesize the most important spiritual systems of his time - both ancient and Christian - into a kind of universal unity, the influence of which on contemporaries and subsequent generations can hardly be overestimated.

Among the most significant authors, both his dramatic fate and his work, which marked the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages, deserves special attention Anicius Manlius Torquat Severinus Boethius (c. 480-524). Known for his Latin translations and commentaries on Aristotle and Porphyry, treatises on logic, arithmetic, music, theology. The most famous work of Boethius is the treatise “Consolation of Philosophy” written by him at the end. In it, the author conducts a dialogue with philosophy, teaching him that earthly happiness is changeable, that only in virtue does the sage find true consolation, that passions must obey reason, and every failure is sent down by God for the good of man.

Antiquity as an era of paganism and slavery eventually gives way to new religious and socio-political systems, forever remaining, like Olympic champions, unsurpassed and exemplary in the humanistic self-affirmation of mankind.