The purpose of ...?

Roman arts, sciences, architecture and literature, and the modern creative efforts inspired by them. This is the home of our famous Roleplaying Thread. >({|:-)

Moderator: Aldus Marius

The purpose of ...?

Postby Lucius Tyrrhenus Garrulus on Fri Dec 10, 2004 8:21 am

SALVETE OMNES. S.V.B.E.V.

Can anyone tell me the "moral of the story" behind Virgil's Aeneid? Or Ovid's Metamorphoses? What were these authors trying to accomplish? Spin a good yarn? Or was there a point to be made?

MVLTAS GRATIAS VALETEQVE BENE!
NOX EST PERPETVA VNA DORMIENDA
Lucius Tyrrhenus Garrulus
Eques
Eques
 
Posts: 158
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2003 4:39 am
Location: PA, USA

Postby Q Valerius on Sat Dec 11, 2004 12:35 pm

Scerio Garrulo SPD:

Aeneid tried to show the glory of Augustus by showing the foundation of Roma and linking Augustus to divine origins (Venus), while Ovid was simply recanting stories of changes, but most certainly not believed by him. More morals than anything.

Vale.
Q Valerius
Eques
Eques
 
Posts: 393
Joined: Tue Nov 09, 2004 7:06 am

Postby Quintus Pomponius Atticus on Sat Dec 11, 2004 12:54 pm

Salvete omnes,

Apart from a legitimisation of Augustus' rule, I think the Aeneid also expresses the glory of Rome itself, its history and the values that had - from the perspective of the conservative elite - made it great but were waning in Augustus' age.

But while showing a strong political and moral tendency, the Aeneid is of course more than just a propaganda pamphlet. Above all perhaps, Virgil made it into a great epic story, treating such universal themes as the quest for identity (in Aeneas himself), the overcoming of human suffering, the struggle between the forces of order and disorder, the relationship between people and fate, etc.

Valete,

Atticus
Quintus Pomponius Atticus
Praetor

"Ars longa, vita brevis" - Hippocrates
Quintus Pomponius Atticus
Senator
Senator
 
Posts: 500
Joined: Wed Aug 28, 2002 6:03 pm
Location: Belgica

Postby Horatius Piscinus on Sat Dec 11, 2004 12:59 pm

Salvete

Not believed in a literal sense perhaps, but as allegories on a central truth. Ovid's Metamorphoses is not simply a collection of stories but a single story, as Ovid posed it. He meant to show the changing nature of things, or to put it another way, "For things to remain the same, things must change." I think it was Plutarch who said that the myths of the Gods was the story of the journey of the soul through life, and through death we may add. It was a common belief that the phenomenal world is one of constant change. Ovid was using the myths to illustrate that belief and his theme could be approached from many levels. He does after all begin with the chaotic universe emerging into an orderly existence, and we might relate it, too, to the evolution of societies, or join with Plutarch and see his poem as one concerned with our individual evolution.

Valete
M Horatius Piscinus

Sapere aude!
User avatar
Horatius Piscinus
Curialis
Curialis
 
Posts: 1194
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2002 7:39 am
Location: Ohio, USA


Return to Collegium Artium et Litterarum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests

cron