| Description |
One of the narratives relating to the Augustan poets is the interpretation of their poetry as ideological support and celebration of Augustus' personality and politics. Since the second half of the twentieth century, however, studies have emerged that draw attention to second voices, or more precisely, hidden voices in Augustan poetry (see analyses of Virgil /A. Parry, 1963/ or Horace /D. Armstrong, 1970/), voices that draw attention through intertexts and intratexts to a different face of Augustus's world and thus of the poetry of his time. The aim of the paper will be to explore the conceptual framing of authoritarian rulers in poems (tyrants, etc.) and to describe the imagery their individual uses evoke, as well as whether and to what extent hidden voices are reflected in references to specific representatives of these names. Can the references to Pygmalion and other Numidian, Syracusan, Latin, and Laurentian tyrants and kings be read as mere historical and mythological reminiscences? Under what conditions are the terms tyrant and king treated synonymously? How should we understand the fact that even Aeneas is named as a tyrant (Verg. Aen. 7,266 and 12,75)? Indeed, can it be ruled out that Vergil frames the hero he describes as pius as a despot (as V. Parker, 1998, 154, does in his study on the semantics of the political concept of the tyrant), or is it appropriate to look for a deeper meaning of Aeneas' tyranny? Vergil's poems, especially the Aeneid, occupy the most evidence, and thus the greatest scope for interpretation, but Ovid, Horatius, and the lyric poets are not far behind. With the Latinized Greek word tyrant, the poets are rather sparing. But once we extend our attention to other terms (the synonymous use with the term tyrant is evident, especially in the term rex: cf. Ovid. Trist. 3,11,41 and 3,11,43 /both terms denote the Phalaris/), we gain enough material to seek answers to these and other related questions.
|