Moral Decline? Horace Ode 3.6
"Ancestral crimes, though innocent, you'll pay
The gods for, Roman, till you restore
Their temples, their crumbling shrines,
And images with black smoke besmirched.
Because you hold yourself less than the gods, you rule
Hence your beginning; to this ascribe your end.
Neglected, the gods have visited many
Woes upon grief-stricken Italy.
Fertile in sin our times stained first
The marriage-bed, the family, the home.
Our parents, more degenerate than their sires,
In us have fathered still more rotten stock -
And yet more prone to vice will be our heirs"
In late republican Rome, there was a perceived threat to Roman society, born from a lack of piety and moral degeneracy
Roman Moral Decline
The last years of the Roman Republic were plagued by: civil wars and violence, new cults from the East, and growing scepticism among the upper classes
Neglect of Religion - "Though guiltless, Romans, you will pay for the sins of your ancestors, until you rebuild the temples and the crumbling shrines of the gods"
Decline in Morality
"Generations fertile in guilt have befouled marriage and the family and the home. Disaster flowing from this spring flooded the country and its people"
Importance to Augustus
- The message of Horace and other contemporary writers is evident: Rome had become decadent and corrupt, and society needed to change
- The stakes were high: the very moral fabric of Rome was under a perceived attack, and the downfall of Roman civilisation would be the consequence
- Augustus therefore presented himself as a "saviour" of Roman moral virtue, who would restore not only the political institutions of the ancient Republic, but also the day-to-day values of the Romans
Augustus' Answer
"By new laws carried with me as sponsor, I revived many ancestral models which were falling into disuse in our age, and myself handed on many model practices for posterity to imitate" - Res Gestae 8.5
New Laws
Augustus himself or others on his behalf, submitted to the assembly a large number of new laws: Passed in 18 BC
- Lex lulia de Adulteriis = forbidding the violation of marriage by making adultery illegal
- Lex lulia de Maritandis Ordinibus = putting the elite orders under an obligation to marry in an attempt to counter a declining birth-rate among Rome's elite
- Lex Papia Poppaea = Modified the previous law in AD 9 due to public backlash
Changes in Policy
Despite changes at the general administration level being carried out with restraint, Augustus' policies had a fundamental impact on people's lives. Never before had laws and state programs affected individuals and communities in so many different forms or so extensively
Ovid's View Fasti 2.119-44
Pater Patriae, your Country's Holy Father, such is the name and title
Conferred upon you by People, Senate, and my own Equestrians.
Events preceded us. Late though it was, your title merely matched
The achievement; for long since have you been Father of the World.
Yours is the title here on earth which high in heaven is that of Jupiter;
Father you are of men on earth, as of gods in heaven is that of Jupiter.
Romulus, yield pride of place: mighty the walls Augustus' guardianship
Has given to Rome, while yours were such that Remus lightly leaped across.
Tatius and tiny Sabine Cures felt your power; Caenina too. But Roman
From furthest east to utmost west have Caesar's conquests made
All that the sun beholds. You, Romulus, held some tiny stretch
Of conquered land. Caesar controls all that there is beneath the gaze
Of lofty Jupiter. You raped, where Caesar commanded sacrosanctity
For wives; your grove played host to wickedness, Caesar repulsed it.
Violence you ever loved; while Caesar cherishes the rule of law.
Religion In Ancient Rome
Characteristics
- Roman religion was cold, formal, and lacked emotional involvement
- It did give the Romans a tolerance towards the beliefs and practices of other people - including those whom they conquered
Aspects of Worship:
- Worship involved sacrifice and prayer and the two were always combined
- Only when the proper procedures on both state and household level were observed would the gods answer their prayers
- If there was any mistake - however minute - in the performance of the ritual, the whole process would have to be restarted
Augustus' Religious Policy
- Priesthoods: Augustus was a member of every priestly college
- Pontifex Maximus: The chief pontiff gave Augustus religious control over all major religious ceremonies in Rome
- Religious Tradition: Augustus restored and revived many outdated practices that had fallen into disuse
- Propaganda: Statues, architecture, poetry and coins all emphasised a revival of religious tradition and a restoration of "piety" to the Roman state
Ludi Saeculares
Ludi = Games
Saeculares = Generation
- Celebrations held in ancient Rome to mark the commencement of a new saeculum, or generation, circa once every 100 years
- The festival lasted three days and three nights, during which sacrifices were made to various deities. Originally the gods of the underworld were worshipped. However, later festivals included gods such as Diana and Apollo
- The first attested Roman celebration of the games took place in 249 BC, the second was in 146 BC, and the third, under Augustus, in 17 BC
- The performance of these games was believed to ensure the continuity of Roman power. Although an old ritual, Augustus transformed the celebration so that it fit in with his new imperial ideology
- The games were used as a way of officially marking the beginning of a "Golden Age" in Rome
Horace's Carmen Saeculare
If Rome is your doing, and if from far Ilium
Cme that band of people who reached the Tuscan shore,
Those commanded to change their home and their city,
On a lucky course,
Those for whom pious Aeneas, the survivor,
Who passed without injury through the flames of Troy,
Prepared a path to freedom, destined to grant him
Much more than he'd lost:
Then, you divinities, show our receptive youth
Virtue, grant peace and quiet to the old, and give
Children and wealth to the people of Romulus,
And every glory.
Whatever a noble descendant of Venus
And Anchises, asks, with a white steer's sacrifice,
Let him obtain: a winner in war, merciful
To our fallen foe.
Now the Parthians fear our forces, powerful
On land, and on sea: they fear the Alban axes,
Now the once proud Indians, now the Scythians
Beg for an answer.
Now Faith and Peace, Honour, and ancient Modesty,
Dare to return once more, with neglected Virtue,
And blessed Plenty dares to appear again, now,
With her flowing horn
Prophecy of Augustus, The Aeneid 6.792-3
And see this race, your Romans. Here is Caesar and all
lulus' offspring, destined to pass beneath the great vault of heaven.
This is the man, this is he whom so often you hear promised to you,
Augustus Caesar, son of a god, who shall bring back again
The age of gold to Latium, the very land where once
Old Saturn ruled, and shall spread our empire's bounds
Beyond the Garamantes and Indians, whose countries lie
Beyond the stars and the courses of time, and beyond
The highway of the sun, where Atlas, pillar of heaven, wheels
The firmament on his shoulders, studded with blazing stars.
Prophesises the Age of Augustus and links to the Saturnian "Golden age" through Augustus' reign
Suetonius, Augustus, 31
Provides further details of Augustus' religious policy:
- Assumed title of Pontifex Maximus only after Lepidus had died in 2 BC
- Burned more than two thousand prophetic verses of Greek and Latin
- Modified Sybiline Books before sparing these from being torched
- Reorganised the calendar, changing the name of the sixth month from Sextilis to August
- Increased the number and importance of priests, and their allowances and privileges
- Specifically favoured Vestal Virgins, swearing if any of his grand-daughters were eligible he would have enlisted them to the order when there was a shortage of willing women
- Revived ancient rites and festivals: Secular Games, Lupercalia, Lares Compitales
