1. Cicero, Republic, 2.18-2.19 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •ovid, cultus vs. simplicitas/rusticitas •cultus vs. simplicitas/rusticitas Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 80| 2.18. Atque hoc eo magis est in Romulo admirandum, quod ceteri, qui dii ex hominibus facti esse dicuntur, minus eruditis hominum saeculis fuerunt, ut fingendi proclivis esset ratio, cum imperiti facile ad credendum inpellerentur, Romuli autem aetatem minus his sescentis annis iam inveteratis litteris atque doctrinis omnique illo antiquo ex inculta hominum vita errore sublato fuisse cernimus. Nam si, id quod Graecorum investigatur annalibus, Roma condita est secundo anno Olympiadis septumae, in id saeculum Romuli cecidit aetas, cum iam plena Graecia poetarum et musicorum esset minorque fabulis nisi de veteribus rebus haberetur fides. Nam centum et octo annis postquam Lycurgus leges scribere instituit, prima posita est Olympias, quam quidam nominis errore ab eodem Lycurgo constitutam putant; Homerum autem, qui minimum dicunt, Lycurgi aetati triginta annis anteponunt fere. 2.19. Ex quo intellegi potest permultis annis ante Homerum fuisse quam Romulum, ut iam doctis hominibus ac temporibus ipsis eruditis ad fingendum vix quicquam esset loci. Antiquitas enim recepit fabulas fictas etiam non numquam August. C.D. 22.6 incondite, haec aetas autem iam exculta praesertim eludens omne, quod fieri non potest, respuit. | 2.18. And the case of Romulus is all the more remarkable because all other men who are said to have become gods lived in ruder ages when there was a great inclination to the invention of fabulous tales, and ignorant men were easily induced to believe them; but we know that Romulus lived less than six hundred years ago, at a period when writing and education had long been in existence, and all those mistaken primitive ideas which grew up under uncivilized conditions had been done away with. For if, as we learn from the annals of the Greeks, Rome was founded in the second year of the seventh Olympiad, ** the life of Romulus fell in a period when Greece already abounded in poets and musicians, and when small credence was given to fables, except in regard to events of a much earlier time. For the first Olympiad ** is placed one hundred and eight years after Lycurgus began to write his laws, though some, deceived by a name, think that the Olympiads were instituted by this same Lycurgus. But Homer, according to the least estimate, lived about thirty years before Lycurgus. ** 2.19. Hence it is clear that Homer lived a great many years before Romulus, so that in the lifetime of the latter, when learned men already existed and the age itself was one of culture, there was very little opportunity for the invention of fables. For whereas antiquity would accept fabulous tales, sometimes even when they were crudely fabricated, the age of Romulus, which was already one of culture, was quick to mock at and reject with scorn that which could not possibly have happened. |
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2. Ovid, Ars Amatoria, 3.101-3.128 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ovid, cultus vs. simplicitas/rusticitas •cultus vs. simplicitas/rusticitas Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 79, 80| 3.101. Ordior a cultu; cultis bene Liber ab uvis 3.102. rend= 3.103. Forma dei munus: forma quota quaeque superbit? 3.104. rend= 3.105. Cura dabit faciem; facies neglecta peribit, 3.106. rend= 3.107. Corpora si veteres non sic coluere puellae, 3.108. rend= 3.109. Si fuit Andromache tunicas induta valentes, 3.110. rend= 3.111. Scilicet Aiaci coniunx ornata venires, 3.112. rend= 3.113. Simplicitas rudis ante fuit: nunc aurea Roma est, 3.114. rend= 3.115. Aspice quae nunc sunt Capitolia, quaeque fuerunt: 3.116. rend= 3.117. Curia, concilio quae nunc dignissima tanto, 3.118. rend= 3.119. Quae nunc sub Phoebo ducibusque Palatia fulgent, 3.120. rend= 3.121. Prisca iuvent alios: ego me nunc denique natum 3.122. rend= 3.123. Non quia nunc terrae lentum subducitur aurum, 3.124. rend= 3.125. Nec quia decrescunt effosso marmore montes, 3.126. rend= 3.127. Sed quia cultus adest, nec nostros mansit in annos 3.128. rend= | 3.101. And you, who now the love-sick youth reject, 3.102. Will prove in age, what pains attend neglect. 3.103. None, then will press upon your midnight hours, 3.104. Nor wake to strew your street with morning flow'rs. 3.105. Then nightly knockings at your doors will cease, 3.106. Whose noiseless hammer, then, may rest in peace. 3.107. Alas, how soon a clear complexion fades! 3.108. How soon a wrinkled skin plump flesh invades! 3.109. And what avails it, tho' the fair one swear 3.110. She from her infancy had some grey hairs ? 3.110. what wonder? Her husband was a rough soldier? Do you suppose Ajax’s wife would come to him all smart, when his outer layer was seven hides of an ox? There was crude simplicity before: now Rome is golden, and owns the vast wealth of the conquered world. Look what the Capitol is now, and what it was: you’d say it belonged to a different Jove. The Senate-House, now worthy of such debates, was made of wattle when Tatius held the kingship. Where the Palatine now gleams with Apollo and our leaders, 3.111. She grows all hoary in a few more years, 3.112. And then the venerable truth appears. 3.113. The snake his skin, the deer his horns may cast, 3.114. And both renew their youth and vigor past; 3.115. But no receipt can human-kind relieve, 3.116. Doom'd to decrepit age, without reprieve. 3.117. Then crop the flow'r which yet invites your eye, 3.118. And which, ungather'd, on its stalk must die. 3.119. Besides, the tender sex is form'd to bear, 3.120. And frequent births too soon will youth impair; 3.120. what was that but pasture for ploughmen’s oxen? Others may delight in ancient times: I congratulate myself on having been born just now: this age suits my nature. Not because stubborn gold’s mined now from the earth, or choice shells come to us from farthest shores: nor because mountains shrink as marble’s quarried, or because blue waters retreat from the piers: but because civilisation’s here, and no crudity remains, in our age, that survives from our ancient ancestors. You too shouldn’t weight your ears with costly stones, 3.121. Continual harvest wears the fruitful field, 3.122. And earth itself decays, too often till'd. 3.123. Thou didst not, Cynthia , scorn the Latmian swain; 3.124. Nor thou, Aurora, Cephalus disdain; 3.125. The Paphian Queen, who, for Adonis' fate 3.126. So deeply mourn'd, and who laments him yet, 3.127. Has not been found inexorable since; 3.128. Witness Harmonia, and the Dardan prince. |
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| 3. Ovid, Epistulae Ex Ponto, 3.1 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ovid, cultus vs. simplicitas/rusticitas •cultus vs. simplicitas/rusticitas Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 79 |
| 4. Ovid, Medicamina Faciei Femineae, 11-20, 22-24, 21 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 79 |
| 5. Propertius, Elegies, 2.25 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •ovid, cultus vs. simplicitas/rusticitas •cultus vs. simplicitas/rusticitas Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 79 |
