1. Aratus Solensis, Phaenomena, 100-110, 112-136, 96-99, 111 (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 88| 111. καὶ βίον οὔπω νῆες ἀπόπροθεν ἠγίνεσκον, | |
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2. Cicero, Republic, 2.18-2.19 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •golden age, ironic or parodic 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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| 3. Vergil, Eclogues, 4 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •antipater of thessalonica, his ironic golden age •golden age, ironic or parodic •ovid, his ironic golden age Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 88 |
4. Horace, Odes, 4.2.37-4.2.40, 4.15 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •antipater of thessalonica, his ironic golden age •golden age, ironic or parodic •ovid, his ironic golden age Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 88 | 4.15. TO AUGUSTUS Phoebus condemned my verse, when I tried to sing of war and conquered cities, lest I unfurled my tiny sail on Tyrrhenianseas. Caesar, this age has restored rich crops to the fields, and brought back the standards, at last, to Jupiter, those that we’ve now recovered from insolent Parthian pillars, and closed the gates of Janus’ temple, freed at last from all war, and tightened the rein on lawlessness, straying beyond just limits, and has driven out crime, and summoned the ancient arts again, by which the name of Rome and Italian power grew great, and the fame and majesty of our empire, were spread from the sun’s lair in the west, to the regions where it rises at dawn. With Caesar protecting the state, no civil disturbance will banish the peace, no violence, no anger that forges swords, and makes mutual enemies of wretched towns. The tribes who drink from the depths of the Danube, will not break the Julian law, the Getae, nor Seres, nor faithless Persians, nor those who are born by the Don's wide stream. On working days, and the same on holy days, among laughter-loving Bacchus’ gifts to us, with our wives and our children we’ll pray, at first, to the gods, in the rites laid down, then, in the manner of our fathers, bravely, in verse, that’s accompanied by Lydian flutes, we’ll sing past leaders, we’ll sing of Troy, Anchises, and the people of Venus.END |
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5. Ovid, Ars Amatoria, 2.277, 3.101-3.128 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •antipater of thessalonica, his ironic golden age •golden age, ironic or parodic •ovid, his ironic golden age Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 80, 87| 2.277. Aurea sunt vere nunc saecula: plurimus auro 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= | 2.277. And coarsely in an humble cottage far'd; 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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6. Ovid, Fasti, 1.193-1.258 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •antipater of thessalonica, his ironic golden age •golden age, ironic or parodic •ovid, his ironic golden age Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 87| 1.193. vix ego Saturno quemquam regte videbam, 1.194. cuius non animo dulcia lucra forent. 1.195. tempore crevit amor, qui nunc est summus, habendi: 1.196. vix ultra, quo iam progrediatur, habet. 1.197. pluris opes nunc sunt, quam prisci temporis annis, 1.198. dum populus pauper, dum nova Roma fuit, 1.199. dum casa Martigenam capiebat parva Quirinum, 1.200. et dabat exiguum fluminis ulva torum. 1.201. Iuppiter angusta vix totus stabat in aede, 1.202. inque Iovis dextra fictile fulmen erat. 1.203. frondibus ornabant quae nunc Capitolia gemmis, 1.204. pascebatque suas ipse senator oves; 1.205. nec pudor in stipula placidam cepisse quietem 1.206. et faenum capiti supposuisse fuit. 1.207. iura dabat populis posito modo praetor aratro, 1.208. et levis argenti lammina crimen erat. 1.209. at postquam fortuna loci caput extulit huius, 1.210. et tetigit summos vertice Roma deos, 1.211. creverunt et opes et opum furiosa cupido, 1.212. et, cum possideant plurima, plura petunt, 1.213. quaerere, ut absumant, absumpta requirere certant, 1.214. atque ipsae vitiis sunt alimenta vices. 1.215. sic quibus intumuit suffusa venter ab unda, 1.216. quo plus sunt potae, plus sitiuntur aquae, 1.217. in pretio pretium nunc est: dat census honores, 1.218. census amicitias: pauper ubique iacet, 1.219. tu tamen auspicium si sit stipis utile, quaeris, 1.220. curque iuvent vestras 1.221. aera vetusta manus? aera dabant olim, melius nunc omen in auro est, 1.222. victaque concessit prisca moneta novae, 1.223. nos quoque templa iuvant, quamvis antiqua probemus, 1.224. aurea: maiestas convenit ista deo. 1.225. laudamus veteres, sed nostris utimur annis: 1.226. mos tamen est aeque dignus uterque coli.’ 1.227. finierat monitus, placidis ita rursus, ut ante, 1.228. clavigerum verbis adloquor ipse deum: 1.229. ‘multa quidem didici: sed cur navalis in aere 1.230. altera signata est, altera forma biceps?’ 1.231. noscere me duplici posses sub imagine, dixit 1.232. ‘ni vetus ipsa dies extenuasset opus. 1.233. causa ratis superest: Tuscum rate venit in amnem 1.234. ante pererrato falcifer orbe deus. 1.235. hac ego Saturnum memini tellure receptum 1.236. caelitibus regnis a Iove pulsus erat. 1.237. inde diu genti mansit Saturnia nomen; 1.238. dicta quoque est Latium terra, latente deo. 1.239. at bona posteritas puppem formavit in aere, 1.240. hospitis adventum testificata dei. 1.241. ipse solum colui, cuius placidissima laevum 1.242. radit harenosi Thybridis unda latus, 1.243. hic, ubi nunc Roma est, incaedua silva virebat, 1.244. tantaque res paucis pascua bubus erat. 1.245. arx mea collis erat, quem volgus nomine nostro 1.246. nuncupat, haec aetas Ianiculumque vocat, 1.247. tunc ego regnabam, patiens cum terra deorum 1.248. esset, et humanis numina mixta locis, 1.249. nondum Iustitiam facinus mortale fugarat 1.250. (ultima de superis illa reliquit humum), 1.251. proque metu populum sine vi pudor ipse regebat; 1.252. nullus erat iustis reddere iura labor, 1.253. nil mihi cum bello: pacem postesque tuebar 1.254. et’ clavem ostendens haec ait arma gero. 1.255. presserat ora deus. tunc sic ego nostra resolvi 1.256. voce mea voces eliciente dei: 1.257. ‘cum tot sint Iani, cur stas sacratus in uno, 1.258. hic ubi iuncta foris templa duobus habes?’ | 1.193. I’ve hardly seen anyone, even in Saturn’s reign, 1.194. Who in his heart didn’t find money sweet. 1.195. Love of it grew with time, and is now at its height, 1.196. Since it would be hard put to increase much further. 1.197. Wealth is valued more highly now, than in those time 1.198. When people were poor, and Rome was new, 1.199. When a small hut held Romulus, son of Mars, 1.200. And reeds from the river made a scanty bed. 1.201. Jupiter complete could barely stand in his low shrine, 1.202. And the lightning bolt in his right hand was of clay. 1.203. They decorated the Capitol with leaves, not gems, 1.204. And the senators grazed their sheep themselves. 1.205. There was no shame in taking one’s rest on straw, 1.206. And pillowing one’s head on the cut hay. 1.207. Cincinnatus left the plough to judge the people, 1.208. And the slightest use of silver plate was forbidden. 1.209. But ever since Fortune, here, has raised her head, 1.210. And Rome has brushed the heavens with her brow, 1.211. Wealth has increased, and the frantic lust for riches, 1.212. So that those who possess the most seek for more. 1.213. They seek to spend, compete to acquire what’s spent, 1.214. And so their alternating vices are nourished. 1.215. Like one whose belly is swollen with dropsy 1.216. The more they drink, they thirstier they become. 1.217. Wealth is the value now: riches bring honours, 1.218. Friendship too: everywhere the poor are hidden. 1.219. And you still ask me if gold’s useful in augury, 1.220. And why old money’s a delight in our hands? 1.221. Once men gave bronze, now gold grants better omens, 1.222. Old money, conquered, gives way to the new. 1.223. We too delight in golden temples, however much 1.224. We approve the antique: such splendour suits a god. 1.225. We praise the past, but experience our own times: 1.226. Yet both are ways worthy of being cultivated.’ 1.227. He ended his statement. But again calmly, as before, 1.228. I spoke these words to the god who holds the key. 1.229. ‘Indeed I’ve learned much: but why is there a ship’s figure 1.230. On one side of the copper as, a twin shape on the other?’ 1.231. ‘You might have recognised me in the double-image’, 1.232. He said, ‘if length of days had not worn the coin away. 1.233. The reason for the ship is that the god of the sickle 1.234. Wandering the globe, by ship, reached the Tuscan river. 1.235. I remember how Saturn was welcomed in this land: 1.236. Driven by Jupiter from the celestial regions. 1.237. From that day the people kept the title, Saturnian, 1.238. And the land was Latium, from the god’s hiding (latente) there. 1.239. But a pious posterity stamped a ship on the coin, 1.240. To commemorate the new god’s arrival. 1.241. I myself inhabited the ground on the left 1.242. Passed by sandy Tiber’s gentle waves. 1.243. Here, where Rome is now, uncut forest thrived, 1.244. And all this was pasture for scattered cattle. 1.245. My citadel was the hill the people of this age 1.246. Call by my name, dubbing it the Janiculum. 1.247. I reigned then, when earth could bear the gods, 1.248. And divinities mingled in mortal places. 1.249. Justice had not yet fled from human sin, 1.250. (She was the last deity to leave the earth), 1.251. Shame without force, instead of fear, ruled the people, 1.252. And it was no effort to expound the law to the lawful. 1.253. I’d nothing to do with war: I guarded peace and doorways, 1.254. And this,’ he said, showing his key, ‘was my weapon.’ 1.255. The god closed his lips. Then I opened mine, 1.256. Eliciting with my voice the voice of the god: 1.257. ‘Since there are so many archways, why do you stand 1.258. Sacredly in one, here where your temple adjoins two fora? |
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| 7. Antipater of Thessalonica, Anthologia Palatina, 5.31 Tagged with subjects: •antipater of thessalonica, his ironic golden age •golden age, ironic or parodic •ovid, his ironic golden age Found in books: Hay, Saeculum: Defining Historical Eras in Ancient Roman Thought (2023) 87, 88 |
