the city of rome Flashcards
(3 cards)
the city of rome as a character in Livy’s History
the city itself functions almost as a Homeric hero - dignity in death, ‘pietas’, ‘kleos’ etc. a primordial stillness in the chaos of human conflict
the fixation on the physical topography of Rome during the Gallic sack of the city gives the buildings and streets themselves a sense of personhood/autonomy
‘sonitus flammae’ - virgil georgics 4.409 as well as here, explicitly poetic language bleeding into history. Sack of rome literally described as a death ALSO parallels between hesitation of the gauls and the death of hector where he is almost saved / gained the upper hands.
multifocality of the description - their commitment gaze drifts from quarter to quarter (‘per vias omnes cursus, cum alia atque alia parte nova aliqua clades oreretur’)
maintaining an elevated distance even when ‘zooming in’ on specific events and the gauls themselves are relatively absent, only names once in that section - the rest of the time its ‘hostium’
Livy lists several reasons for why the city of Rome doesn’t burn as quickly as it should (compare with Troy which burns rapidly - perhaps the safety of Rome is divinely ordained) chief among these reasons is Gallic reluctance - city has power over them? they too are centring the city itself in their understanding of the conflict, just like us
cicero personifying the republic
cicero self symbolises - over usage of egocentric language despite it being a speech defending Marcellus and praising Augustus (eg: PM 15 - ‘dixi’, ‘mei’, ‘ego’)
PM 14 - linguistically contrast himself and caesar as peace time and war time - contrasting his advice to establish peace with the potential for further conflict - each ideological position on opposite sides of the clause, ‘semper’ before peace clauses asserts his own ideological superiority
at the beginning of the speech - he returns with the promised prosperity of rome
they confines of the city of Rome in Horace
2.17 - describes applause that Maecenas (his patron) receives in a theatre - implicitly the theatre of pompey - situating events in the very centre of Rome
3.24 - reference to the capitol
