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Maecenas
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Featured August 9 , 2006
Another of the Esquiline's noted residents.
  Gaius Maecenas We think Gaius Maecenas was born between 74 and 64 B.C., perhaps at Arretium. Expressions in Propertius seem to imply that he had taken some part in the campaigns of Mutina, Philippi and Perusia. He prided himself on his ancient Etruscan lineage, and claimed descent from the princely house of the Cilnii, who excited the jealousy of their townsmen by their preponderating wealth and influence at Arretium in the 4th century B.C. Tacitus refers to him as "Cilnius Maecenas"; it is possible that "Cilnius" was his mother's nomen - or that Maecenas was in fact a cognomen. The Gaius Maecenas mentioned in Cicero's as an influential member of the equestrian order in 91 B.C. May have been his grandfather, or even his father. The testimony of Horace and Maecenas's own literary tastes imply that he had profited by the highest education of his time. His great wealth may have been in part hereditary, but he owed his position and influence to his close connexion with the emperor Augustus. This was a friendship that spanned nearly 50 years as he stood by his young friend Octavian on his road to becoming Augustus! He first appears in history in 40 B.C., when he was employed by Octavian in arranging his marriage with the Lady Scribonia, and afterwards in assisting to negotiate the peace of Brundusium and the reconciliation with Mark Antony. As a close friend and advisor he acted even as deputy for Augustus when he was abroad. In later years their relationship grew colder, probably in part because Augustus had an affair with his wife Terentia. So deep did their friendship run that this was a coldness that would warm before he died. Before he died, he appointed Augustus as his sole heir. It was in 39 B.C. that Horace was introduced to Maecenas, who had before this received Varius and Virgil into his intimacy. In the "Journey to Brundusium." In 37, Maecenas and Cocceius Nerva are described as having been sent on an important mission, and they were successful in bringing together, by the Treaty of Tarentum, a reconciliation between the two claimants for supreme power. During the Sicilian war against Sextus Pompeius in 36, Maecenas was sent back to Rome, and was entrusted with supreme administrative control in the city and in Italy. He was vicegerent of Octavian during the campaign of Actium, when, with great promptness and secrecy, he crushed the conspiracy of the younger Lepidus; and during the subsequent absences of his chief in the provinces he again held the same position. During the later years of his life he fell somewhat out of favour with his master. Suetonius attributes the loss of the imperial favour to Maecenas having indiscreetly revealed to Terentia, his wife, the discovery of the conspiracy in which her brother Murena was implicated, but according to Dio Cassius it was due to the emperor's relations with Terentia. Maecenas died in 8 B.C., leaving the emperor sole heir to his wealth; the emperors would continue to amass personal fortunes and patronize the arts, one of the major court departments -in fact its treasury- being styled largitiones, literally 'liberalities', even though most expenses had more pragmatical purposes than generosity. Opinions were much divided in ancient times as to the personal character of Maecenas; but the testimony as to his administrative and diplomatic ability was unanimous. He enjoyed the credit of sharing largely in the establishment of the new order of things, of reconciling parties, and of carrying the new empire safely through many dangers. To his influence especially was attributed the humaner policy of Octavian after his first alliance with Antony. The best summary of his character as a man and a statesman, by Marcus Velleius Paterculus, describes him as " of sleepless vigilance in critical emergencies, far-seeing and knowing how to act, but in his relaxation from business more luxurious and effeminate than a woman." Expressions in the Odes of Horace seem to imply that Maecenas was deficient in the robustness of fibre characteristic of the average Roman. |
Divinely Decadent Demi Domus
~ Table of Contents ~
Test Article II
Test Article III Insulae Etruscan Cities and Their Environment: Caere Etruscan Cities and their Environment: Pyrgi The Tribe of the Langobarden Information about Crete, Knossos, Rethymno and Chania A Woman Of Sparta Martialis, the poet of Epigrams Menerva on an Etruscan Mirror in the Badisches Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe, Germany Forum Romanum: Rostra, Curia, Decennalia Base and Lapis Niger The Southern part of the Campus Martius and the Circus Flaminius Area Forum Romanum: The Arch of Titus Forum Romanum: The Arch of Septimius Severus Forum Romanum: the Temple of Vesta and the Vestal Virgins An Introduction to the Classic Period Maya I ~*Roots*~ Ptah of MenNefer; A Creation Myth Khnum and the Potter´s Wheel The Architecture of Cicero's Villa in Tusculum The Pompey Marcus Antonius Virgil Horace Propertius Villa Rustica - The Villa Buildings The Villa Rooms Heraklia's Oikos The Vintnery Ongoing Restoration of Shunet el-Zebib Quintus Ennius : a Greco-Roman «Republican» Poet on the Aventine A Tour of the Aventine Hill Shops and Craftsmen of the Aventine |
