The Horti di Mecenate

The Horti di Mecenate are the most ancient to be found at the residential gardens at the Esquilino; the friend and councillor of Emperor Augustus indeed transformed into a sumptuous residence an area that had until then been used as a necropolis, covering it with a large layer of earth. Later having passed to Imperial domain, the gardens became an extension of the Domus Aurea at the time of Nero.

The only part that still exists today is the Auditorium, a summer triclinium decorated with frescoes with views of gardens. The sculpted decorations, found in pieces inside walls built in late antiquity, shows the cultural interests of the owner, with images of Muses and hermas with portraits of illustrious persons from literary circles, and his passion for collecting, with Greek funerary stones and very high quality copies of Greek originals.

Dragon #6

The Importance Of Agrippa And Maecenas To The Augustan Age

In analysing the significance in the roles of Agrippa & Maecenas to the successful political aspirations of Augustus Caesar close consideration and analysis must be made towards their contributing roles they played in creating the power force that he became. Augustus had not aspired into politics through military conquest nor was he an intrepid writer rather assuming himself into politics after his adoption by Julius, yet he still ended up to be arguably one of the most successful leaders of Rome.
 

His great success in achieving this could be seen accordingly due to assistance of those around him who excelled in regions he was not as competent in. Agrippa provided the backbone of uncontested military success & stability under Augustus as his right hand man, with an unrequited dedication of victories and infrastructure to the people of Rome & Augustus, nobly not taking the credit for himself. On the other hand, Maecenas took the role of making Augustus the sole figure as a leader to Rome with his inhibited propaganda as patron for some of the prominent writers of the time based on creating a perception of Augustus as a way ‘for the people’, rather than self ambition.

The importance of Agrippa rose indistinguishably as being responsible for most of Octavian’s military triumphs. His role emerged during the ‘Sicilian conflict’ against Sextus Lepidus in 36 BC where after Octavian’s naval failure Agrippa engaged and destroyed the rebels fleet where Suetonius notes he “forced the enemy ships to sheer off “.
Octavian’s opposition however, was marked most strongly by Mark Antony where coincidently it was again Agrippa whose military experience and instinct towered above Augustus, whom blockaded the ships of Antony and Cleopatra with a fleet under Octavian’s title.

After the inauguration of Augustus of the first settlement, Agrippa’s militaristic conquests became prevalent as a campaign commander under the Augustan Imperial policy. Initially he assigned to the...

Dragon #5

Horace To Maecenas

How does it happen, Maecenas, that no one is content with that lot of which he has chosen or which chance has thrown his way, but praises those who follow a different course?

Dragon #4

To Mæcenas by Phillis Wheatley

Mæcenas, you, beneath the myrtle shade,
Read o'er what poets sung, and shepherds play'd.
What felt those poets but you feel the same?
Does not your soul possess the sacred flame?
Their noble strains your equal genius shares
In softer language, and diviner airs.

While Homer paints, lo! circumfus'd in air,
Celestial Gods in mortal forms appear;
Swift as they move hear each recess rebound, 
Heav'n quakes, earth trembles, and the shores resound.
Great Sire of verse, before my mortal eyes,
The lightnings blaze across the vaulted skies,
And, as the thunder shakes the heav'nly plains,
A deep felt horror thrills through all my veins.
When gentler strains demand thy graceful song,
The length'ning line moves languishing along.
When great Patroclus courts Achilles' aid,
The grateful tribute of my tears is paid;
Prone on the shore he feels the pangs of love, 
And stern Pelides tend'rest passions move.

Great Maro's strain in heav'nly numbers flows,
The Nine inspire, and all the bosom glows.
O could I rival thine and Virgil's page,
Or claim the Muses with the Mantuan Sage;
Soon the same beauties should my mind adorn,
And the same ardors in my soul should burn:
Then should my song in bolder notes arise,
And all my numbers pleasingly surprise;
But here I sit, and mourn a grov'ling mind,
That fain would mount, and ride upon the wind.

Not you, my friend, these plaintive strains become,
Not you, whose bosom is the Muses home;
When they from tow'ring Helicon retire,
They fan in you the bright immortal fire,
But I less happy, cannot raise the song,
The fault'ring music dies upon my tongue.

The happier Terence all the choir inspir'd,
His soul replenish'd, and his bosom fir'd;
But say, ye Muses, why this partial grace,
To one alone of Afric's sable race;
From age to age transmitting thus his name
With the first glory in the rolls of fame?

Thy virtues, great Mæcenas! shall be sung
In praise of him, from whom those virtues sprung:
While blooming wreaths around thy temples spread,
I'll snatch a laurel from thine honour'd head,
While you indulgent smile upon the deed.

As long as Thames in streams majestic flows,
Or Naiads in their oozy beds repose
While Phoebus reigns above the starry train
While bright Aurora purples o'er the main,
So long, great Sir, the muse thy praise shall sing,
So long thy praise shal' make Parnassus ring:
Then grant, Mæcenas, thy paternal rays,
Hear me propitious, and defend my lays.

Dragon #3

Maecenas #3

Gaius Maecenas was befriended by Octavian and Marcus Agrippa when they met in Apollonia. Though he was already highly educated, he’d been sent there by Julius Caesar at the request of his father to further his education under Athendorus of Tarsus. Maecenas was proud of his ancient Etruscan heritage which went as far back as the 4th century BC. He claimed descent from the Cilnii, whose wealth was well known and envied by the people of Arretium north of Rome. Horace, a poet whom he later mentored, hinted in his writings that Maecenas was  descended from one of the early Etruscan kings of Rome.  

He was at Octavian’s side when they learned of Caesar’s assassination. If Agrippa was Octavian’s military commander and advisor, Maecenas was his political advisor and ambassador. He used his influence on Octavian, advising him to avoid cruelty and inhumanity, especially in the period just after the formation of the Second Triumvirate by Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus. This came not only from a sense of decency on his part but from a sense of the practicality of governing and remaining in power.
However, when the situation warranted, he would act with force as he did when he uncovered a plot to assassinate Octavian in Rome. He swiftly had the conspirators executed.

Over time, Maecenas became a talented diplomat. He assisted and perhaps led the negotiations of the Treaties of Brundisium and Tarentum, bringing reconciliation between Octavian and Antony, this, of course, being in Octavian’s best interests at the time. Later, when Octavian and Agrippa departed from Italy to fight the sea battle at Actium against Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian left him in charge in Rome.

In later years, once Octavian became emperor and took the name Caesar Augustus, Maecenas became a patron of the arts, sponsoring poets, writers, and artists. He did this not only because he enjoyed it, he also wanted to bring culture to Rome and elevate it to a higher purpose.

Dragon #2

Maecenas #2

The Gaius Maecenas mentioned in Cicero (Pro Cluentio, 56) 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 (Odes III.8.5) 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.

Maecenas himself wrote in both prose and verse. The few fragments that remain show that he was less successful as an author than as a judge and patron of literature. His prose works on various subjects — Prometheus, Symposium (a banquet at which Virgil, Horace and Messalla were present), De cultu suo (on his manner of life) — were ridiculed by Augustus, Seneca and Quintilian for their strange style, the use of rare words and awkward transpositions. According to Dio Cassius, Maecenas was the inventor of a system of shorthand.

Dragon #1

Maecenas

Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (13 April 70 BC – ? October 8 BC) was an ally, friend and political advisor to Octavian (who was to become the first Emperor of Rome as Caesar Augustus) as well as an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets. During the reign of Augustus, Maecenas served as a quasi-culture minister to the Emperor. His name has become a byword for a wealthy, generous and enlightened patron of the arts.