[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hello, > I am working on analysing paintings of Virgil in 18th and 19th =20 > century. They show him in a very special situation: reciting the =20 > Aeneid infront of Augustus and Octavia. This scene was painted quite =20 > a couple of times in the history of art. > Now I have two questions. I need the exact discription of this very =20 > moment. I believe it is written in "the life of vergil" of which I =20 > don't have a complete translation in hand. On this site it only sais: > Much later, when he had refined his subject-matter, he finally =20 > recited three whole books for Augustus: the second, fourth, and =20 > sixth--this last out of his well-known affection for Octavia, who =20 > (being present at the recitation) is said to have fainted at the =20 > lines about her son, "=85You shall be Marcellus" [Aen. 6.884]. Revived =20= > only with difficulty, <she order ten sesterces to be granted to =20 > Virgil for each of the verses.>
Donatus relates the incident to Augustus pressure on Vergil for samples from his poem: Cui tamen multo post perfectaque demum materia tres omnino libros recitavit, secundum, quartum, sextum, sed hunc notabili Octaviae adfectione, quae cum recitationi interesset, ad illos de filio suo versus tu Marcellus eris defecisse fertur atque aegre focilata An interpolation adds 'dena sestertia pro singulo versu Vergilio dari iussit'; a more skilful forger would have written 'pro singulis versibus . . . iussisse'. For what it's worth dena sestertia is not ten sesterces each (denos sestertios, a pretty paltry sum) but ten thousand each. After all, it wasn't the story-teller's own money he was giving away. For the suspicion of Livia's hand in the event, see Dio 53. 33. 4 'Livia received the blame for Marcellus death, because he had been preferred to her sons; but the suspicion was rendered doubtful by the fact that both that year and the next were so unhealthy that a great number of people died in them.' These texts were certainly available, but so of course were any number of potted and popular histoires littéraires; for what sources Ingres, if it is his painting you have in mind, might have read you had better ask a dix-huitémiste or a dix-neuviémiste, though as a schoolmaster he ought to have had more than a nodding acquaintance with the originals. Lwofranc Holford-Strevens > Is there anything more specific and were can I find it? What sources =20 > might have been available to the painters in 18th century france? > In the painting I am concerned with there is Livia put into the =20 > scene in a very special and suspicious way. Above her is the statue =20 > of Marcellus and on her face a dark shadow. It is the first painting =20 > to include Livia. While Octavia faints everyone shows some kind of =20 > reaction only Livia sits there not moving and looks at Octavia with =20 > contempt. I think it is an allusion to the accusation that she =20 > murdered the emperors nephew. > And again: what source might the painter have had? Which historiens =20 > claimed that? Is this thaught of Livia killing everyone who is an =20 > obstacle to Tiberius also mentioned in Aelius Donatus' "Life of Virgil? > I would be very glad if someone could tell me where and how to =20 > continue my research. I have reached a dead end with my knowledge. > Thank you very much. > Greetings from Germany, > Stephanie Roth= > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
