Epic and Novel in Latin Literature: A Historical Overview
Epic Poetry in Latin Literature
The Origins of Epic Poetry
Epic poetry tells stories of war or deeds of heroes or mythical characters. Most cultures have a great epic that chronicles the adventures of their national hero. This primitive epic, of oral character, was a conglomerate of poems which the rhapsodies sang. However, there came a time when some of these songs were written down by one or more authors. Two great Greek epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are attributed to Homer. From that moment, epic poetry ceased to be a collective creation to become the work of a single author.
Epic poetry is characterized by a grand and solemn tone and the use of clichés or phrases that are always the same. Each character can only have one epithet. The hexameter, a sequence of long and short syllables, is the dominant metrical form.
Virgil
Virgil was born in the 1st century BC in northern Italy. His father, a potter’s assistant, married the daughter of his employer and managed to increase his inherited assets. This allowed him to give his son a good education. Virgil completed his formation in Rome, where he studied rhetoric with Epidius, the teacher of Octavian Augustus, and philosophy. He stayed out of politics. However, his trip to Rome allowed him to become known to Octavian Augustus and his statesman, Maecenas, one of the most lavish patrons of art that ever existed. Maecenas welcomed him into his circle and gave him a villa. For several years, Virgil was devoted to the Georgics, and the last fourteen years of his life to his masterpiece, the Aeneid.
Virgil enjoyed great fame during his lifetime. He was even exalted by Christianity, which identified with his manner and the chance that Virgil, in his Eclogue IV, announced the birth of a child and a new era. It was believed for many centuries that it was a prophecy of the birth of Christ.
His works include the Eclogues, which are pastoral poems inspired by the work of Theocritus. The characters talk about their loves and their sorrows in these romantic poems. The Georgics are a kind of agricultural treaty in verse. They explore the love of the land, the ideal of a simple and frugal life in the field guided by the pristine Roman virtues. Its main themes are farmers and their labors. The Aeneid is the great work of the author and the Latin epic poem par excellence. It narrates the adventures of Aeneas from the fall of Troy to his settlement in Italy.
The Novel in Latin Literature
The novel was not well developed in classical literature and is a kind of late creation. The story we find in these novels is always very similar: a story of love, travel, and adventure with all the typical episodes: abduction, shipwreck, persecution… The thematic reminds us of the play and its structure is similar to satire, sometimes mixing prose and verse. In Roman literature, we have only two novels.
Petronius and the Satyricon
The Satyricon, written in the 1st century AD, is shrouded in mystery. It is attributed to Petronius, a friend of Nero. Tacitus says that Petronius was an Epicurean, dissolute, dissipated, and refined. His suicide, after meeting his friends at a banquet, has an undeniable elegance and demonstrates a remarkable strength of spirit. Whether the author of the Satyricon was the same Petronius or not, he was an intelligent, cultured, and cynical individual.
The Satyricon recounts the love affairs of three male characters and their various adventures throughout their travels. They are crooks, and a poet, even more of a scoundrel, will join them. It is a picaresque novel that mixes satire, fables, and some passages in verse. Its most charming aspects are the casual cynicism of the characters and the omnipresent irony, and its expressive language is vulgar or colorfully bombastic to suit the occasion.
Apuleius and The Golden Ass
Apuleius, who lived in the 2nd century AD, came from a wealthy family and was able to continue his studies in Athens and Rome. He was a great traveler, priest, and pontiff of Aesculapius at Carthage. Apuleius enjoyed great fame as a miracle worker due to his knowledge of magic. His “miracles” were actually surprising feats. His antagonism to Christianity earned him the condemnation of many of his contemporaries, but he enjoyed great reputation in the Renaissance, particularly among Neoplatonic philosophers. His work was the inspiration for some of the most beautiful pictures of the Renaissance, such as Botticelli’s Spring. He was also an excellent orator.
Among his works, The Golden Ass stands out. It recounts the vicissitudes of a young man, Lucius, who, smeared with a magic ointment, is transformed into a donkey and suffers a thousand hardships until the goddess Isis saves him. During his pilgrimage in the form of a donkey, but with a human mind, he describes our society as seen from a new perspective. One of the best-known passages of The Golden Ass is the legend of Cupid and Psyche. Cupid means desire and Psyche means soul. This legend symbolizes the struggle for the human soul that has to learn to harmonize human and divine love.