Propertius and Antony Author(s): Jasper Griffin Source: The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 67 (1977), pp.

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PROPERTIUS AND ANTONY

By JASPER GRIFFIN

In a recentarticle,'Augustan Poetryand the Life of Luxury ', JRS 66 (1976), 87, I arguedthatmuch recentscholarshiphas misjudgedthe Augustanpoets in certainimportant ' and ' life', respects, because it has been thought in principlepossible to separate' literature as if they were clearly distinguishableentities; in reality,the two affecteach other in a ceaseless mutual interaction. That argumentwas developed as a general treatment of the as presentedin Latin literature, and as lived in realityin a societyin which fios (pi2u78ovos Greek and Italian elements,poetical motifsand real behaviour, were inextricably intermingled. The presentpaper is devotedto a more particularenquiryintoone poet and one type of historicalfigure. I argue that Propertius' presentationof himselfin poetry as a loverromantic, recklessand obsessed-is closelyrelatedto the figure in history of Mark Antony.1 That historicalfigureis itselfto be seen in a long traditionof great lovers of pleasure, in whichthe actual lives of real men can be seen to be shaped and coloured by the influence of 'literature'. The argumentof my earlierpaper does not depend forits validityupon the acceptance of the presentone, but theyboth pursue the same approach. Like all the Augustan poets, Propertiusof course followsthe Augustan interpretation of Actium,as a war between Octavian withthe Senate at his back, and the degraded hordes of the East, eunuchs, Anubis, noxia Alexandria,and the incesti meretrix reginaCanopi. He goes even further than Horace and Virgil in expressingspitefulhostility and loathingfor Cleopatra. Not only is she, in III. III. 39, a harlot queen, but also 'famulos interfemina tritasuos ' (1. 30); when she takes to flight, iv. 6. 64, it is 'hoc unum, iusso non moritura die '-but she would in any case have been unworthy to appear in a Roman triumph. The self-consciously noble mannerof Horace, Odes I. 37 is faraway,let alone the genuinemagnanimityto which Virgil rises at Aen. VIII. 7II.2 Such hostility to the formidablequeen is strikinrg, and there are otherfeaturesof Propertius'poetrywhich make it even more surprising; for his treatment of Antonyis much more interesting, more complex, and more sympathetic.

Propertius beginsIII.

Ii:

Quid mirare, meamsi versat femina vitam et trahit addictum sub sua iuravirum ? This highly typical Propertian opening is developed with a list of dominant women in history, Medea,3 Omphale,4Semiramis,5 Cleopatra; and thenturns,to the reader'ssurprise, into a lengthyattack on Cleopatra and glorification of Augustus for his victoryover her. ' The point of the elegy, which is a passionatelydeveloped encomium of the victoryat
* This paper has benefitedfromthe learning and kindnessof my wife,of ProfessorHugh Lloyd-Jones, of Dr. Oliver Lyne, and of Sir Ronald Syme. Its present form owes much to the creative 7rte6avcyicq of ProfessorFergus Millar. I I have called him 'Mark Antony' rather than 'M. Antonius ' because I am concernedwith him as much for his literaryresonance as for his historical reality. 2 Some suggest (W. Richterin WS 79 (I966),463) that in iv. 6 PropertiusdeliberatelyattacksHorace's restrainedtreatmentof Cleopatra's death, with the simple aim of the greatest possible praise of Augustus at his enemies' expense. But encomium by Propertius too oftenfails to rise above the tepid forthis to be plausible; cf. iI. I. 25: 'bellaque resque tui memorarem Caesaris', in a context where Prop. mentions the Perusine War (29), a piece of history which might perhaps have endeared Antony rather than Octavian to the poet; ii. Io. 8: ' bella canam, quando scripta puella mea est'; and III. 4, a very ironical poem. On III. 4, rightly L. P. Wilkinson in by contrast F. I86, sees only Composition (x972), Cairns,Generic ' unabashed admiration', while G. Williams, Tradition and Originality(i968), 433, thinks it 'may be more pleasingly ironical than he intended'. These ! After69 lines of iv. 6 Propertiusis careless elegists franklytired of his subject, and with a disarming ' bella satis cecini ' turnsto the more congenial topic of a party. See A. La Penna, Orazio e l'ideologia del principato(I963), 133. a Medea in the vocabulary of political abuse: Cic., Cael. I8 (of Clodia); de lege Manilia 22 (of Mithridates). See n. 79 below. 4 Omphale in the vocabulary of political abuse: Plutarch,Pericles Z4; idem, ComparatioDemetriiet Antonii3. 2, (of Antony). Some modems assertthat it was applied to Alexander and Roxane (so H. Volkmann, Kleopatra 0953), I34), but I have found no source. ' Semiramis in the vocabulary of political abuse: Cic., prov. cons. 9 (of Gabinius). Hubbard, Propertius(1974),
I03;

Studi CastiglioniII,

1093-I

I03,

and Margaret

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I8

JASPER GRIFFIN

in his Actium,is onlylooselyconnectedwiththe poet's own love-life', commentsRothstein edition,6and it may be that Propertiuswas tryingto produce the sort of poem which which combines a public, political theme with an Horace sometimessucceeds in writing, incidentof his own lifeas a lyricpoet. Odesiii. I4 is a good example,where Horace opens with public ceremoniesto greetAugustus on his returnfromSpain, and via a centralverse expressinghis personal trust in him concludes with a private celebration with Neaera. I. 37 on Actium, are also in this mould.7 But the OdesIV. 5 and I. I5, and (significantly) exquisite tact with which,in Odes iii. I4, Horace refersto his Republican role-now long calidus iuventa/consule Planco ') is verydifferent over-at Philippi ('non ego hoc ferrem fromthe way in which Propertiushas allowed the logic of his own poem, if read as a unity, to push him into the role of Antony; for he says ' no wonder if I am dominated by a woman-look at Cleopatra'. Naturallywe do not want to forcethisimplication,but perhaps we should look further which is characfor an explanation before accepting ' the laxness of thought-connection teristicof Roman elegy' (Rothsteinad III. ii, init.). What of PropertiusiI. i6 ? In this poem 8 Propertius complains: ' My venal mistressis excluding me for a richer rival; curses on wealth! I should be ashamed of this humiliation-but a degradinglove is proamorwas his ruin; glory to Octavian for his verbiallydeaf. Look at Antony: infamis clemency. As for you, may your ill-gottengains be swept away; and beware of divine foryourtreachery'. The Actiumepisode here is describedby G. Williams 9 as punishment ' the conventional ofAntony... Propertiusis lured account of Actium,withits denigration into the conventionalpublic contrastof rightwith wrong, of Augustus with Antony or Cleopatra . . .' But is it so conventional? Again, the poet draws a parallel betweenAntony in his ' degradinglove ', not and himself; and at the end of the poem he is stillpersevering breakingfree. It is perhaps appropriateto look back with a fresheye at 11.I9-ZI: Romaenemoessetdives,et ipse atqueutinam casa! straminea possetdux habitare venalesessentadmunusamicae.... numquam The Princeps prided himselfupon his unostentatiousmode of life; 10 is not the natural of these lines, in the contextof this curious poem, an ironical and malicious interpretation but poor-to the end, not of correctmoral edification, suggestionthathe oughtto be really of makingmore agreeable and less expensivethe life of love ? 11 How many swallows make a summer? Twice we have found Propertiuscommitting the gaffeof identifying himselfwith Antony; will an appeal to the 'laxness of thoughtconnection characteristic of Roman elegy' sufficeto cover both ? I hope it will seem to Paris. The correctattitudeto implausible, when we have considered some references Paris for an Augustan poet was surely austere, and Horace treatshim in this spirit. In OdesI. x5 he will run away like a stag in battle; in OdesIII. 3 he is the ' fatalisincestusque it is iudex 'who ruined his country; in Epp. I. 2. io the paradigmof a fool. In the Aeneid to Paris that-his enemiescompareAeneas (Aen.IV. 215). But Propertiusanticipates bitterest withthe Trojan seducer. the frivolous Ovid in sympathizing In IL. 3-.35 Cynthiais so beautifulthatTroy would have done betterto fallforher than for Helen: ad Pergama belli olimmirabar, quod tanti EuropaeatqueAsiae causa puellafuit: nunc,Pari,tu sapienset tu, Menelac,fuisti, tu quia poscebas, eras. tu quia lentus
6 L. Alfonsi, L'elegia di Properzio 66 f. (I945) thinks the two motifs blend better,and even finds 'lo spirito6 piuttostovirgiliano'. Contra, Margaret Hubbard, op. cit. (n. 2), 89: (in certain poems in Book III) 'the development of the topics is often derivative and unconvinced, like the Cleopatra

cf. on this point A. La Penna, op. cit. (n. 2), I27. Prop. III. II is not mentioned in this connection either by him or by F. Solmsen, 'Propertius and Horace', CP 43 (1948), I05 = Kleine Schriften II, 278.
7

episode of iI.

iI

8 Discussed by Hubbard, op. cit. (n. 2), 58 f., with results. different 9 Traditionand Originality, 559. cf. JRS 66 (1976), 95, n. 148. "With the technique compare forexample III. I4. announcement The poem opens with a straight-faced that 'there are many things we admire about the Spartan education '; but it turnsout that,insteadof the all too familiarpraise of Spartan toughness and self-denial,we find an amusingly unexpected encomium on the unparalleled advantages it offeredthe lover forgettingclose to his girl.

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PROPERTIUS AND ANTONY

I9

Paris is a model forPropertius'own erotictastes at II. I5. I3; at iII. 8. 29 f. the poet says that Paris, like him, found his desire keenestamid the alarms of war: igniseratParidi,cumGraiaperarma dulcior suae: gaudiaferre poterat Tyndaridi Hector, barbarus Danai, dumrestat dumvincunt bellagerit. maxima ille Helenaegremio summaryof the picturein our sources (The last two lines,we note, could serve as a perfect the glamoroushedonist ofthe inactivity of Antonyduringthe Perusine War.) Like Antony, Paris, who loses all for a woman, was not an expected subject for Augustan panegyric, explicitly tradition as no surpriseboth thatthe moralistic howeverwitty. It comes therefore into Cleopatra's bosom ',12 compared Antony to Paris 'running away from the fighting and also that Propertius'poem II. I5, in which at 1. I3 the poet compares himselfto Paris, would live the life of love and wine, goes on to makethe point (1. 4I) that ' ifonlyeveryone in the sea at Actium': therewould be no Roman corpses floating vitam decurrere cuperent qualemsi cuncti multomembra iaceremero, et pressi nonferrum crudele nequeessetbellicanavis, ossa mare, verteret Actiacum nec nostra triumphis oppugnata nec totiens circum propriis Romasuos. crinis solvere lassa foret paradox'; I cannot see why. It seems to be, in W. A. Camps 13 calls this ' an extravagant fact,a bittertruth,however unexpected such a thing may be in an Augustan poet mentioningAugustus' greatesttriumph. 'Had he lived like me-like Antony-the disasterof Actium need never have happened...' In orderto understandPropertiusand Antony,it is necessaryto put the figureof the man of action who lived for pleasure into its full perspective,and in accordance with my and in life,in theirreciprocalrelationship. argumentthis must be done both in literature did not conTo begin withliterature, we must be alive to the factthatHellenisticliterature sist only of high-browpoets. Propertiusand Virgilboast of certainHellenisticprecursors: Philetas, Callimachus, Theocritus, Euphorion. These were great poets and creditable mythowas proud to admittheirinfluence. By contrast, names, and a Gallus or a Propertius Caused by logical hand-books and short-cutslike Parthenius' littlework on the Sufferings Love, perhaps more oftenlooked into by these poets than the works of Philetas,'4 did not receive honourable mentionin theirpoems. No more did they parade theiracquaintance works of propaganda and scandal, but these too may turn out to be unwith unedifying expectedlyimportant; more especiallywhen we remindourselvesthatthe subjects and the attitudeswhich will be discussed here were even more pervasive in conversationthan in written form. The latteris onlythe one whichwe now can see and control,and as we do so and oral materialwhich was we must allow forthe vast and formlessmass of sub-literary taken forgrantedby men of the time. of Hellenisticliterature was richin scandalous and scurrilousworkson the greatfigures avenged itselfupon as well as on contemporaries.An ignoble mentality classical Greece,15 storiesto their names. the higherpretensionsof great men by attachinglow or titillating some of which has got into Diogenes Sexual scandal was assembled about philosophers,16 Laertius; some at least ofthe epigramsascribedto Plato seem to come fromsuch a source,17 that Lucilius 18 can be seen to make use of a storyof this sort about the and it is significant Academic philosophers Xenocrates and Polemon. Serious philosophers joined in:
12

14 I am sceptical about Propertius' knowledge of Philetas; even of Callimachus, copies of whom must what he says in Books ii and have been easier to find, slight. Outside the Aetia proiII is extraordinarily logue, his knowledgeof Callimachus beforehe wrote Book iv was hardlygreat.

13 Edition ofBook iII

Plutarch,Comparatio3.

ad loc.

15 Locus classicus on this: U. von Wilamowitz, von Karystos (i88I), 47 f. Antigonos 16 Susemihl, Gesch.d.gr.Lit. I, I48 f. The (I89I-2) of Timon also are relevant: see fr. 9, 30, 54, 20,7Qoi 56 and 59. See Wachsmuth on Anaxarchus and etc. Epicurus yaarTpi XaptC61mvoS hbovoirTAi', qpials 17 W. Ludwig in GRBS 4 (I963), 59 f. 18 Fr. 755 (Marx).

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JASPER GRIFFIN

Chrysippusforexample accused Epicurus of being a disciple of Archestratus in debauchery. Hieronymusof Rhodes and Idomeneus of Lampsacus circulatedsimilarscandal about poets and politicians; 19 in history, the cynical Theopompus ascribed to all comers in his huge Historyunworthy and sordid motives,while sensationalists like Douris added lurid scenes of imaginary indulgence. The base workknownas 'Aristippus TrEpi TarazaisTpilqps ' was the source for a great deal of sensationalmaterialin the ThirteenthBook of Athenaeus. Such pre-Hellenisticfigures as Alcibiades were thickly encrustedwith anecdotes,mostlyof salacious or luxuriouscharacter,20 and so were Diadochi such as Demetrius Poliorcetes,and not least Alexander himself. Another relevant genre is that concerned with the doings and sayings of Tcalpal. a large numberof more or less improperstoriesabout the mistressesof Machon 21 versifies the poets and the Hellenistic dynasts,and such women as Lais, Lamia, Phryneand Thais became celebrated,storiesmultiplying about their behaviour; Lucilius made use of this, too.22 Plutarch is among the authors who tell us, for example, that Alexander burnt the palace at Persepolis to please Thais; 23 his Life of Demetriusincludes such material in abundance. Monographs were produced on luxurious dinners.24 The luxury ship of whose extantportionsstill make impressive Hieron II was the subject of a special work,25 reading. A more scholarlytaste was gratified by such works as those On the Athenian those who appeared in literature;26 forthe philosophically Courtesans, identifying inclined, thereweretreatisesOn Pleasure,27 withdetailedaccountsofthe hedonismwhichthe authors was abundant.28 took pleasure in condemning. Straightforward pornography
19

Susemihl, op. cit. (n. I6), I, I48. Its importanceforthe ancientconceptionof him is realized by F. Taeger, Alkibiades(I943), 86 n. io. The materialgoes back as faras Lysias xiv; [Andocides] iv, Against Alcibiades; and Antiphon fr. 67 Douris contributed some melodramatic (Blass). flourishes. Cf. D. A. Russell, PCPhS 292 (I966), 37, who points out that material on Alcibiades' life was quite unusually rich, and that he was early a subject for full-scalebiographies. 'La m6moired'Alcibiade occupait singulierement l'opinion publique pendant les dix premieresann6es du IVe si6cle ', G. Dalmeyda in the Bude edition of Andocides (ig6o), I09. 21 Ed. with commentaryby A. S. F. Gow, i965. Stories about Euripides and Sophocles (xviii), Diphilus (iII, xvi), Philoxenus (ix, x), and the citharode Stratonicus (xi), as well as the dynasts. In Rome, Volumnia Cytheris is found dining with senators, Cic., ad fam. IX, 26; cf. YRS 66 (1976), Cf. G. Luck, 'Women's Role in Latin Love I00-4. Poetry', in Perspectives of Roman Poetry(I974). 22 Fr. 263M: 'Phryne nobilis illa ubi amatorem improbius quem. . .' 23 Plut., Alexander 38, from Clitarchus,FGH I37 of modern fr. ii. RE, s.v. Thais, gives the efforts historiansto tone down, without rejecting,this romanticstory. Plutarch,Alexander40 and 67, further examples of his TpvJq). ' L'exemple de la chastete d'Alexandre n'a pas tant faitde continentsque celui de son ivrogneriea fait d'intemp6rants ', observes Pascal (Pensees,edn. de la P1eiade, p. 1134). 24 Plut., Demetrius 27: the dinner made by 1veae -r 566oBia Lamia for Demetrius oo-rcoas &rlv TOG Ca-re(mr8 7roXv-reAstav latlovU avyyeyp6(peat. AUYKiCOS of meal An account a luxury by Hippolochus, Athenaeus 128-3 I, cf. Susemibl, op. cit. (n. i6), I, 486 f. All this is an obvious source for poems like Horace, Serm. ii. 8, and for the conception, and of the luxuryof Sulla and Antony. reality, 25Athenaeus zo6d-2oge. Susemihl speaks of 'the fabulous luxury and still unequalled splendour of this ancient " Great Eastern ", built with the aid of Archimedes' (i, 883). The luxuriousness of Cleopatra's shipping was still a conventionaltheme centuries later; Pacatus, Pan. Lat. III, 33: ' quis annalium scriptoraut carminumtuas illas, Cleopatra,
20

classes et elaborata navigia et purpurea cum auratis funibusvela tacuit ? ' 26 We know of works by Ammonius, Antiphanes, Apollodorus, Aristophanes and Gorgias of Athens. Evidentlytherewas a demand. 27 E. Bignone, L'Aristotele perdutoe la formazione filosoficadi Epicuro I (2936), 276 f. Speusippus, Xenocrates, Theophrastus, Heraclides Ponticus, Clearchus,Aristoxenusand Strato all wrote on i1ovi. The long fragment (50, Wehrli) of Aristoxenus'Life of Archytas (= Athenaeus 545 b seqq.) deals with parts of the world; luxury and pleasure in different cf. also Clearchus fr. I9 (Wehrli) (from his Gergifr.4i-62 (fromhis Biot). Fr. 47 of Clearchus gives an idea of the ostensible morality of such worksHeraclides KaAOvphdvlV pupiv, etc. evAapiTyrovo?v -r?tv Ponticus 1rspi58ovis praised pleasure as the highest good (55), said Pericles lived for pleasure (59)and sometimes gave the 'moral ' (fr. 6I, TOrlr -rrVTa Troto*aTIsrfis aiKoXOrr0oI Tpuvqs). The philosopher Aristippus was a focus for anecdotes setting out with censorious relish his hedonistic life and philosophy. Cicero invokeshim (ad;fam. IX. 26) after dining with Cytheris; Horace uses him (in Serm. ii. 3. ioo and Epp. i. i. i8; 2. 27. 24) as an emblematic ratherthan as a philosopherwhose works one figure, read. That is to say, he was a creation of anecdote. was onK Exopua) His connection with Lais (tXco&AX& important to this picture. Cf. G. Giannantoni, I cirenaici(2958), 23: 'Tutto cooperava a fare di lui una specie di simbolo, l'immagine piii coerente '. dell'uomo piXAAovos 28 Sex-manuals etc., mostly published under the name of some famous ?-ralpa: 'Philaenis ', cf. P. OXY. 289I, Athenaeus335b-e, 457; 'Elephantis': Polybius xii. 23, Athenaeus 220 f., i62b. Improper fictionexisted: Sisenna, praetor in 78 B.C., transParthians were shocked to find it in the baggage of at Carrhae, Plut., Crassus 32). For Crassus' officers the celebrity of these works at Rome, cf. Sueton., Tib. 43; Priapea4; MartialxII.43. On' Philaenis', see K. Tsantsanoglu, 'The Memoirs of a Lady from Samos', in ZPE 22 (2973), 283 f.
lated into Latin the Mt;kTclaaiO of Aristides (the thius), fr. 24, 25, 29, 30 etc. (from his 'Epu-TtK6s), and

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PROPERTIUS AND ANTONY

21

Deliberate propagandaplays a largeparthere. Accusationsof everykind ofwantonness had always been part of the standardmaterialof Greek oratory,29 and Roman polemic was no less slanderous.30 Yet even lies, as a constantatmosphereto live in, have an effect on public morale and in the long run influencebehaviour. The accusations made against Sulla, Catiline,Caesar,31 and Antony,32 to select onlythe most eminentnames-accusations of a life of reckless,profligatedebauchery-were calculated to arouse in the audience a prurientenvy familiarto anyone who opens one of the more vulgar Sunday newspapers. That it was expectedby competent judges to produce an effect emergesclearlyfromthe war of propaganda betweenAntonyon the one hand, and Cicero and Octavian on the other. It emergesfromthat episode also that it did have an effect. Not only was Antonyobliged to writeOn My Drunkenness in self-defence, but his eventualruinwas partlybroughtabout by skilfulpropaganda against him.33 Beforetreating Antonyseriously, it is interesting to observe thatthe stereotype, of the man of actionwho lives a lifeof luxury,goes back a long way. It presentsus witha striking example of the inter-play of experienceand literature. Alreadywith Alcibiades there was doubtless both a spectacular personalityand a conscious playing up to the legend which surroundedhim; Plutarchshows him performing an outrageousbut trivialact ' so thatthe people should talk about that and not say worse things about him'.3 Thereafter,the existenceof the stereotype forthe conceptionof themselves mustitselfhave been important entertained by Alexander,Demetrius,Sulla, Antonyand the rest-and of course it was selfreinforcing. Alexander's own example was an immenselypowerful stimulus,35 while I suspect thatAntony,takingthe East as hiisportionand emulatingSulla in marchingon dhe West, will have said to himselfnot only' Sulla potuit: ego non potero ? 36 but also ' Sulla fecit; ego non faciam ? ' On the otherhand, the factthatpolemic could presentas sunk in debauchery even men of undeniable and spectacular achievements (Alexander, Sulla, morecredibleand morecapable became constantly Caesar, Antony)meantthatthe stereotype of being used. The belief in the exemplum was powerful,and there the exemplawere for whoeverhe was, of today; while on the the powerfuladversary, depictingas a voluptuary otherside his Ki6aKE5 encouragedhim to see himself in the glamorousand congenialrole of in action. Meanwhile, historians the man who loves his pleasures but at need is formidable revelledin depictingand exaggerating his excesses. Thus it is a complex process which creates and repeats the type of which the period from350 B.C. to A.D. ioo presentsso many examples. Sallust depicts Sulla 37 in just this the emphasis more completelyon to his vices, Catiline 38 too. Velleius' way, and, shifting of Maecenas is in the same mould,39and Maecenas seems to have played characterization up to it, appearing in informalattireand unbuttonedeven when leftin charge of Italy.40 Tacitus has a notorious affection for the type, discerningit in Sallustius Crispus,41L.
Siiss, Ethos (1910), 249 f. R. G. M. Nisbet, edition of Cicero, In Pisonem, 192 f. If a prosecutordid not produce accusations of and debaucheryin youth,the omissionwas a striking tellingone: Cic., Font. 37. 31 The Bithynianscandal was played up for all it was worth,Plut., Caesar i ; Suet., D. Caes. 2 and 49. It was versifiedby Calvus (' Calvi Licini notissimos versus', Suet., D. Caes. 49), writtenup in prose by C. Memmius, ventilatedin the actionesof Dolabella and the elder Curio, published in edicts by Bibulus, joked of by Cicero, sung of at his triumph-vexing him sufficiently to make him deny it on oath. Other stories were gleefullyexploited: M. Actorius Naso told of his enormous presents to Queen Eunoe (Suet., D. Jul. 52) ; ' some Greek writers' are quoted forthe assertionthat Caesarion reallywas his son by Cleopatra and resembledhim (ibid.). 32 K. Scott, ' Octavian's Propaganda and Antony's ', CP 24 (1929), I33 f.: idem, 'The De sua ebrietate Political Propaganda of 44-30 B.C.', MAAR i i ('933), 7 f. 33 Stahelin in RE XI 767. I2 f.: 'hat sich ... dieses Imponderabile . . . eben doch als schwerstes Gewicht auf die Wage des Schicksals gelegt.'
30

29 W.

35 cf. 0. Wippert, Alexander-Imitatio und rom. Politik in der rep. Zeit, Diss. Wiurzburg (1972). 36 Said ' crebro ' by Pompey in the Civil War, Cic., ad Att. ix. I0. 2. 37 By 95: ' animo ingenti, cupidus voluptatumsed gloriae cupidior; otio luxuriosus esse, tamen ab negotiisnumquam voluptas remorata. . .' 38 BC 5, I4-I6, 6o (his heroic last fight). Cicero, at need, gives the same picture, pro Cael. 12-13: (of Catiline), ' flagrabant vitia libidinis apud illum; vigebant etiam studia rei militaris', etc. ' The old Republic knew that vice and energyare not incompatible ', R. Syme, Tacitus I, 545. ' ubi res vigiliam exigeret,sane in39 ii. 88. 2: somnis, providens atque agendi sciens; simul vero aliquid ex negotiis remittiposset, otio et mollitiis paene ultra feminamfluens'. 40 Seneca, Epp. I14. 6. The tutorof Nero is never the vices of the friendof Augustus. wearyof attacking 41 Tac., Ann. III. 30. 4: 'per cultum et munditias copiaque et affluentia luxu propior. suberat tamen vigor animi . . .'

34 Plut., Alcibiades9.

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Vitellius,42 Petronius,44 Licinius Mucianus,45and T. Vinius.46 The Sallustian backOtho,43 ground is obvious,47but the resemblanceof the type to Greek models like Alcibiades and Demetrius shows it is older. Plutarchfindsthe same qualities in Lucullus 418as well as in in convincinghim of the general proAntony,49 and the patternwas probably influential has '.5Q Peripateticinfluence position that ' greatnaturesare most exposed to temptations been detected.51In any case, in the late Republic and earlyEmpire 52 men existedwho conand who no doubt did so consciously. Sir Ronald Syme, comparing formedto the pattern, Antony and Petronius,speaks of ' a class of Roman nobles by no means uncommon. . . whose unofficial follies did not preventthem fromrising,when duty called, to services of patriotism. For such men the most austereof conspicuous abilityor the most disinterested suppress a timidand perhaps perverseadmiration'.53 And by historianscannot altogether less punctiliouspersons the admirationhas always been feltless timidly,even when mixed with a not unpleasingfrisson of disapproval. of Caesar. Above all, we mustallow forthe appeal to Antonyof the careerand character He succeeded, even more completely than Sulla, in unitingthe man of pleasure and the man of action; Antonyhad beforehis eyes an example of marvellousglamour. Octavian, on the of his otherhand, once he had become Augustus,ratherhushed up the un-Augustanfigure adoptive father. Antony served in Egypt under Gabinius, notorious for his unguenta, (Cic., post red. in Sen. i6; pro Sestio I8); a dancing man, or vinum, and dandifiedcoiffure ': Cic., pro Sest. x8). Antony'sliaison with the notorious rathera dancing girl (' saltatrix Volumnia Cytheris,later the mistressand poetical inspirationof Gallus, brings him into pleasinglyintimateconnectionwith the elegiac poets; and his life as we see it in the late 40's and 30's is one of nequitiaand amours. The scene Cicero so well recordsat Philippic witha letterto Fulvia, ' amatorie IIe 77-he comes home at night,disguised as a messenger, scripta', promisingto cast offhis mistressand be true to her-is preciselyin the ethos of elegy; see for example Propertiusi. 3 and II. 29a. ' 0 hominem nequam ! ' comments Cicero; ' nequitiae caput ' was what the virtuouscalled Propertius(II. 24a. 6). not necessaryforour purpose to speculate about the precise mixtureof It is fortunately in the storiesof Antony'sluxuriouslifeat Alexandria. There was some truthand invention thingis thenatureofthe picture, The important truth, and thereweresome pure fantasies.54 and the factthatit could be projectedas being at least in large part believable. We observe thatin the propaganda of both sides orgiesplayed a centralrole. The blasphemousbanquet at which Octavian and his friends impersonated the twelvegods 15was matchedby the one, paintedblue, and forexample,at whichPlancus danced the role of Glaucus, nude, kneeling, delightsof extravawas the fleshy dragginga tail 56-or so theysaid. The apex of invention gance, drunkennessand sexual licence. But Octavian's propaganda went one step further and with brilliantsuccess representedAntony as enslaved and bewitched by Cleopatra; he was reduced to her degraded appendage. Not only was war declared on her, officially,
42 Ann. VI. 32. 4. 43 Ann. XIII. 46. 3;

47 R. Syme, Tacitus II, 538 n. 6; F. Krohn, bei Tacitus, Diss. Leipzig (1934), Personendarstellung 96. Valerius Asiaticus, too, combined luxuryand in rempublicamofficia. He showed undaunted courage at his death. 48Lucullus Cimon 3; Comparatio x. 39-4+;

44Ann. xvi. I8. 45Hist. i. xo. 4" Hist. I. 48.

Hist. I.

13

and 2i.

5"Alcibiades2; Agis z; Coriol. I; Themistocles 2; DemetriusI; Moralia 552b. 51A Dihle, Studienzur gr. Biographie(I 956), 84 f.; D. A. Russell, Plutarch(1973), 105, 123. 'l Surely this kind of life, essentiallyaristocratic in conception and at the opposite remove from the caution of the good functionary, was a way in which some Roman nobles kept theirself-respect under the early Empire, when consistentdisplays of talent and energy were dangerous. Had Tacitus wished, he might have recognized in it another path than that trodden by the virtuous Agricola and the weighty

49 e.g. Antony I7.

M. Lepidus, ' inter abruptam contumaciam et deformeobsequium' (Ann. IV. 20). Perhaps he did. the ScarletPimpernel, 63 Nor theyalone. In fiction, Rudolf Rassendyll,Bulldog Drummond, Lord Peter Wimsey and James Bond all witness to the appeal of the typeto more popular tastes. In life,the success of Churchill as a war leader owed somethingto his evidentlove of cigars,brandy and champagne. 54 It is for instance well known that what we read at Alexandria, Plut., of the club of 'Aupxyllr6ptot by the inscription confirmed Antony28, is strikingly honours 'AvTcbviov OGIS T95, in which one TTapatoros cf. P. M. Fraser in JRS p,yyava&ip-rov aypoStaiotS; 47 (I957), 71-3. There seems also no reason to suspect the evidence of Plutarch's great-grandfather and of Philotas (Antony28, 68). But e.g. Plutarch, Antony59, 'most of the chargesbroughtby Calvisius were thought to be falsehoods', and some of the stories are too fantastic: cf. I. Becher, Das Bild der Kleopatra (I960), 39, I34. 55 Suet., D. Aug. 70. 51Vell. Pat. II. 83, perhaps from Pollio; cf. G. 85. Williams, Traditionand Originality,

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PROPERTIUS AND ANTONY

23

as that of an enslaved sensualist interpreted not on him, but his conductwas systematically forher. Thus, he remainedinactive during gloryand self-respect away military throwing the Perusine War because she 'carried him offto Alexandria' 57and ' gave the orders'; 58 he threwup the Parthiancampaign ' culpa sua, quia hiemarein Armenianolebat, dum ad forher at Actium,' being '; 59 and in the end he flungaway everything Cleopatramfestinat with her and must go where draggedalong by the woman as if he had become incorporate We turnnow to Propertiusand observein his poems a lifedepictedwhich bears much more resemblanceto the life ascribed to Antonythan to that of a good Augustan citizen. have emphasizedthe' anti-Augustan' side of the poet,6'more nakedlyvisible Many writers in him than in the otherAugustans; it remainsto show the model to which such a side is disciplinedaction,Propertiusclaims related. In contrastwiththe Roman life ofprudentia, to live 'nullo consilio '; 62 he renounces the Roman marriage-' nos uxor numquam, numquam seducet amica,' 63 as Antonyabused and rejectedOctavia, that model of Roman and career64 at the behestof an imperious and politicalactivity matrons. He rejectsmilitary woman, his domina,who is not even respectable: ' Love is a god of peace ; 65 and he will in no campaignsbut those of love: ' hanc me militiamfata subire volunt'.66 Consisfight tentlywiththis,he begs his friendnot to leave his love forthe army,and curses those who throughgreed forgain preferwar to love: pereatis si fasest,omnespariter avari, armatoro.67 et quisquisfidopraetulit Propertiusis inspiredby worksof art; Antonycollectedfor Cleopatra the masterpiecesof remonthemwitha virtuousboast.68 Antony'sfriends the East, enablingOctavianto restore took passion; 69 Propertius'friends strated withhim and triedto cure him of his destructive iai adxppov?& disapprovedof Antony'swhole way of exactlythe same line.70 The xPm3roi and of Catullus beforehim. Octavian life,71as the senesduricriticizedthat of Propertius,72 under the influenceof drugs; Propertius in 32 said that Antonyhad lost his self-mastery himselfwith Dionysus; Bacchus is says the same thing of himself.73 Antonyidentified as in the otherAugustanpoets, and wine is one of his in Propertius, prominent surprisingly commonesttopics.74 Antony wasted his precious time in immatureand luxurious dal58Appian, BC v. 9. 5 Livy, Periochza 130.
Go Plut., Antony66.

she did '.60

Plutarch,Antonly 28.

61 D. van Berchem, 'Cynthia ou la carriere contrari6e', Mus. Helv. 5 (1948), I37 f.; J. Fontenrose, ' Propertius and the Roman Career', Univ. Calif. Publ. in Class. Phil. I3 no. I I (I949), 37I f. ; E. Burck, ' Romische Wesensziuge der aug. Liebeselegie', Hermes 8o (1952), I63 f. = Vom Menschenbild, I9I f.; J.-P. Boucher, Etudes sur Properce (I965), chap. I. 62 Prop. i. i. 6 cef. II. 12. 3: ' sine sensu vivere amantes'; Boucher, loc. cit. 17: for Antony, e.g. Plut., Antony37, 62. 83 Prop. II. 6. 41: cf. II. 7. ' Propertiusrejectsthe approved Roman woman ', Fontenrose, loc. cit. 378. This is the meaningof Prop. I. i. 5: ' donec me docuit castas odisse puellas '-despite Allen in YCS II (I951), 266, Otis in HSCP 70 (I965), 40 f., and others; no 'nuance of irony' (Otis, 41), either. ' " Irony " last resource of despairing commentators ', quips E. Fraenkel, Horace, 457-a lapidary phrase. C4 cf. Boucher, op. cit. (n. 6I), 2i f., ' Refus de la carrierepolitique '. 65 Prop. III. 5. i, cf. I. 6. 30; III. 12, 4; Boucher, op. cit. (n. 6I), 20, ' Refus de la guerre'.

Antony68, 69. Pltutarch, poem, I. I. 25: ' et vos first In the programmatic qui sero lapsum revocatis, amici.. .', and in the dismissesCynthia,III. 24. 9: poem in which he finally ' quod mihi non patriipoterantavertereamici.' Also in otherpoems, e.g. 1. 4. 7} Plutarch, Antony 9. In a careful study of the Perusine War, E. Gabba finds that as early as 41, with stories circulating about his intrigues with women in Cappadocia and Egypt, 'even the Antosatisfiedby their nians themselveswere not certainly leader's conduct', IISCP 75 (X97I), 149.
69 e.g.
7O

III. I2. 5 f. In templisomnium civitatiumprovinciaeAsiae victor ornamenta reposui, quae spoliatis templis is cum quo bellum gesseram privatim possederat', Res Gestae24. cf.RExI 767. 41 f.; JRS 66(I976), 9I.
67 68'

68 Prop. I. 6. 30. Prop.

Antony (Vita 37): 'He was not master of his own faculties,but as if he were under the influence of certain drugs or of magic rites, was ever looking towards her. ..'. 74 It is hard to feel that we fully understand the role of Bacchus in the work of these poets. P. FondationHardt II, I96 f.) argues Boyanc6 (Entretiens for the existenceof a regularsodaliciumto which the poets belonged, with Bacchus as its patron. E. T. Silk, YCS 21 (i969), 195 f., emphasizes the element in Horace's poems to Bacchus, but ignores of recusatio the poems of the other poets on the theme. A cool 79, 'Probably view: Margaret Hubbard, Propertius, it all seems more strangeand wonderfulto us than to a Roman, who saw many such thingsin the gardens of civilized villas and town houses' (sc. as the mystic paraphernaliaof Bacchus).

Kaiaap, as KcXi -mpore?irelre bTr6 papv6mcov o0S' aITou Kpa=ofn ... Cf. PropertiusI. 5. 6, iII. 6. 25, Iv. 7. 72. Plutarchsays of
73 Plut.,

72

e.g. Prop. II.

P'Ev

Antony 6o. i:

24, 30.

'Avrcbvtos

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JASPER GRIFFIN

liance; 75 it is the shame and the gloryof the elegiac poet to do likewise.76 He cannotgo on service,his fate is idleness and ignominyme sine,quemsemper voluitfortuna iacere, hancanimam extremae reddere nequitiae.77
78 and the infamiait has broughthim. This is the meaning of his long servitium Above all, Antonyis the slave of the woman. This is meant to be a bitterand cruel taunt,an uttercondemnationof a degradedman,79but forthe elegiac poet it is a boast: his beloved is his domina,and a cruel and arbitrary one. The conceptionis alien to Greek love poetryuntil a much laterperiod, and scholars speak of the existenceof ' a gap betweenthe Greek and Roman writers, not only of time,but also of ideas .'80 That gap is in part to be filledby the rhetorical and politicalmaterialin which a man is accused of this relationship; that the poets accept and gloryin it is a symptomof theirwhole attitudetowards proper Roman values, of their boasting of a life which the respectablewould altogether regardas nequitia,inertiaand infamia. It was indeed implicitin that attitudethat the jeers of the world should become their slogans. Anotherpleasing example can be found in the only piece of Gallus' poetryabout which we reallyknow anything. At the end of the tenth Eclogue, Virgil presents Gallus wanderingon the mountainsof Arcadia, lamentingin mellifluous and sentimental verse his loss of Lycoris: she has lefthim and will cross the icy Alps (11. 46 f.):

tu procula patria(nec sit mihicredere tantum) a! dura,niveset frigora Alpinas, Rheni me sinesola vides.a, te ne frigora laedant! a, tibine teneras glaciessecetasperaplantas! It has long been agreed that there lies behind these lines a poem of Gallus himself,as is implied by the famousnote of Servius on 1. 46 (' hi omnes versus Galli sunt,de ipsius translati carminibus') and thisis confirmed 81 by the use ofthe same motifs in Prop. I. 8; cruelly abandoningme, says Propertius(1. 7): tu pedibusteneris positasfulcire pruinas, tu potesinsolitas, Cynthia, ferre nives? Cicero's speeches against Catiline do not seem the obvious place to look fora parallel, but in the second Catilinarianhe declaims against the fashionableand vicious young men who
Plut., Antony 28 (during the Perusine War): o'XwaO ?pEp6pEvov *rn'axrs Eis 'A?ME6vbpEav, &KEl 8? psiOmphale, Semiramis--who are forPropertiusparallels to his mistress. 80 Copley, loc. cit. (n. 78), 29I. It is surelyodd to discuss such a theme with no mention of Antony. I take this opportunity to commenton the theoryof F. Della Corte, Cleopatra, M. Antonio e Ottaviano nelle allegorie storico-umoristiche del tesoro di Boscoreale (I95I), 43, accepted by I. Becher, Das Bild der Kleopatra in der gr. und lat. Lit. (I966), 57 n. 3, that the strikingsilver dish from Boscoreale depicts Cleopatra, in a satirical light (good photograph in Monuments Piot v (I899), P1. i). His theory would suit my argumentwell, especially the suggestion that a lion, representingAntony, is shown as tamed and bewitchedby a femalepanther,representing Cleopatra: ' in posa decisamentepacifica,docile e incantato, come sotto il fascino dell'occbio d'un domatore' (p. 38). In fact the lion is not looking at the panther at all, and the identification of the main figurewith Cleopatra seems most improbable. I am grateful to Professor Martin Robertsonforthe following note: 'The figurelooks to me like a personification. In principle it could verywell be a portraitat the same time, but it doesn't look to me very personalized and certainly not like Cleopatra '. The older view, that it representsAfricaor Egypt, seems much more likely. Other representations in art remain; cf.A. Oxe inBonn. Jahrb. 138 (I933), 8i f.,esp. 94 f.J. Hubaux in Miscellanea Properziana (I957), 34.

paKiov aXoXfv dyovros Bicarpfpa3cSKal rrai8iaSe Xp6psVov vacioaKlv imaiKaO6Tuvrra6Elv 6 -ro?wv-rAia-rccrov cbS 'Av-nip65v ElrreV v56kwpa, 6ov Xp6vov. 76 cf. also Tibullus I. I. 57. The point is wittily put by Ovid, Ars I. 504: ' arbitrio dominae tempora

perde tuae.' 77 Prop. I. 6. 25. 78 e.g. F. 0. Copley, 'Servitium Amoris in the Roman Elegists ', TAPA 78 (I947), 285 f.
9 As when Creon calls Haemon

Cassius Dio LX. 2. 4. The disgrace of being dominated by a woman is a common theme of Roman oratory. Cic., Verr.ii. I. I40: ' Non te pudet, Verres, eius mulierisarbitratu gessissepraeturam? '; ibid. ii. ad arbitrium libidinosissimae mulieris spoliatum iri . .; ibid. 78 on Tertia; ibid. I. 4. 136: ' Mulierurn nobilium et formosarumgratia, quarum iste arbitrio praeturam per triennium gesserat'; ibid. 38; the role ascribed to Clodia in the pro Caelio, e.g. 32; 67: 'Fortisvirosabimperatrice ... conlocatos' ; 78: ' Ne patiamini M. Caelium libidini muliebri condonatum'; pro Cluentioi8, dominantrole of the wicked Sassia; Philipp. VI. 4, (Antony) 'mulieri citius avarissimae paruerit quam senatui populoque Romano'. See nn. 3-5 above for the appearance in political invective of the dominant women Medea,
3. 30; ibid. 77: 'Herbitenses cum viderent ... se

Claudius

Soph., Ant. 756, or when the historian records of

that he g6ovAoKpa-rljTO Kal
9yvvauKoKpaipafljl,

yvvauKo65 O6Avupa,

H. Volkmann, Kleopatra (1953), 134. 81 P. J. Enk, edition of Propertius I

(I946),

79.

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PROPERTIUS AND ANTONY

25

etiamsi nisi pereunt, will,he hopes,leave Rome and join Catiline: ' qui nisi exeunt, tamen verum futurum. Catilinarum hoc in re publicaseminarium scitote perierit, Catilina ? quemad modum ducturi suntin castra ? numsuasmulierculas volunt quid sibiistimiseri pactoilliAppenninum ? quo autem iamnoctibus hispraesertim poterunt, autem illiscarere ? ' (23). As with'slaveryto a woman', 'tenderfeet perferent et nives atque illaspruinas lament. joke or as a tender as a cutting presuppositions opposite from amidtheice ' appears can be noteoftheelegiactemperament thatthemostcharacteristic For us it is interesting got actually in therealworld, by whichan orator, related to a deviceofrhetoric so closely his audience intoan idealrealmof to transport done. Cicerois nottrying things important and real people in a specialway,to lead to recognizable exoticfictions, but to present than farmoreofan echoin Antony fordeath82 finds ofPropertius Eventhesensibility they ' askedhis friends whether we are told,Augustus in Augustus. On his death-bed, Greektag in thefamiliar oflife,and askedthem, he had playedwellthe comedy thought himwithapplause" '; he died in thearmsofhis wifewiththe oftheactors, to " dismiss ' Livia,nostri in harmony so exquisitely vive,ac vale .'83 This death, memor coniugii words in dramatic For Propertius, and uxoriousness. withirony withhis life,makeshimdepart theloversare to crowna tragic.84 Sometimes as romantically deathis envisaged contrast, as a threat, together:whether by dying lifeofsuffering and devotion oportet; moriaris mecum sednoneffugies: cruor,85 uterque hoceodem stillet ferro or as a promise, ... etossapareintis ossatibiiuro permatris tenebras; vita, mansurum, metibiad extremas unadies.86 ambos unafides auferet, willconsolehimfor grief imagined him,and thenhervividly she willsurvive Sometimes Tibullustoo praysto die in Delia's the gravetheywill be together.88 death;87 beyond arms: hora, mihi cumvenerit tespectem, suprema manu.89 teteneam moriens deficiente in his willthathis bodyshould be sent to had provided his deathAntony Long before to good Octavian turned which 90-an instruction and buried besideCleopatra's Alexandria to the was accompanied as Alcibiades that, in propaganda;and in theendwe find account 91and was buriedby her,so in their last fewdays last by his faithful mistress Timandra another, Livers' and founded of Inimitable their society and Cleopatra dissolved Antony calledthePartners which they and extravagance, notat all inferior in daintiness and luxury heraddress 92 Antony makes and Plutarch diedin herarms, in Death', cUvaTro0avoVlpEVOI. with she tookherownlife:93 ' . . . Hide me there before a passionate to his spirit prayer none has been so greatand so you and buryme withyou,forof all mymanysufferings timethatI havelivedwithout you'. cruelas thisshort ? We knowthather and Cleopatra How earlywas thisstory ofthe deathof Antony and it is used,94 Olympuswrotean accountof her last days,whichPlutarch physician the after was at itsheight, shortly wheninterest natural to supposethatthiswas produced
82 e.g. Boucher, op. cit. (n. 6i), ch. 3: 'Le sentiment de la mort'. 83 Suetonius, D. Aug. 99. 84 Prop. I. 17. 19f.; 19; II. I. 7I; 24. 35f. 85 Prop. ii. 8. 25. 86 Prop. II. 20. I7 f.; cf. II. 28. 39: 'una ratisfati nostrosportabitamores.' 87 Prop. I. 17. 21. 88 Prop. I. Ig. iI f.; IV. 7. 93 f. 9 Tibull. I. I. 59 f. 90 Dio L. 3. 5: -r6aapa r6 Eav-roQ Tv 78 -r 'AXE.avSpeia
Kai

decisive action.

OCil)

67V) TEVaI raiK6K8p81Iv;

Ant.58. 8. Plutarch,

I" Plut., Alcib. 39.6. Scholars give what seems to credenceto the vaguelyreported me rathersurprising says Plutarch) that this Timandra was story(A?youva, the motherof one of the courtesanscalled Lais: so G8ber in RE sv. Timandra (3), Geyer in RE sv. reportsabout Lais (2). In view of the contradictory thesewomen,such a naturalpiece of gossipyprosopographyis probablyworthnothing. 92Plut., Antony71. 93 ibid. 84. 14 ibid. 8z.

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will have been importantfor this Life of Plutarch,96 event.95 Oral sources, particularly copious and fascinating; and of course a version had to exist to explain to Rome her of her at the triumphin 29 B.C. If, as seems most likely, suicide,97 and the representations certainthat Propertiuspublished Book I in 29 B.C., and Book II by 25 B.C.,98 it seems pretty to rule the world,will have all had attempted the Liebestod of thisspectacularpair,who after been immediatelypresentto him. And Antony,in that story,is shown dying a romantic Propertiandeath, afterliving,in many respects,the life which Propertiuswished to live; while conversely the Roman audience will have foundthe lifePropertiusclaimed to live all the more plausible, because such recenthistory afforded such a sensationalinstanceof it in 99 Antony. Of course it is not being claimed thatPropertiuswas inspiredto his conceptionof the had long ago compared Perisatirists life of love only by the careerof Antony. In history, and the Successors of cles' relationship with Aspasia to that of Heracles with Omphale,100 Alexanderoffered plentyof examples of men overcomewith the life of pleasure. The late Republic, too, was familiarwith the type long beforeAntony. And quite apart fromthis experience,on sort of source, Propertiusdraws on othertypesof model: on contemporary his Latin predecessors,on Hellenistic poetry. But such a life as that of Antony does, I in pursuingthe sort of think,have a particularinterest. Antonywas no doubt influenced, life he led, by examples both fromlife and from'literature', as well as by naturalinclinaeven, the role of the dashingand carelesssoldierwas one tion; and in termsof self-interest, which made him popular withthe troops-for a time.-01Where his life took a particularly at the end on one woman, and also in its tragicconinteresting turnwas in concentrating clusion. in the latterpart of his career,was drivenon not onlyby his own impulses and Antony, which fromthe one stereotypes, political calculations,but also by the existenceof literary side lured him into the role of the dashinghedonist,and fromthe otherpilloriedhim as a typical monsterof vice. Such a careeris itselfa greatexample of the way lifeand literature each other. It is a further affected turnof the same spiral when Propertiusfindsa literary recalls the careerof Antony; and yet anotherwhen personaforhimselfwhich so strikingly in poems actuallyabout Antonyhe expressesan attitudeat varianceindeed withthatproper to an Augustanpoet, but in harmony withotherelementsof his poetry. Afterall, ifAntony had won the Battle of Actium,Propertiuswould have been an Antonian poet.'02

Balliol College, Oxford

96Jacoby observes, on Socrates of Rhodes (FGH no. 192), that '.verymany Greeks ' must have written of Antony's career, immediatelyafter Actium, in a sense acceptable to Octavian,to explain to the Eastern world what had happened. D. A. Russell, Plutarch, 140, conjectures that Antony's companions at the end, Aristocrates and Lucilius, may have leftwritten accounts (for ' p. i ' read ' 69.I '). 96 cf. H. J. Rose in Annals of Arch. and Anthrop., Liverpool II (1924), 25 f. 97 Some (Nisbet and Hubbard, Commentary on Horace, Odes I, p. 41O) doubt the historicalrealityof Cleopatra's suicide. 98 So Margaret Hubbard, op. cit. (n. 2), 43 f. 99 It is pleasing that Antony's son Jullus Antonius was a close friendof the wittyand indiscreetJulia. 100Plutarch,Pericles24. The same image is used by Plutarch of Antony: Comparatio3. 2. 101Plut., Antony 6 and 43. V. Gardthausen, Augustus und seine Zeit (I89I) I, 429, speaks of Antony's 'sinnliche Sultansnatur und sein ritterlicherCharakter'; despite the charmof thisdescription, I thinkF. Taeger is nearerto the truth,at least of his finalperiod, when he says, Charisma II (I960), ' In masslos barbarischerSteigerungiAberschlug 92: Lebensgesich in Antonius das spiithellenistische ', and finds in him a deracinated Roman lost fiuhl betweenRome and Greece. 0. Wippert,AlexanderImitatio, 205, is at least premature to say that ' es kann heute als allgemeine Ansicht gelten, dass Romer gewesen Antonius keineswegs ein entarteter ist'; and his own account in pp. 205-13 of Antony's 'Absicht einer dynastischenPolitik ' and his conception of himselfas a successor of Alexander ('er war mehr als K6nig oder Grossk6nig,denn er hatte die Titel gegeben', 210), especially p. 212, seems to concede what he denies. effectively 102 Professor Millar points out the suggestiveness of the anecdote in Macrobius, forAugustan literature Sat. II. 4. 29-30: a man produced to Octavian after Actium a trainedcrow, which could say ' Ave Caesar victor imperator', but was forced to reveal that he also had a second, which had been taughtto say' Ave victorimperatorAntoni '.

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