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Lesson 9 |
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Eternal City
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WORLD LIT CLASSICAL WEST
CLASSICAL
WORLD
POST DARK
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INSTRUCTIONS FOR THIS LESSON 1. Read "Rome and the Roman Empire," "Virgil," and Aeneid I-IV (in Damrosch A1093-1166). Aeneid 1-4 also exists online in an old and famous translation by John Dryden on this site. Yes, Dryden is the namesake of our town and village at TC3. 2. Skim the page below, and then journal for an hour. It will help your comprehension of the reading to summarize it, but it will help your understanding of the course if you compare and contrast several of the readings. Virgil's Aeneid is especially rich for comparisons with Homer. 3. If you are enrolled in this course for college credit, go to the Angel web site, take the quiz for this lesson, and submit your World Literature Journal to Dr. G. |
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Virgil transforms Homer's stories
to vindicate the brutal Roman conquest of the Hellenistic peoples in the
second century BCE. The justification is that "the Greeks" almost
annihilated the ancestors of the Romans at Troy. In this regard the
Aeneid is a survival of Zeus-man fiction, reading military triumph
as the outcome of divine favor. However, politics aside, Virgil's poem is also an
astute portrait of immigration and survival in the aftermath of
catastrophe.
Cultural complexity World historians often speak of four
major "classical civilizations" in the ancient Eurasian world,
from roughly
1000 BCE to 500 CE: the Mediterranean,
Persian, South Asian, and Chinese. Along came Alexander, and the
four became three. All were more literate, more complex, more urban,
more technologically advanced and larger in territory
and population than the civilizations that preceded them. This is the standard account
of world history, but it is inaccurate
in important respects. As Plutarch's "Life of Alexander" indicates, the
Alexandrian empire was not simply an eradication of Persian culture and
not simply the extension of Mediterranean culture into Asia and the
Middle East. Alexander's empire
was, instead, the creation of new Greco-Egyptian culture, a new
Greco-Persian culture, and on the Greek peninsula a new "Hellenistic" version
of Hellenic culture in which formerly alien cults came into anxious
coexistence. Rather than reducing
or simplifying world culture, Alexander's empire
complicated it with cultural interchange. Major cultures tend not to
vanish, even when their people are oppressed by foreign rulers who try
to suppress the old ways. Jewish culture did not disappear at the
Babylonian captivity; it was renewed. Roman
conquest of the Greeks in the second century BCE brought in a new "Greco-Roman" culture
in which the "Greco" outweighed the "Roman" in the arts
and education and indeed in most fields outside of
building construction and law. As
will be discussed in Lesson 10, the later Christian conversion of the
Roman Empire made a Greco-Romano-Christian culture in which the "Greco"
was still very prominent, even after the persecution of its "pagan"
polytheism. A complex culture, then, can
be horizontally multicultural (worshipping many gods at the same time).
Or it can be vertically multicultural, worshipping diverse gods over the passage
of time, as in a sequential "generations of the gods" in Enuma Elish
and Hesiod's Theogony. Or it can be combinatorial synthesis of
the kind where Zeus and Amun become Zeus-Amun or where all of the sons
of Zeus are rolled up into one hero, Christ. Texts can be written for any
of these forms. The basic Greco-Roman one is Virgil's Aeneid
written soon after the Roman conquest of the Greeks was completed by
Octavian, later known as the Emperor Augustus. |
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Aeneid as foundation myth Virgil or Vergil (Publius Vergilius Maro), 70-19 B.C., official poet of the Roman Empire, was born near Mantua (Italy) and was resident in Rome from 41 B.C. Early life on his father's farm influenced his first poems, the Eclogues (37 B.C.) which idealized rural life in the style of the Alexandrian poet Theocritus. Virgil then turned to realistic and didactic rural poetry in the Georgics (30 B.C.), modeled on Hesiod's Works and Days. After Augustus came to power, Virgil spend the rest of his days working for Augustus' court and its famous patron of literature, Mycenas. His sole project during those years seems to have been the Aeneid, an unfinished imitation of Homer in dactylic hexameters. Its main character Aeneas is a model of Roman piety, the determination to overcome personal hardship and loss in order to help Jupiter sustain the Roman Empire. The Aeneid is a cult foundation myth created for the newly created Roman Empire. Augustus destroyed the remains of the Hellenistic world by defeating Marc Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 BCE, and in Homeric fashion he promptly took on the attributes of his victims. He requested Virgil to produce cult scripture that would glorify and yet supersede Alexandrian Homer. Virgil worked away at this job from about 30 BC until his death in 19 BC. In its promotion of Rome and Caesar, the Aeneid resembles literature supporting not only Ptolemy's Hellenistic necropolis at Alexandria, but Plato's Academy at Athens, Muhammad's pilgrimage shrine at Mecca, Ezra's temple at Jerusalem, Hesiod's shrine of the Muses on Helicon, and the Enuma Elish's great ziggurat at Babylon.
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Left: Bernini's Aeneas and Anchises: the old man carries the gods of Troy, Aeneas carries him, and behind comes Iulus, the namesake and supposed ancestor of Julius Caesar. They are simultaneously fleeing the doomed Troy and founding the Eternal City, Rome. Their perception of the moment as tragic is not entirely true since they are on their way to fame and honor.
Michelangelo's Cumean Sibyl based in part of Virgil's from Aeneid 6. |
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Virgil's poem is not only unfinished but unresolved. The two sides of the Aeneid, the Augustan propaganda and the disturbing portrait of disorientation, coexist uncomfortably together. (Or is this difficulty only in Dr. G's mind? What do you think of the Aeneid?) |
Even you can be an Augustan. There's a lot of great literature to read that conveys a full sense of the Roman imagination in the time of the first emperor. |
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Bust of Virgil with scene of Carthage. |
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Carthage, Dido Virgil was a highly talented Alexandrian-style court poet who had the peculiar fortune to work at Rome, rather than Alexandria. He imitated Greek literature in Latin. He understood how the quasi-Homeric story of Alexander the Great had served Ptolemy's political purposes in Alexandria and the Hellenistic kingdom of Egypt. The Aeneid was his attempt to produce a similar authenticating fable for Augustan Rome.
But Virgil's view of Rome is not Younger Scipio's dark Homeric view or Augustine's equally fatalistic Christian view in which Rome is the earthly, temporal, transitory city in contrast to the real eternal City of God. Virgil's Rome is an inspired Eternal City, not another Troy or Jerusalem. Virgil's art is propaganda, of course, but arguably it helped to stabilize the city which, prior to Augustus, had been plagued by decades of ruinous civil wars between competing warlords. The Aeneid stirred patriotism among people who needed to regroup--at least this is Dante's view of the matter, in his treatise on the benefits of Augustus' empire, On Monarchy.
In Virgil, the painful memory of the fall of Troy doesn't help. It doesn't produce transportation, gifts, sympathy, humility or anything that Aeneas needs to continue his journey. It wins the admiration and love of Dido, but she's an obstacle to his destiny. She wants him to live in the past. Her palace is full of artwork depicting the Trojan War, and she asks Aeneas to recite the story to her over and over again with a lengthy banquet each night. This exercise only prolongs his unhappy memories, so that he sinks into self-pity and cannot find his sense of purpose or futurity. Carthage appears to Aeneas as a place of the dead. Like a ghost, he first enters the city wrapped in a goddess' mysterious protective cloud that makes him invisible. He and his fellow Trojans are all amazed to meet one another in the city because each one of them thinks that his comrades have been drowned in Juno's (Hera's) tempest at sea. Virgil's descriptions of these events suggest that Carthage is where souls congregate after death, and that goddess-protected Aeneas is as dead as Odysseus. Indeed, Aeneas' adventure in Carthage with Dido parallels Odysseus' stay in Ogygia with Calypso, whose name means "buried" and whose only desire is to have Odysseus lie in bed with her. The deathbed image in the Odyssey is a parody of heaven, a heaven that Odysseus prefers to leave on the first available boat (if only there were boats!). But unlike Odysseus, who is dead without knowing it, Aeneas and his companions aren't dead. They only feel as if they are dead. The old Trojan self within Aeneas dies and a new proto-Roman self slowly is born. This experience of loss and gradual re-orientation to a changed world is portrayed by Virgil with astute psychological accuracy. Aeneas' malady is referred to these days as "survivor syndrome." The grieving survivor asks: "Why do I live when others died?" Because we are social animals, following a catastrophe a survivor's first impulse often is to continue in the company of those who have died. (Compare suicidal Achilles after the death of Patroklos.) It takes time for the survivor to accept the fact that the past is gone and is never coming back. It takes more time to imagine a future that will be different from the happy past and yet somehow worthwhile. Aeneas makes peace with the spirits by a process of understanding why he survived the Trojan War. Because he was spared, he eventually infers that there must be something left for him to do in life. To figure out what it is, he calls on his gods, and after a great deal of futile calling they finally answer him. Things aren't as bad as they seem for Aeneas. He's not being punished for crimes by Jupiter (= Zeus), as Homer's Odysseus is punished. Like Heracles, he's pursued only by Juno (= Hera) who can make life difficult for him but who cannot alter fate or destiny because she's not in charge in that department. In this bullying role, she is comparable to the frightening but powerless devils in Christianity and other monotheisms. Aeneas needs to cease his anguish over Troy in order to find strength, courage and peace to go forward with purpose. He needs to recognize that he is indeed fortunate, although the fortune he receives is not the fortune that he expected or sought. Rome lost battle after battle to Carthage and yet she won the Punic Wars. Whole legions were annihilated by Hannibal, but the Romans always fielded new legions in their place. (At least this is the history that Romans tell.) This unbroken determination of the Roman spirit is what Virgil celebrates in Aeneas, the gritty survivor, and this public idealism is what sets the Aeneid completely apart from the Homeric Songs on one hand and Dante's Commedia on the other.
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Image left:
Image
left: Hannibal,
Scipio the Elder was rewarded for victory at Zama by being banished for life by envious political enemies in the Roman Senate. He died in exile, perhaps murdered (the same fate as Hannibal), a precedent for Dante's unhappy banishment. Ancient and medieval republics often punished their most successful leaders
Image left: figurine of Aeneas carrying his father Anchises from Troy. This is a 5th century BC artifact from the (pre-Roman) Etruscan culture in what is now Tuscany, a region that includes Dante's Florence.
The thematic relationship between the Iliad and the Odyssey is a relationship between life and death, or sacrificer and victim: killer Achilles journeys toward death but dead Odysseus returns from it. Virgil picks up on Homer's death and rebirth theme, as Aeneas buries the Trojan in himself and is reborn as a Roman. This transformation is portrayed as a spiritual conversion of Aeneas by Jupiter.
Virgil reads to Augustus and family. Julia passes out. from a painting in the National Portrait Gallery, London. |
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Lesson Summary: Virgil transforms Alexandrian Homer to a prophet of the Roman Empire. At the same times he is a worthy student of Homer in portraying abnormal psychological states.
Suggested journal topics 1. Ruling the World: Consider the claim of any person or group that God wants a certain leader or a certain people to rule the world. How do those who believe in this claim say that they know it is true? 2. Aeneas : how do you read this character? 3. Virgil and Homer: compare and contrast the two stories of the fall of Troy, the one told by the bard Demodocus in the Odyssey [Lesson 5]and the other told by Aeneas in books 2 of the Aeneid. 4. Rome and the United States: both underwent "apprenticeships" in liberty under the early rule of kings, both established liberty through violent revolutions, both were founded by immigrants, both were expansionistic. Yes? no? Is there a lesson in Rome for the US? Is the lesson that Dante learned about Rome relevant today? Consider the idea of "manifest destiny" (the God-given right and duty of expansionism) in early American culture, as reflected for instance in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1855-1892). Consider George II Bush's policies with respect to universal democracy, globalization, conflict in the Near East and "religious values." Are these Roman holdovers? 5. Links for Virgil and the Aeneid: Aeneid intro reading (opening lines in Latin):
Aeneid book 4 reading (Latin): http://wiredforbooks.org/aeneid/ Dryden
translation (English) of the Aeneid: Aeneid notes: http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/virgil.html Aeneas
in the underworld story in art: Dido story in art: http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~mpm8b/dido/dido.html Fall of Troy story in art: http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~mpm8b/fall_of_troy/falltroy.htm Virgil
resources: http://virgil.org/ 6. What is the meaning of "Rome"? from Oxford English Dictionary
Pronunciation: Brit. /rəʊm/, U.S. /roʊm/
Forms: OE Roma rare, OE–ME Rom, lOE– Rome, ME–17 Roome, 15 Room, 17 Rhoome; Sc. pre-17 Rom, pre-17 Romme, pre-17 Rowme, pre-17 Roym, pre-17 Rum, pre-17 Rwme, pre-17 17– Rome, 18 Roome, 19– Room.
Etymology:
< classical Latin Rōma,
name of the city of Rome, also people of Rome, eponymous goddess of Rome, in
post-classical Latin also as the name of Constantinople (5th cent. in
Roma nova
‘new Rome’, 6th cent. in
Roma novella
‘new Rome’). In Middle English perhaps reinforced by Anglo-Norman and Old
French, Middle French Rome
(c1100, also
Romme;
French Rome;
< classical Latin Rōma).
Compare ancient Greek Ῥώμη,
name of Rome, in Byzantine Greek also as the name of Constantinople (in
ἡ νέα
Ῥώμη
new Rome,
Βυζαντιάς
Ῥώμη
Byzantine Rome, ἑκατέρα
Ῥώμη
the other Rome); corresponding forms of the name of the city are also
attested in other European languages (also in similar transferred uses),
e.g. Italian Roma
(12th cent.), Spanish Roma
(11th cent.), Middle Dutch Rōme
(Dutch Rome),
Old High German Rōma,
Rūma
(Middle High German Rōme,
German Rom).
Rome
occurs as a place name in English contexts from Old English onwards, in Old
English as
Rōm
(and also occasionally in unassimilated form
Rōma),
in Middle English as
Rom,
Rome,
Room,
Roome,
Rombe,
in early modern English as
Rome,
Room,
Roome.
For examples of the place name in Old English, Middle English, and early
modern English compare:
eOE Metres
of Boethius (transcript of damaged MS) (2009) i. 19 Ða wæs Romana rice
gewunnen, abrocen burga cyst; beadurincum wæs Rom gerymed.
OE Blickling
Homilies 191 Ic wille gangan to Rome.
lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Bodl.) (2009) I. xxvii.
298 Se Catulus wæs heretoga on Rome, swiðe gesceadwis man.
?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield
transcript) l. 9165 Sannt iohan. Bigann off crist to spellenn‥O þatt kaseress time. Þatt wass i rome
kaserr king Tiberiuss ȝehatenn.
c1275 (1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 5986 Brennes
walde Rome fulle fiftene ȝere.
c1275 (1216) Owl
& Nightingale (Calig.) 1016 Þeȝ eni god man to hom
come, So wile dude sum from rome, For hom to lere gode þewes‥He miȝte bet sitte stille.
?a1300 Maximian (Digby) l.
238 in C. Brown Eng. Lyrics
13th Cent. (1932) 99 As
i rod þoru-out rome, Richest alre home‥Maidenes‥Comen for me biholde.
c1325
in G. L. Brook Harley Lyrics (1968) 38 Me
were leuere kepe hire come þen beon pope ant ryde in Rome.
?c1400 (1380) Chaucer tr.
Boethius De
Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) i. pr. iv. l. 441 Now I am remewed fro þe Citee of rome
almost fyue-hundreþ þousand pas.
c1480 (1400) St.
Paul 161
in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints
Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 33 The
folk of Rowme.
1490 Caxton tr. Eneydos lxv.
166 The historyes of the romayns, and of theym that founded roome.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes ii.
f. 310 a, Lucius Cornelius Sylla ye father had proscribed no small noumbre
of ye citezens of Roome.
1561 T. Hoby tr. B.
Castiglione Courtyer ii. sig. Y.i, The Rota in Roome is suche another matter as
the Court of the Arches in England.
1605 A. Munday tr. G.
Affinati Dumbe Diuine Speaker 261, I speake to
you which are the inhabitants of Roome.
a1616 Shakespeare Julius
Caesar (1623) i. ii.
157 When could they say (till now) that talk'd of Rome, That her wide Walles
incompast but one man? Now is it Rome indeed, and Roome enough When there is
in it but one onely man.
1705 G. Berkeley Descr.
Cave of Dunmore in Wks. (1871) IV. 508 Those
artificial caves of Rome and Naples called catacombs.
From the early
18th cent. onwards the spelling
Rome
is usual, but for later currency of the pronunciation /ruːm/
compare e.g. the rhyme in quot.
1711 at sense
1a.
This pronunciation is recorded in various editions of J. Walker
Crit. Pronouncing Dict. until 1862; for further
evidence of 19th-cent. currency compare:
1866 N.
& Q. 8 Dec. 456/1 In my early days I was taught that
Room
was the genteel, and therefore proper, pronunciation for the capital of
Italy.
1899 W. D. Geddes Mem.
J. Geddes iii. 53 The Fourth Canto of Childe Harold, as dealing with Rome,
or, as he invariably called it, 'Room', in the old Shakesperian
pronunciation, was a special favourite.
This
pronunciation survived in regional speech into the 20th cent. (compare
quots.
1873,
1909 at sense 2a;
Sc. National Dict. (at
Room)
records the pronunciation /rum/ as still in use in Banffshire in 1968). It
shows the regular reflex of Middle English long close
ō,
in turn reflecting Old English ō.
By contrast, the modern standard pronunciation was influenced by the
pronunciation of the Latin and Italian forms of the place name. Compare also
the discussion of historical pronunciation at
Roman n.1 and
adj.1
In Old English
and Middle English the name also occurs in several compounds denoting the
city of Rome or the Roman Empire; compare Old English Rōmeburg
(Middle English Romeburgh)
Rome (compare
borough n.,
and also Old Icelandic, Icelandic Rómaborg),
early Middle English Romeland
the Roman Empire (compare
land n.1),
early Middle English Romeriche
the Roman Empire (compare
riche n.):
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL
Add.) ii. iii. 40 Æfter þæm þe
Romeburg getimbred wæs.
OE Old
Eng. Martyrol. (Corpus Cambr. 196) 26 June 133 On þone syx and twentigoðan dæg
þæs monðes byð þæra æðelra wera gemynd Iohannes and Paules, þæra lychoma
restað on Romebyrig.
c1175 (OE) Homily:
Hist. Holy Rood-tree (Bodl. 343) 34 Þone ðridde
dæl [sc.
of the cross] þe papæ siluester forþ mid him to romeburiȝ hæfde.
?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield
transcript) l. 7010 Þurrh þe king off rome burrh himm
ȝifenn
wass þatt riche.
?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield
transcript) l. 8305 He bigann to rixlenn. I rome riche.
c1275 (1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) l.
5596 Costantin‥hauede
al Rome-lond, þe stod an his aȝere hond.
c1275 (1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l.
5683 Heo come to Rome buri [c1300 Otho Rome].
a1393 Gower Confessio
Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. 715 The noble Cesar Julius‥tho was king of Rome lond.
a1450 (1338) R.
Mannyng Chron. (Lamb.) (1887) i.
l. 12665 Ȝow were wel
bettere at Rome burgh Þan reyse baner a-geyn Arthurgh.
Compare also
Rome city,
Rome
town:
c1330 Seven
Sages (Auch.) l. 196 Þat emperour het‥þat þai bringge him sket To Rome toun.
c1450 (1386) Chaucer Legend
Good Women (Fairf. 16) (1879) l. 1869 Ne never was ther kyng in Rome tovn Syn
thilke day.
a1525 Bk.
Sevyne Sagis 19, in W. A. Craigie Asloan
MS (1925) II. 1, In
Rome cite þan was þar' sevyne Sagis.
1606 P. Holland in tr.
Suetonius Hist. Twelve Caesars Annot.
31* Vpon which day, the foundation of Rome Citie was laid.
1862 J. A. Clarke What
Prophets Foretold xii. 206/2 A great
catastrophe in which Rome city should be consumed by flame from heaven.
2005 Irish
Times (Nexis) 9 June 12 A winter which saw the coldest night recorded in
Rome city for more than 200 years.
1.
a.
The ancient Roman Empire; the city of Rome regarded as
representing ancient Roman authority, civilization, etc.; the
personification of this.
OE St.
Eustace (Julius)in W. W. Skeat Ælfric's
Lives of Saints (1900) II. 204 Þa ferdon soðlice twegen cempan þa wæron genemde
Antiochus and Achaius, þa ær wæron under Eustachius handa, and þurhferdon
ealle þa land þe into Rome hyrdon, oððæt hi comon þær he wunode.
OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ.
Libr.) 6 (table
of contents) Ðæt Bryttas fram Scottum & Peohtum wæron
forhergode; & hi to Rome him fultumes bædon.
c1330 Seven
Sages (Auch.) l. 818 Þe heghe emperour of Rom [rhyme
com] Went adoun of his tour.
a1400 (1325) Cursor
Mundi (Vesp.) 22241 All kingrikes þat rome was vnder, Fra lauerd-hed o
rome þam sundre.
a1450 (1338) R.
Mannyng Chron. (Lamb.) (1887) i.
3460 Þyse wer gon to Lumbardye To procure Rome more partye.
a1500 (1425) Andrew
of Wyntoun Oryg.
Cron. Scotl. (Nero) v. l. 3534 Þe
Saxonys‥Agane
Rome rasse wiþe mekyl mycht.
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes 248
b, One of the olde souldyours of Roome.
1594 Shakespeare Titus
Andronicus i. i. 82 These that
suruiue, let Rome reward with loue.
1624 F. Quarles Job
Militant x. xxix, Who, that
did e're behold the ancient Rome, Would rashly give her Glorie such a doome?
1671 Milton Paradise
Regain'd iv. 80 All Nations
now to Rome obedience pay.
1711 Pope Ess.
Crit. 39 From
the same Foes, at last, both felt their Doom, And the same Age saw Learning
fall, and Rome.
a1771 T.
Gray Agrippina
in Poems (1775) 131 The
willing homage Of prostrate Rome.
1780 W. Cowper Boadicea 17 Rome‥Tramples on a thousand states.
1820 Byron Marino
Faliero v. i, A wife's
dishonour unking'd Rome for ever.
1882 T. H. Hall Caine Recoll.
D. G. Rossetti 102 Defending‥the vices of Neronian Rome.
1927 W. E. Peck Shelley II. xiv.
63 The triumphal arch which Cottius, having resigned his throne to Rome and
accepted a Roman prefectorship, had erected.
1973 C. Price Theatre
in Age of Garrick ii. 6 In one respect at least England could rival ancient Rome.
2005 J. Diamond Collapse (2006) 13 For
over a thousand years, Rome successfully held off the barbarians.
b.
Constantinople (modern Istanbul), the capital of the
eastern Roman Empire. Later also: Moscow, proposed as being destined to
assume a similarly dominant role in world affairs. Also with modifying
adjective.
[In use with
reference to Moscow after Russian Tretij
Rim ‘Third Rome’ (Old Russian Tretij Rim′′ (16th cent.),
itself after Russian Church Slavonic Tretij
Rimŭ (1523–4 in the
Letter of
Starets Filofej,
the source translated in quot.
1945).
In use with reference to Constantinople, ultimately after the Latin and
Greek compounds cited in the main etymology.]
1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant Shyppe
of Fooles (de Worde) xcv. sig. Bb.iv, The pleasaunt place of
Constantinoble, whiche was the newe Rome.
1603 R. Knolles Gen.
Hist. Turkes 13 Yet haue the Sarasins attempted both Romes; they haue besieged
Constantinople, and haue wasted‥the Sea coasts of Italy.
1609 W. Biddulph Trav.
Certaine Englishmen 21 In the decrees of
Emperours, mention is made of two Romes: one, the olde, which is the true
Rome, built by Romulus; the other, the new, which is Constantinople.
1823 R. Lyall Char.
of Russians 28 Moscow is a third Rome, say these historians, and a fourth
shall never be.
1867 H. H. Milman Hist.
Lat. Christianity (ed. 4) II. iv. vii.
356 The bishops of the two Romes, Germanus of Constantinople, and Pope
Gregory II., were united in one common cause.
1896 Amer.
Hist. Rev. 2 37 After
the fall of the Rome on the Bosphorus, Moscow was hailed as the third Rome
that was to rule the world.
1945 N. Zernov tr. Filofei
in Russians & their Church 51 The
Church of old Rome fell for its heresy; the gates of the second Rome,
Constantinople, were hewn down by the axes of the infidel Turks; but the
Church of Moscow, the Church of the new Rome, shines brighter than the sun
in the whole universe.
1999 G. Vallée Shaping
of Christianity x. 203 The weakening of the two Romes created the space for the
emergence of both the Holy Roman Empire of the Franks and the Islamic
Empire.
2.
a.
The city of Rome as the original capital of Western
Christendom, and the seat of the Pope, regarded as the place from which the
authority or influence of the church (after the Reformation
spec.
the Roman Catholic Church) is exerted; (more generally) the Roman Catholic
Church, its institutions, practices, etc.
Court of Rome:
see
court n.1 8b.
Lady of Rome:
see
lady n. Phrases 2b.
man of Rome
see
man n.1 Phrases 2x.
to go over
to Rome: see
to go over 4 at
go v. Phrasal
verbs 1.
See of Rome:
see n.1 2c.
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL
Add.) ii. iv. 44 Ond nu ure
cristne Roma bespricð þæt hiere wealles for ealdunge brosnien, nales na for
þæm þe hio mid forheriunge swa gebismrad wære swa Babylonia wæs. Ac heo for
hiere cristendome nugiet is gescild.
OE Bidding
Prayer (York)in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1912) 27 10 Wutan
we gebiddan for urne papan on Rome, and for urne cyning.
OE Inventory
Donations Bishop Leofric to Exeter Cathedral (Bodl.)in A.
J. Robertson Anglo-Saxon Charters (1956) 228 And
II salteras, & se þriddan saltere swa man singð on Rome.
lOE Anglo-Saxon
Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1123, Ða com se ærcebiscop of
Cantwarabyrig & wæs ðære fulle seoueniht ær he mihte cumen to þes papes
spræce‥.
Ac þet ofercom Rome þet ofercumeð eall weoruld, þet is gold
& seolure.
c1275 (1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l.
13188 France heo biwunnen and seoððen heo‥biȝeten Rome.
a1387 J.
Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's
Cambr.) (1874) V. 407 Holdeþ þe Ester day in dewe tyme, and
ȝeve bapteme in þe manere of þe chirche of Rome.
?c1430 (1383) Wyclif Sel.
Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 281 Howevere we speken of dispensacion of þe Bischop
of Rome, þis symonyent mot do verey pennaunce.
c1475 (1400) Apol.
Lollard Doctr. (1842) 12 In þe court of Rome mai no man geyt no grace, but if it
be bowt.
a1500 (1375) Octavian (Calig.) l.
918 Ech lord lette wyth dolour Þe se of Rome.
1537 T. Starkey Let. 26
Jan. in Eng. in Reign Henry VIII (1878) i.
p. xlvii, The wych you perauenture wyl impute to thys defectyon from Rome.
a1616 Shakespeare King
John (1623) v.
ii. 70 King Iohn hath reconcil'd Him~selfe to Rome.
1654 J. Bramhall Let.
in R. Parr Life J. Usher (1686) Coll.
ccxciii. 612 Your selves have preached so much against Rome, and his
Holiness, that Rome and her Romanists will be little the better for that
Change.
1673 H. Hickman Hist.
Quinq-articularis 431, I will not ask, How‥it came to pass, that not one
Contraremonstrant ever
went over to Rome?
1769 T. Gray Ode
at Installation Duke of Grafton 6 The majestic
Lord, That broke the bonds of Rome.
1791 J. Boswell Life
Johnson anno 1784 II. 499 He argued in defence of some of the peculiar
tenets of the Church of Rome.
1840 J. H. Newman in Brit.
Critic Jan. 53 Rome, though not deferring to the Fathers, recognizes
them.
1873 J. Brown Round
Table Club 54 The Kirk o' Englan' 's rinnin' aff tae Roome, I'm tauld, helter
skelter, amon' a blaze o' caunels‥an' incense.
1892 J. M. Stone Faithful
unto Death vi. 119 It was also thought that many clergymen hesitated to
marry,‥in
case of a reconciliation with Rome.
1909 J. Tennant Jeannie
Jaffray 13 Pavin' the road for's back to Room an' the days fan the country
wis subjec' to ecclesiastic rule.
1911 Catholic
Encycl. XII. 268/1 Cyprian denies his right of appeal to Rome, and asserts
the sufficiency of the African tribunal.
1926 R. H. Tawney Relig.
& Rise of Capitalism iii. 159 It was
administered no longer by the clergy acting as the agents of Rome, but by
civilians acting under the authority of the Crown.
1976 Times 28
July 15/6 The very existence of the Anglican Church‥has partly depended‥on some Christians not agreeing with
everything that Rome says.
2006 D. Winner Those
Feet 192 Britain's
surge to great-power status began with Henry VIII's break with Rome.
b.
In extended use.
1789 J. Pinkerton Enq.
Hist. Scotl. II. vi. ii. 279 Hyona
[i.e.
Iona] may be regarded as the Rome of Pikland, supporting its own power and
interest, by keeping the subjects of its church in ignorance.
1802 tr. J. L. Soulavie Hist. & Polit.
Mem. V. ix.
190 They have become the primitive model of all the protestant churches,
and, if we may be allowed the expression, the Rome of calvinism.
a1822 Shelley Charles
I i,
in Posthumous Poems (1824) 239 First
Speaker That Is the Archbishop.
Second
Speaker Rather say the Pope. London will be soon his Rome.
1886 G. E. Raum Tour
round World xxv. 303 Mecca, the birthplace of Mohammed, and the Rome of Islam,
is 65 miles from Jeddah.
1934 F. Eby &
C. F. Arrowood Devel.
Mod. Educ. iv. 126 Calvin gradually transformed the city [of Geneva] into the
‘Rome of Protestantism’.
1985 R. Davies What's
bred in Bone (1986) iii. 150 She
wondered aloud if in a city sometimes called ‘the Rome of Methodism’ [sc.
Toronto] it might not be better to [etc.].
3.
The Holy Roman Empire; the city of Rome regarded as the
symbolic source of authority of the Holy Roman Emperor. Now
rare.
OE Anglo-Saxon
Chron. (Tiber. B.iv) anno 1067, Of geleaffullan & æðelan cynne heo [sc.
Margaret] wæs asprungon, hire fæder wæs Eadward æþeling, Eadmundes sunu
kynges, Eadmund Æþelreding, Æþelred Eadgaring, Eadgar Eadreding, & swa forð
on þæt cynecynn, & hire modorcynn gæð to Heinrice casere, þe hæfde anwald
ofer Rome.
?1457 J. Hardyng Chron. (Lansd.:Hammond) 236 The
Emperour of Rome, Sir Sygismounde‥had his stall vpon the kynges lifte honde In the Colage of
seynt George.
a1470 Malory Morte
Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 188 Thus have we evydence inowghe to the empyre of
hole Rome.
1543 (1464) Chron.
J. Hardyng (1812) 273 He gate‥Isabell, the wyfe of Frederyk, Emperoure of Rome, [a lorde
full] poletyk.
1587 J. Bridges Def.
Govt. Church of Eng. 95 The Pope calleth the Emperour, Emperour of Roome, and‥yet
can hee haue no more roome in Rome, then it pleaseth the Pope to permit vnto
him.
1621 R. Crakanthorpe Def.
Constantine 330 Aeneas Syluius [i.e.
Pope Pius II] cals, the sacred Empire of Rome,
Romanam regiam potestatem,
the Regall power of the Romanes.
1845 Congregational
Mag. May 356 A priest, calling himself the Count of Lausanne and prince
of the holy empire of Rome, (although that empire had ceased to exist at the
commencement of this century).
1951 H. Myers Utmost
Island 28 How Charlemagne, King of the Franks, restored and ruled the
ancient Holy Empire of Rome, when once he had Rome's Church beside him to
proclaim his right Divine.
2007 A. Ruiz Vibrant
Andalusia 170 Sigismund‥was King of Hungary and Bohemia as well as Holy
Emperor of Rome and Germany.
Phrases
P1.
Proverbs.
a.
when in Rome, do as the Romans do (also as Rome
does): when abroad or in an unfamiliar environment, adopt the customs or
behaviour of those around you (formerly also †when at Rome, do after the
doom). In later use frequently shortened to when in Rome.
[Compare
post-classical Latin cum
fueris Romae, Romano vivito more (and variants) (15th cent.),
Anglo-Norman quant
vos a Roume sereiz, selun les Romeins vos vivreiz (c1260).]
a1536
in Songs, Carols, & Other Misc. Poems (1907) 130 Whan
thou art at Rome, do after the dome; And whan þou art els wher, do as they
do ther.
1545 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus Prouerbes (new
ed.) f. 51v, With this laten prouerbe agreeth yt which
is commonly in euery mans mouth in England Whan yu art at Rome,
do as they do at Rome.
1591 J. Florio Second
Frutes i. 97 Be Romane if in
Rome thou bide.
1670 G. Havers tr. G. Leti Il
Cardinalismo di Santa Chiesa i. i. 5 Whilst
one is at Rome, one must live as they do there.
1768 J. Cremer Jrnl. 19
July in R. R. Bellamy Ramblin'
Jack (1936) 164 His
Answer was, when we was in Rhoome, we must doe as Roome did.
1818 Byron Beppo ix.
5 And you at Rome would do as Romans do, According to the proverb.
1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr.
Hunting vii. 267, I always do in Rome as Rome does, eat (if I can)
whatever is set before me.
1912 Overland
Monthly Feb. 127/2, I thought first I'd expose myself for the ninny I am,
but when in Rome, you know. Didn't I act like a Roman?
1939 El
Paso(Texas)Herald-Post 23
May 4/4 ‘When in Rome do as Rome does’ is an established rule of etiquette.
1990 T. W. Kang Gaishi iii.
64 Japanese customers and partners tell U.S. firms to conform: ‘When in
Rome, do as the Romans do.’
2002 Sunday
Mail(Brisbane) 4
Aug. 81/1 When in Rome, as the saying goes‥so I ordered the Guinness pie.
b.
Rome was not built in a day: a complex task or great
achievement is bound to take a long time and should not be rushed.
[Compare German Rom
wurde nicht in einem Tag erbaut (and variants) (from 16th
cent.). The source translated in quot.
1545 does not have a corresponding Latin proverb.]
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue
Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i.
sig. Div, Rome was not bylt on a daie (quoth he) & yet stood Tyll it was
fynysht, as some saie, full fayre.
1610 Bp. J. Hall Common
Apol. against Brownists xxv. 63 But Rome
was not built all in a day.
1663 E. Waterhouse Fortescutus
Illustratus xxix. 375 Rome was not built in a day, nor is a Reformation in the
true Law-sense effectable presently.
1776 A. Adams Familiar
Lett. (1876) 202 But Rome was not built in a day.
1822 Scott Fortunes
of Nigel II. x. 237 Rome was not built in a day—you cannot become used to
your court-suit in a month's time.
1849 C. Brontë Shirley I. vi.
123 ‘As Rome’, it was suggested, ‘had not been built in a day, so neither
had Mademoiselle Gérard Moore's education been completed in a week.’
1901 S. Lane-Poole Sir
H. Parkes xvii. 316 The Japanese‥went too fast and fell into grave commercial, monetary, and
administrative troubles. Neither Rome nor New Japan could be built in a day.
1950 T. Williams Roman
Spring of Mrs. Stone i.
34 Patience, said the Contessa. Rome was not built in a day!
2002 S. Brett Death
on Downs iii. 22 Less than a month since we moved in. Rome wasn't built in
a day, eh?
c.
Chiefly
Sc. do
not sit in Rome and strive with the Pope (and variants): do not attempt
to criticize or oppose a powerful person while in his or her own territory.
1561 W. Maitland Let. 10
Aug. in G. Cook Hist.
Reformation Scotl. (1819) III. App.
p. xl, If this cannot be brought to pass, then I see well, at length it will
be hard for me to dwell in Rome and strive with the Pope.
a1598 Fergusson's
Sc. Prov. (1641) sig. F2, Ye may not sit in Rome and strive with the Pope.
1641 W. Laud Recantation
Prelate of Canterbury 38 It is certainly a great
losse, not to have the Parliaments affection, and very hard (as they say) to
sit in Rome, and strive against the Pope.
a1666 R.
Blair Autobiogr. (1848) 37 [Reportedly
said in Glasgow Cathedral in 1621] He [sc.
Robert Boyd] uttered his indignation in very high words‥; for he said, ‘I will not sit in Rome
and strive with the Pope.’
1824 J. Russell Tour
Germany II. v. 305 They are too apt to forget the homely saying, that it
is folly to live in Rome and quarrel with the Pope.
1846 C. I. Johnstone Edinb.
Tales III. 258/2, I need not tell
you
of not sitting in Rome and striving with the Pope.
1907 S. MacManus Dr.
Kilgannon 11 ‘Still, of course,’ he went on, softening his tone, ‘there's no
use living in Rome and fighting with the Pope.’
2007 Monitor(Uganda) (Nexis) 22
Aug., [He] tried to go against Mr Ssempijja too, and is right now in
political oblivion. It is folly to live in Rome and rub shoulders with the
pope.
d.
all roads lead to Rome (and variants): there are
many different ways of reaching the same goal or conclusion.
[Probably
ultimately after post-classical Latin Mille
viae ducunt homines per saecula Romam (12th cent. in Alanus ab
Insulis
Liber parabolarum). Compare
Italian si
va per più vie a Roma (a1589; a1484 as †vassi
pure a Roma per più strade, 1585 as †si
va per tante strade a Roma), French tous
chemins vont à Rome (1694 in the passage translated in quot.
1806).]
c1400 (1391) Chaucer Treat.
Astrolabe (Cambr. Dd.3.53) (1872) Prol. l. 28 Ryht as diuerse pathes leden
diuerse folk the rihte wey to Roome.
1793 tr. M. Ehrenstrom Let. 15
Mar. in tr. Corr. Baron
Armfelt (1795) xlvii.
67 This difference in the choice of our means ought not to stop our career.
All roads lead to Rome.
1806 R. Thomson tr. J. de La
Fontaine Fables IV. xii.
xxiv. 110 Three diff'rent roads the three concurrents chose, All roads alike
conduct to Rome [Fr.
Tous chemins
vont à Rome].
1837 Morning
Chron. 29 Mar., The Tories act in the spirit of the old adage, ‘All roads
lead to Rome.’
1861 C. Reade Cloister
& Hearth I. xxiv. 270 All roads take to Rome.
1911 J. A. Thomson Introd.
Sci. iii. 63 All roads lead to Rome, and he must be a bold man who will
declare any of Nature's beckonings to be unworthy of attention.
1922 I. Fisher Making
of Index Numbers xii. 266 All the roads lead to Rome,—whether the roads be the
arithmetic, the harmonic, the geometric, or the aggregative.
2007 Liverpool
Daily Echo (Nexis) 18 May (Features section) 4, I'm still discovering my art,
but all roads lead to Rome. I was always going to end up finding certain
conclusions.
†P2.
to go (also hop, etc.) to Rome with a
mortar on one's head (and variants, generally involving a ludicrous mode
of travel): taken as the type of a hopelessly difficult (and often
pointless) task.
Obs.
a1500 (1460) Towneley
Plays 371, I had leuer go to rome, yei thryse, on my fete, Then forto
grefe yonde grome.
?1518 Hyckescorner sig.
B.i, Yf ony of vs thre be mayre of london I wys y wys I wyll ryde to rome on
my thom.
a1556 N.
Udall Ralph
Roister Doister (?1566) ii. ii. sig.
C.iiij, But what should I home againe without answere go? It were better go
to Rome on my head than so.
1600 W. Kemp Nine
Daies Wonder Ep. Ded., Me thinkes I could flye to Rome (at least hop to Rome,
as the olde Prouerb is) with a morter on my head.
a1640 J.
Fletcher et al. Faire
Maide of Inne v. ii, in F.
Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies
& Trag. (1647) sig. Ggggggg2v/2, He did measure the starres
with a false yard, and may now travaile to Rome with a morter on's head to
see if he can recover his mony that way.
a1642 B.
J. Trag.
Hist. Guy Earl of Warwick (1661) sig.
A4v, Old.
But whither wilt thou go soon ha?
Clow.
Faith Father,
Romo Romulus,
even to
Rome,
Morter
morteribus, with a Morter on my Head.
1853 T. Carlyle Occas.
Disc. Nigger Question 15 Good heavens, if signing
petitions would do it, if hopping to Rome on one leg would do it, think you
it were long undone!
Compounds
C1.
†a.
General
attrib.
without determiner, with reference to the city of Rome, as Rome gate,
Rome wall, etc.
Obs.
c1275 (1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l.
13921 He‥wold‥Rome walles rihten þe
ȝare
weoren to-fallen.
c1330 Seven
Sages (Auch.) l. 1553 Þourgh Rome stretes, wide and side, Þe ferthe
maister þer com ride.
c1330 Seven
Sages (Auch.) l. 2223 He com to Rome
ȝate.
c1440 (1400) Morte
Arthure l. 228 There ryngnede neuer syche realtee within Rome walles.
1553 T. Wilson Arte
of Rhetorique 48 As farre as hence to Rome gates.
1564 N. Haward in tr.
Eutropius Briefe Chron. ix.
f. 114 (side-note) Rome
walles new made.
a1616 Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iv.
v. 205 Hee'l go, he sayes, and sole the Porter of Rome Gates by th' eares.
b.
Objective, locative, etc., as Rome-believer,
Rome-bred, etc.
1613 E. Cary Trag.
Mariam iv. ii. sig. F, May
you long in prosperous fortunes liue With Rome commanding Caesar.
1614 A. I. in A. Gorges tr.
Lucan Pharsalia To Translator.
sig. A5v, Lucans Spaine-borne, Rome-bred, Muse-nurc't wit.
1661 H. Adis Fannaticks
Alarm 23 Is not that great Goliah of our times, defying the Host of the
Israel of God, that Rome-bred Monster, Persecution?
1792 G. Galloway Poems 40 Pit
[= put] sandals on, Or bare-foot scud like Rome-believers.
1823 S. T. Coleridge Let. 24
Aug. (1971) V. 298 A pleasure linked to so many delightful and ennobling
Recollections in my Rome-haunting Spirit.
1896 Contemp.
Rev. Jan. 106 The poet of antiquity who most consciously ‘returned to
Nature’‥was‥the
Rome-born Tibullus.
1912 ‘G. Metlake’ Christian
Social Reform xiv. 192 The Liberal majority was made up almost exclusively of
Rome-hating, Rome-baiting fanatics.
1992 Philadelphia
Inquirer 22 Aug. c6/1 The
escalating war of words between the network and its Rome-based correspondent
ended yesterday.
C2.
Rome–Berlin Axis n. now
hist. the
close relationship (later a formal alliance) formed in 1936 between Fascist
Italy and National Socialist Germany, which effectively came to an end with
the surrender of Italy to the Allies in 1943.
[ < the name of
Rome
+ the name of
Berlin
(see
Berlin n.)
+
axis n.1
(compare
axis n.1 4b), after Italian asse
Roma–Berlino (1935 or earlier; compare German Achse
Rom–Berlin,
Achse
Berlin–Rom (both 1937 or earlier)).
Variants of the
term were apparently used earlier in Hungarian by the then Prime Minister of
Hungary, Gyula Gömbös von Jáfka (1886–1936), who suggested the formation of
an alliance between Germany, Italy, and Hungary (which failed to
materialize) in various speeches between 1922 and 1934; compare e.g.
Gömbös's statement in a parliamentary speech on 24 July 1922:
látom, hogy
az európai politikának tengelye Berlinbe Rómán át fog vezetni ‘I
believe that the axis of European politics will lead to Berlin through
Rome’. The Hungarian compoundRóma–Berlin
tengely ‘Rome–Berlin Axis’ is attested in 1935 (in a transcript
of parliamentary sessions) or earlier.]
1936 Times 3
Nov. 15/1 The ‘Rome–Berlin axis’ is a conceit which has its momentary
attractions.
1938 E. Ambler Cause
for Alarm viii. 128 The Rome–Berlin axis is one of the most effective
principles of European power-politics that has ever been stated.
2007 J. Gooch Mussolini
& his Generals vi. 327 Recent accords with
Yugoslavia‥had
‘notably reinforced’ the Rome–Berlin Axis.
†Rome-lede n. [ < the name of
Rome
+
lede n.;
compare Middle High German Rōmliute
(Old High German Rōmliute),
plural noun] Obs. (in
pl.)
Romans; (hence occas.) the Roman Empire.
Only in Laȝamon.
c1275 (1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 2818 Þa
comen liðen þa weore þa Rom-leoden [c1300 Otho
þat weren Romleode].
c1275 (1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l.
4598 He bigon to senden ȝeond al þan Romleoden [c1300 Otho ouer al Romleode].
†Rome-thede n. [ < the name of
Rome
+
thede n.] Obs. the
Roman nation or people.
Only in Laȝamon.
c1275 (1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 4512 Kinbelin‥weorede Rome-þeode wið vncuðe leode. 7. Polybius on the gods of the Romans (from The Rise of the Roman Republic, book 6): But among all the useful institutions, that demonstrate the superior excellence of the Roman government, the most considerable perhaps is the opinion which the people are taught to hold concerning the gods: and that, which other men regard as an object of disgrace, appears in my judgment to be the very thing by which this republic chiefly is sustained. I mean, superstition: which is impressed with all it terrors; and influences both the private actions of the citizens, and the public administration also of the state, in a degree that can scarcely be exceeded. This may appear astonishing to many. To me it is evident, that this contrivance was at first adopted for the sake of the multitude. For if it were possible that a state could be composed of wise men only, there would be no need, perhaps, of any such invention. But as the people universally are fickle and inconstant, filled with irregular desires, too precipitate in their passions, and prone to violence, there is no way restrain them, but by the dread of things unseen, and by the pageantry of terrifying fiction. The ancients, therefore, acted not absurdly, nor without good reason, when they inculcated the notions concerning the gods, and the belief of infernal punishments; but much more those of the present age are to be charged with rashness and absurdity, in endeavoring to extirpate these opinions. Many effects flow from such an institution. If, among the Greeks, for example, a single talent of money only be entrusted to those who have the management of any of the public money, though they give ten written sureties, with as many seals and twice as many witnesses, they are unable to discharge the trusts reposed in them with integrity. But the Romans, on the other hand, who in the course of their magistracies, and in embassies, disperse the greatest sums, are prevailed on by the single obligation of an oath to perform their duties with inviolable honesty. And as, in other states, a man is rarely found whose hands are pure from public robbery; so, among the Romans, it is no less rare to discover one that is tainted with this crime. But all things are subject to decay and change. This is a truth so evident, and so demonstrated by the perpetual and the necessary force of nature, that it needs no other proof.
Instructor:
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Virgil's
Aeneas is the prophet who gradually discovers that this future empire
will happen (Aeneid books 1-6) and who obediently fights and
marries to serve Jupiter in bringing the divine plan to fruition
(books 7-12). Aeneas foresees Rome clearly when he descends into the underworld with
the prophetess 
One of
the bigger ironies in this enterprise was that Augustus had founded the Roman
Empire only by destroying the Ptolemaic one. Augustus had became sole master of
the Mediterranean through a succession of successful military campaigns culminating
in his decisive victory over Antony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium in 31 BC. The
suicidal Dido in the Aeneid
is in part an allusion to Cleopatra, last of the Alexandrian Ptolemies and last
of the Pharaohs. The Aeneas who forgets his Roman mission by dallying with this
hot African queen is an allusion to Antony, always portrayed in Augustan
propaganda as the Roman who had forgotten his duties to Rome, to Rome's gods, and
to his virtuous
Roman wife (as fate would have it, Augustus' own sister, Octavia!). 
Of
course, Virgil's
Carthage also stands for Carthage, the once-formidable enemy of Rome. Carthage had
tried to check Rome's expansionism, long before Virgil's time, in the
This
"self-destruction" was completed in the Third Punic War, 46 years after Zama. The
Roman commander in charge of razing Carthage to the ground and enslaving all of
its surviving people happened to be the grandson of the
victor at Zama. Although he obeyed the
Senate's orders to destroy Carthage, Scipio Africanus the Younger was disturbed
deeply by it, and he feared for the future
of Rome. Well versed in Greek literature, he saw the fall of Carthage in Homeric
terms. The destruction of the city was a repetition of the fall of Troy and also a
preview of the future fall of Rome.
It's Carthage that Virgil associates with Troy--through Aeneas' story of the fall of Troy, told to Dido at
Carthage. This story parallels
