The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Roman Empire (59 page)

After Marcus Aurelius, who wrote his own
Meditations
in Greek, Roman Latin literature was largely lost in the chaos of the times, and Roman literature in Greek took on the glow of an aging pagan aristocrat. Christian writers, however, were on the move and gaining strength; pagan writers and thinkers engaged them in a battle of words and culture.

After the triumph of Christianity under Constantine, noble pagans attempted to carve out for themselves a place in a Christian Rome based on their knowledge, history, culture, and contributions to Rome and humanity. This was a losing battle. Nevertheless, by the time of the end of the western Empire, Christian writers (such as
Augustine, Boetheus, and Cassiodorus) had assimilated enough of pagan Latin literature to both triumph over it and yet preserve a place for it in the west if only as a means to preserve Latin education. In the east, Constantinople remained a repository of classical Greek until the Renaissance.

Cassius Dio Cocceianus (ca 150–235) was one of several historians during the time of Alexander Severus. He was consul at Rome and the governor of Africa and Dalmatia. He spent over 20 years researching and writing a history of Rome, in Greek, from Rome's beginnings to
C
.
E
. 229. His work, only part of which survives, contains information that is missing otherwise, such as a description of Claudius's invasion of Britain.

Athenaeus (fl. 200) was a Greek writer of
Deipnosophistai
(Wise Guys at Dinner), conversations of imaginary dinner parties featuring both fictional and historical guests ranging over a variety of topics, personalities, and anecdotal stories.

Diogenes Laertius (ca 200–250) was a Greek from Cilicia who wrote a work of 10 books concerning the lives, opinions, and principle doctrines of 82 philosophers from the early pre-Socratics to Epicurus.

Porphyry (233–305) was the student of the famous Neoplatonic philosopher Philostratus and a scholar of comparative religion. His treatise
Kata Christianon
(Against the Christians) was a powerful pagan salvo against some Christian doctrinal and historical claims (such as the early composition of the book of Daniel). The work was decreed banned and copies were burned in 448.

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus (ca 340–402) was the powerful pagan Roman senator and the center of opposition to the complete Christianization of the Empire. He vigorously opposed the removal of the Altar of Victory from Rome but lost the battle to his cousin, St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. Nevertheless, Symmachus was influential in preserving the pagan heritage of Rome, such as making sure editions of Livy survived. His letters to prominent people of the day and bits of his speeches survive. A conversation between Symmachus and his friends about pagan scholarship and culture is portrayed in another contemporary's work, the
Saturnalia
of Aurelianus Macrobius, who was possibly the emperor Honorius's chamberlain.

 
Great Caesar's Ghost!
Historia Augusta
(fourth century) was an anonymous tract detailing the reigns of the emperors from Hadrian to Diocletian. It pretends to be the work of six biographers from Diocletian and Constantine's time, but it was written by one person, probably during the time of Symmachus.

Ammianus Marcellinus (ca 330–?) was born a pagan in Antioch. Although his native tongue was Greek, he wrote a Latin history of Rome from 96 (where Tacitus's work left off) until the battle of Adrianople in 378. Much of this work, unfortunately, is lost.

Zosimus (early fifth century) wrote a history covering the period from Augustus to Alaric's sack of Rome. He identifies Christians and Rome's neglect of its gods for its decline and fall. You can see here and in Symmachus the kind of thing that Augustine was trying to contradict in his
City of God
(discussed in the next section).

 
When in Rome
Monasticism
is the practice of living as a monk (from the Greek
monachos
, “hermit”), usually according to practices prescribed by tradition and rules passed on by other monks of a certain order.

 
Roamin' the Romans
The famous
Codex Sinaiticus,
housed at the British Museum since 1933, has been thought to be one of the copies that Eusebius made for Constantine the Great in 331.

In the era of crumbling cities and doctrinal strife, becoming an ascetic monk and living a monastic life became popular as a way to live a pure and uncompromising Christian life. One monk in particular, St. Anthony of Egypt, became a popular icon of the monastic life in the fourth century and inspired the beginnings of western monasticism. Monastic communities began to spring up. Eventually, rules of conduct and organization were composed, such as the rules of St. Basil (329–379) in the east and St. Benedict (480–547) in the west. Meanwhile, in the cities, writers were trying to make sense of the chaos and decline that they found around them. Some of the important institutional writers in this time were Eusebius, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine.

Eusebius (ca 260–340) lived through the great persecutions and the Edict of Toleration and became the associate of Constantine the Great, whom he represented at the Council of Nicea. Eusebius wrote histories of the early church, a life of Constantine, a discussion of historical chronology, and an explanation of how pagan history and culture also led to the triumph of Christianity. Eusebius was also commissioned to provide 50 copies of scripture for the emperor. These early renditions of scripture may have helped in the formation of the early canon.

St. Jerome (ca 348–420) was a student of Donatus, the great pagan grammarian, and was so enriched by classical pagan culture that he once dreamt Christ accused him of being a Ciceronian instead of a Christian! He
became, after a period of study and monastic asceticism, the advisor and secretary to Pope Damasus. Damasus commissioned a translation of the Gospels and the Psalms from Jerome, who had mastered both Hebrew and Greek. The rendition of these works into popular Latin,
Latina vulgata,
became the Vulgate Bible.

St. Augustine (ca 354–430) was a classically trained educator and rhetorician who became (after a long period of spiritual struggle) a Christian, the bishop of Hippo, and one of Western Christianity's most influential writers and theologians. Augustine's most famous work is probably his
Confessions
in which he details the long road of his spiritual odyssey. His monumental work,
City of God,
is a Christian theory and exegesis of history. Using his philosophical and rhetorical training, he expounds a history in which the Christian is not a citizen of any earthly city (such as the recently sacked Rome) or empire, but one who enjoys the rights, privileges, and comforts of God's eternal city and the citizenry of believers.

Augustine's letters and sermons also survive. He died in Hippo as the Vandals were laying siege to his city, but his synthesis of classical and Christian learning, reasoning, and writing lived beyond them.

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (ca 480–524) was a Christian who both respected and used pagan literature and philosophy. He was patronized by the Ostrogoth king Theodoric and consul in 510. Boetheus was a prolific orthodox writer and scholar. He started complete translations of both Plato and Aristotle into Latin, but he was charged with treason by a friend and was condemned to execution. While he waited, he wrote
De Consolatione Philosophiae
(The Consolation of Philosophy) an imaginary conversation with
Philosophia
the (mostly pagan) personification of Philosophy, who comes to visit him in his cell. With the death of Boetheus, the Greco-Roman literary tradition's last hope in the west was snuffed out until the Renaissance.

Flavius Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Senator (487–583) was from a very noble Roman family and one of the last Roman consuls. After a period of service, Cassiodorus retired and founded a monastery in which he built a library and established a collection of books. He wrote numerous works, but his chief importance lies in his model for other Christians and monastic orders of a writer who was Christian but yet knew, used, and respected pagan Latin literature for learning and education.

• The Silver Age of Latin Literature ranges from the death of Augustus to Marcus Aurelius.
  
• Both Latin and Greek writers were important in the sacred and secular literature of the Empire.
  
• Latin and Greek literature of the Empire ranges from technical and literary works to popular fiction and travel guides.
  
• Early Christian writers formulated theology and debated conflicting doctrines within the context of a flexible canon of scripture.
  
• Pagan and Christian writers waged a culture war in the late Empire in which pagan literature, traditions, and thought were infused into Christianity.
  

Chapter 22
 
That's Entertainment! Public Spectacles

• Roman games and spectacles
  
• Chariots and gladiators
  
• Where was the V-chip?
  

Roman public games (
ludi
) developed in the Republic, but they came to their full measure of intensity, grandeur, and bloody drama in the Empire. In this chapter, we'll review a bit of the history of Roman games and see how the different kinds of public entertainment—including gladiators and chariot racing—kept the urban public thrilled and chilled.