Roman golden and silver ages of deep personal meaning Upon being spurned by Lesbia, Catullus left Rome and took a junior staff position under the governor of Bithynia, where he abandoned love poetry in favor of poems that clandestinely slung invective at his political adversaries Classical scholars regard these complex and learned works as treasures of taste and scholarship Corresponding to the brilliance of Roman poetry during the golden age was comparable achievement in prose Julius Caesar’s lucid and powerful commentaries on the Gallic and civil wars, De Bello Gallico and De Bello Civili, serve as benchmarks for their genre The era’s leading prose writer was Cicero, a prolific orator, who, after amassing a reputation as a bold and highly competent lawyer by successfully defending Sextus Roscius from murder charges, embarked on a political career in Rome Beginning with his election to the quaestorship in 75 b.c.e., Cicero rose through the ranks to the office of praetor in 66 b.c.e and, despite his status as a novus homo (a “new man,” or a candidate whose family had no precedent in holding office), to the highest position of consul in 63 b.c.e In the decade following his consulship Cicero played a less active role in politics and fashioned prose writings of a peaceful style, including treatises on rhetoric and philosophical discourses on friendship and old age However, Cicero returned briefly to the political scene after Caesar’s assassination in 44 b.c.e., vehemently attacking Caesar’s would-be successor, Mark Antony, in a series of speeches known as the “Philippics.” This would ultimately lead to Cicero’s demise, as Antony quickly joined ranks in the Second Triumvirate with Lepidus and Octavian and decreed the statesman’s beheading, carried out on December 7, 43 b.c.e Virgil, recognized as the foremost of all Latin poets both during his lifetime and by modern scholarly assessment, split most of his time between Rome and Naples, in the latter of which he served as charter member of a literary circle under the patronage of Maecenas, the adviser of Augustus Virgil’s first work, the Bucolics, or Eclogues, consists of 10 short poems in a pastoral style, emulating the third-century b.c.e Greek poet Theocritus, which depict both imaginary country scenes and contemporary events such as the loss and restoration of his own farm at Andes Their charm and elegance immediately established Virgil as a poetic genius, and Maecenas encouraged Virgil to compose something more worthy of his talent In response he wrote his most artistic work, the Georgics, a poem in four books pertaining to the growing and nurturing of trees, vines, and olives, the breed- 391 ing of cattle and horses, and bee-keeping Classical scholars regard its grammar and style as the optimal use of the Latin language and its meter as the perfection of Latin hexameter Augustus then suggested that Virgil create a national epic linking Troy and the heroic age with the foundation of Rome and the family to which Julius Caesar and Augustus belonged This 12-volume work, the Aeneid, stands as Virgil’s most enduring masterpiece and recounts the exploits of a Trojan prince named Aeneas, the son of Venus and Anchises, who was destined to be the ancestor of Romulus, the legendary ancestor of Caesar and first founder of the Roman race A paradigm of balance, this epic harmonized the desire for peace with traditional respect for military honor Virgil’s compatriot Horace continued in this lyric tradition through his mastery of the ode, ingeniously converting Greek meters into Latin and choosing his words with great precision and care Mirroring Virgil’s grand poetic success in prose was Livy, reputed as one of Rome’s most eminent historians Raised in the north Italian region of Patavium, known for its strict ethical conservatism, Livy shared Augustus’s concern over the moral decline that plagued Roman society Aiming to remedy this problem, Livy composed his monumental 142-volume history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita (From the founding of the city, or History of Rome), the narratives of which were intended to depict the glory days of a virtuous past as a model for present and future generations Livy’s work furnished an accurate account of what his fellow Romans believed about the moral standards, faith, and virtue of their predecessors Through a dynamic blend of myth and fact, Ab Urbe Condita displays Livy’s consummate narrative ability and his staunchly patriotic goal of authenticating the courage and high ethical character of the Roman people and their heroes even in the midst of catastrophe A seemingly conflicting purpose was pursued by Ovid, whose elegies on love were thought to be so counterproductive to Augustus’s reform of Roman morals that the emperor exiled him to Tomis on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death Among his most renowned poems are the Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love), a handbook on seduction and sexual pleasure, and the Heroides (Heroines), imaginary letters from heroines of Greek legend to lovers or husbands who had abandoned them His greatest work, the 15-volume Metamorphoses, lay in the domain of religion and depicted the miraculous transformations in Greek mythology Ovid is remembered not only as a graceful poetical craftsman but also as the master of the elegiac couplet, a form that he perfected beyond the scope of any other Roman poet