Name: Staci McGill
Date: 12/17/2008 09:27:50 AM ET
Horace intended for the reader to see both sides of Cleopatra as she was at first an
evil as she was going to try and bring ruin to the city (stanza 2). He also wanted the
reader to see that Cleopatra would rather die than give Rome the triumph of bringing her
as a prisoner and so died from a self inflicted snakebite (“ut atrum corpora conbiberet
venenum” Line 27-28 & Stanza 8). No he wasn’t being disloyal to Augustus by discussing
her suicide in a noble manner, Horace praises Augustus’s prowess in was because she
knew she could die as a prisoner or as a royal queen, so she chose suicide instead.
So Augustus would have been pleased with the praise he received for her death.
Augustus is the Caesar that is mentioned because he is the Caesar the ultimately
defeats Cleopaerta and Antony at Actium, after which they fled to Egypt and later
committed suicide. He uses imagery as he discusses her attempted suicide and then
her successful suicide (Lines 21-24). He also uses imagery heavily in stanza 5 as
Horace describes her fleeing Italy. In particular the imagery in Line 18 with the
image of the dove does a very good job of establishing the point of the poem.
Name: Morgan Ashley Davenport
Date: 02/04/2009 08:04:45 AM ET
Horace was aware of the thin line he walked, balancing praise for Augustus with
flattery for his opponent. By making Cleopatra a worthy foreign enemy, Horace elevated
the victor -- Augustus-- even higher. Horace had no trouble pointing out her faults,
which include: "dementio" (line 7), "ebria" (line 12) with a "lymphatam" (line 14)
mind, he calls her a "fatale monstrum" (line 21). But there is a sense of having
beaten a worthy enemy, and Horace leaves no doubt that she was completely beaten by
Augustus, a redeeming point in the poem for Caesar. Not only is she beaten in battle,
but Augustus' win forces her to take her own life, and Horace admits that she was
"fortis" (line 26) and not "muliebriter" (line 22). To make a worthy foe take their
own life, Augustus' win was complete; she could never be a threat again, as her
suicide is successful with the "serpentes" (line 27). The Caesar, buoyed by Horace's
high praise for his enemy and even higher praise for himself, would've had no reason
to be unpleased.
Name: Alexandra Strauss
Date: 04/08/2009 04:27:37 PM ET
Horace's goal in this poem was to create a story that flattered Augustus by
emphasizing his heroic actions. To do this, he needs to construct a very strong
story that contains all the necessary aspects, especially a strong, worthwhile
villian. Otherwise, the flattery would seem just that, too suck uppy. However,
he can create the same effect with a strong story emphasizing heroic qualities.
The stronger the villian, the stronger the hero needed to win. Therefore, the
depiction of her in this poem has nothing to do with Horace's opinion of her,
but of her role in the story, as a character. His goal is to create an atmosphere
of loyalty to the emperor that would create Augustus's approval. In the beginning
he is very critical of Cleopatra, using words like "dementio", "furorem", "mentem
lymphatam", all of which create a crazy, negative atmosphere around her, very
negative. THis beginning is necessary for the audience to clearly understand
they are meant to dislike her. Without this, the poem wouldn't have the clear
focus of right, wrong, hero, villian. Of course, after creating the villian and
creating a dislike for her, he needs to paint her as a formidible opponent, one
that needs a extraordinarily competent hero. After all, this is needed to build
the tension in the poem, the sense that there is actually a struggle. In this
section, words like "fortis", "ferocier", and by drawing the manly comparisons
so that it is not he is merely fighting a woman (22-23). Interestingly, it is
the discussion of her suicide that seems the most flattering of her. Instead
of discussing prowesses that defeating them would by relation strengthen
Augustus, he suggests nobility. Perhaps this was Horace's actual thought on
the process or it was an effort to show the depths to which Augustus had beat
her. She didn't just lose, she lost everything. By doing this, Horace also
makes the poem feel several dimensions, the 'characters' are not paper thin,
but true human beings with strengths and weaknesses. Thus, everything said about
Augustus becomes further heightened in a story that looks at all sides.
Perhaps, the description of the suicide could invoke displeasure if the emperor
missed the boat on the poem and didn't look at it as an entire work. After all,
Horace was trying to create a story of heroism and bravery against villiany that
was a true battle worthy and interesting enough to be repeated that flattered
Augustus. Instead of ostentatiously making an 'I love you Augustus poem', he
actually made something interesting.
Name: Daniel Rasch
Date: 04/10/2009 02:11:18 AM ET
Horace's portrayal of Cleopatra begins unpleasantly. This queen (regina) was planning
insane ruins (dementis ruinas) and a funeral for the empire (funus et imperio parabat),
all while surrounded by her escorts, a crowd of unsightly men (cum grege
turpium/...virorum). This ugly description is followed by a narration of how she was
driven away by Caesar (Octavian/Augustus) in her one little ship out of all the
others, which burned (una sospes navis ab ignibus). Not a dignified picture, to say
the least. But Horace ends the poem with a more melancholy, poignant portrayal of
Cleopatra, as she dies alone by her own hand, rather than be lead down to Rome in
Octavian's victorious warships (invidens/privata deduci superbo/...triumpho).
Horace reverses his direction even more in the final line, as he proclaims Cleopatra
a "woman not lowly" (non humilis mulier), of course using litotes rather than
explicitly call her honorable, which could get him in trouble with Augustus.
My thoughts are that Augustus would be softened by the first half of this poem.
Drinking! Dancing! The evil queen and her nasty followers are gone! And how evil,
how nasty... After this good old-fashioned celebration and derision, Horace takes a
moment to humanize Cleopatra. He does not exalt her, he does not redeem her; all he
does is pause for a moment to consider the circumstances of her death and the way
she lived. By taking this thoughtful moment at the end of his poem, after all of the
politically "safe" stuff, Horace has a chance to make this poem, as one of my
classmates put it, "something interesting" rather than "an 'I love you Augustus'
poem."
Name: Kendall Brooke Layton
Date: 06/10/2009 01:13:05 PM ET
I think that Horace wrote this ode beginning with statements of Cleopatra's evil
plotting as queen to destroy the Empire and her being surrounded by a foul, rotten
crew (dum Capitolio regina dementis ruinas, funus et imerio parabat; lines 6-8)
for two reasons, one proving to Caesar (Augustus) that this poem would not be one
to praise Cleopatra, and two, that by showing what a threatening enemy she was
would only bring more glory and praise to Agustus when Horace would write about
him ultimately defeating Cleopatra. Then, Horace says how after she had been
defeated and watched her ship burn, she proved that she was not a lowly and fearful
queen when she committed suicide with a poisonous snake rather than be led to
Rome as a lowly prisoner to be executed (vix una sospes navis ab ignibus...privata
deduci superbo, non humilis mulier, triumpho; lines 13...31-32). Thus, I think
that Horace was not disloyal to the emperor, that Augustus was indeed pleased
with this poem, and that Horace most likely wanted his readers to feel sort of
disgusted with Cleopatra in the beginning, but more respectful of her in the
end, all the while still giving the utmost praise to the Emperor Augustus.
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