Asher Sisneros

Livy and Ovid were Roman historians who lived under the reign of Octavian Augustus. I use the word “historian” loosely, as Livy’s sections on how Rome was founded are dubious at best. Ovid is on another matter entirely. Regardless, they are still Roman classics, recommended under Dr. Gary North’s literature course, not Tom Wood’s history course. The books are read for their literate value, not historical accuracy. That said, they also give us insight into what the Romans read and believed. Livy’s book History of Rome dissects all the legends about Rome’s early years and Ovid’s Metamorphoses is about Earth’s creation. Both books are the topic of this essay. The question: Could you have an optimistic view on Rome given Livy and Ovid’s accounts?

In Livy’s account, Aneas was a Trojan survivor of Greece’s siege on Troy. He escaped by fate’s will and became allies with the Aborigines. To solidify their alliance, Aeneas married King Latinus’ daughter. However, the Rutulians declared war since their king, Turnus, was already betrothed to her. In the end, the three peoples made peace and became the Latins.

Aeneas’ had multiple descendants and successors. One of them was the virgin Rea Silvia. She was raped and gave birth to twins, and in rage, the king ordered infanticide. She obliged, and her servants threw the boys into the Tiber River. However, the tide was high, and it soon receded, allowing the infants to lay on dry land. A she-wolf heard the boys crying. It was sympathetic and nursed and protected them until Faustulus, one of the king’s shepherds, saw the boys. Similar to the wolf, he was also sympathetic and adopted them. Their names were Romulus and Remus, and they became strong and ambitious. Often, they plundered the neighboring brigands and gave the loot to their colleague shepherds. Eventually, the brigands launched an attack to retaliate against the brothers. Romulus fended off his assailants, but Remus was abducted. The brigands gave their captor to Numiter for punishment, but he freed Remus instead and helped the twins organize a siege against King Amulius. The king died in the fight, and Numiter took his place. After the brothers saw their strength in battle, their ambition furthered. Now, they wanted to build a great city. The twins disputed who would rule the city, and when Remus jumped over the wall Romulus’ built, he killed his defiant brother. With Remus’ death, Romulus became king and named his city Rome.

The wise Romulus realized only brute power could unite his uncivilized men and gave himself monarchical rule with twelve lictors. But Rome needed a military presence to survive among the nations, and it didn’t have one. To incentivize local promiscuous bumpkins to move to Rome and join its military, he told them the nation was their inheritance, and they were “children of the soil.” It worked. The degenerates joined Rome. But he ran into another issue: he had a lot of new men and no women. Without reproduction, his city would exterminate itself. He tried reasoning with the neighbors to let them intermarry, but they objected. So, Romulus celebrated Neptune with glorious games and invited people from the neighboring city-states. They came, but it was a trap. As soon as the games started, his men ran and kidnapped the beautiful virgins. After much persuasion and endearing words, the women accepted their fate as Roman wives gleefully, but their parents shared a different sentiment. They invaded Rome to win back their daughters, but Romulus and his army effortlessly killed them all. With his victory, he dedicated Jupiter’s temple in blood.

Part one ended with King Tarquin and Collatinus disputing whose wife was more noble. Their “genius” resolution was to test their wives. When both gentlemen surprised Lucretia, Collatinus’ wife, they found her weaving cloth productively, and she won the contest. However, Tarquin lusted over Lucretia’s beauty. One day, he surprised her in her bed and pulled out a sword. She was ready to accept death instead of committing adultery, but then he threatened to defame her by throwing her in the streets with a dead slave. Finally, she conceded, and King Tarquin raped her. When Collatinus and the other gentlemen and princes learned what occurred, Rome was outraged. Distraught, Luretia made Collatinus and Brutus swear to avenge the injustice. When they did, she pulled a dagger out and committed suicide because of her impurity. Immediately, Rome banished Tarquin and dissolved the monarchy, founding the republic.

In analyzing Livy’s story, I think optimism is subjective. It depends on your priorities. Rome was a growing nation with immense power. In response to Romulus squashing the invaders who wanted retribution for their kidnapped daughters, Livy said, “Anger is futile without power.” In some respects, that became Rome’s constitution. The country grew in power until nobody could withstand them. From a defense perspective, that was a tremendous reason to be optimistic. Plus, by dissolving the monarchy, there would be less tyranny. For the citizens’ safety and liberty, Rome was a paradise in Livy’s account. Emphasis on “in Livy’s account.” Without a doubt, I could go down a rabbit hole on the illegitimacy of Rome’s liberty because it was corporate, not individual. But I digress. This essay is not about other sources. It is about the conclusions derived from Livy’s story. Without a doubt, there was a basis for Roman optimism in Livy’s History of Rome. 

Ovid’s Metamorphoses began with his story of creation. Similar to Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days, in the beginning, there was nothing except chaos and strife between the unformed elements. The “unknown god” ended the strife and shaped the world, creating creatures. Then Prometheus made mortal men from the Earth, who were partially divine, to govern creation.

There were four races of men: Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron. In the Golden Age, people were perfect and sinless. The earth produced abundant crops, and men didn’t have to till the ground or labor for food. It was all free without scarcity because the Golden Race was pure.

The Silver Age came after Jove (Zeus) banished his father Saturn (Cronus) into the underworld and built a throne on Mount Olympus. Jove divided the eternal spring into four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—and men built houses to escape the cold snow. The Silver Race wasn’t as pure as their predecessors, but by most standards, they were holy. Because of their sub-optimal condition, the Earth stopped producing fruits as abundantly, and men had to plow and farm. The people became agriculturists and also bred animals.

The trend continued, and the Bronze Age was inferior to the prior generations. People became cruel-minded and made weapons of war. Still, the Bronze People weren’t violent and didn’t use the weapons.

By the Iron Age, people dissolved into madness. There was widespread violence, deceit, corruption, and greed. People mined for iron and gold. They used iron to build weapons and shed blood for the gold. For the first time, people sailed into distant lands and waged war for treasure.

Across each generation in Ovid’s account, there was moral deterioration. People became less and less like their divine creators. Jove wasn’t idle. He acted.

In the second section, Jove killed the giants (Titan gods) in Heaven. Earth used the blood of the colossal giants to make men, but they were impertinent to the gods. When Jove heard wretched accounts of their corruption, he visited Earth himself. King Lycaon presented a feast for Jove but didn’t believe in his divinity. To test Jove, he killed one of his hostages and fed the human to Jove, with plans to murder the god later. But the Roman god knew of the deception and lashed thunderbolts at Lycaon. When the king ran away into the forest, Jove cursed him. Lycaon became a wolf.

Jove was furious and didn’t understand how demi gods lived among cunning men. In anger, he unleashed a worldwide flood to destroy the earth. Only two people survived: Deucalian and Phrra. Jove let them live because when the waters rumbled, they offered sacrifices to the gods on Olympus. When the flood ended, the couple thanked the gods and repopulated the earth by throwing rocks over their shoulders. Each rock became a person.

Was there Roman optimism in Ovid’s passage? The story was about all of Earth, not just Rome. However, he did say Julius Caesar’s murder was a crime and equated Octavian Augustus to the god Jupiter. In that respect, there was optimism because of the alleged morality of Rome’s leaders. But aside from that, the passages were pessimistic since morality deteriorated with each generation.

There was one intriguing parallel between Ovid and Livy. Livy said wealth was a hindrance to morality, and Ovid spoke derogatory about the Iron Race because they were violent in seeking riches. As their wealth increased, their ethics deteriorated. There was an inverse relationship established by Livy and proven by Ovid. In that respect, there was no Roman optimism! Even the supposed beauty of a strong military that Livy described was futile since Ovid cursed the unnecessary bloodshed.        

In conclusion, Livy wrote about Rome’s origins and how it became a military strength. He also spoke favorably about the end of the monarchy and the beginning of the republic. In his account, the liberty Roman citizens received was immense. Livy gave readers a reason to be optimistic about Rome. Ovid, however, said the military and bloodshed were for greed. He didn’t think there was any value in having a colossal military. By those standards, Livy’s military description was negative. Ovid didn’t address the republic vs. monarchy dissension. Accounting for Ovid’s presupposition that greed was the cornerstone of war, the dilemma facing Roman optimism comes down to one question: How much gold is human life worth?