The Renaissance Battle for Rome: Competing Claims to an Idealized Past in Humanist Latin Poetry (Classical Presences)

The Renaissance Battle for Rome examines the rhetorical battle fought simultaneously between a wide variety of parties (individuals, groups, authorities) seeking prestige or legitimacy through the legacy of ancient Rome―a battle over the question of whose claims to this legacy were most legitimate. Distinguishing four domains―power, morality, cityscape and literature―in which ancient Rome represented a particularly powerful example, this book traces the contours of this rhetorical battle across Renaissance Europe, based on a broad selection of Humanist Latin Poetry. It shows how humanist poets negotiated different claims on behalf of others and themselves in their work, acting both as "spin doctors" and "new Romans", while also undermining competing claims to this same idealized past. By so doing this book not only offers a new understanding of several aspects of the Renaissance that are usually considered separately, but ultimately allows us to understand Renaissance culture as a constant negotiation between appropriating and contesting the idea and ideal of "Rome." Cover 1 The Renaissance Battle for Rome: Competing Claims to an Idealized Past in Humanist Latin Poetry 4 Copyright 5 Acknowledgments 6 Contents 8 List of Illustrations 10 Conventions 14 Introduction: Forging Privileged Links to an Idealized Past 16 0.1 A Rhetorical Battle between Insiders and Outsiders 20 0.2 Images of Rome as Weapons in Four Domains 24 0.3 The Latin Literary Tradition, the Humanists, and Their Patrons 30 0.4 Examining Cultural and Intellectual History through the Lens of Humanist Latin Poetry 33 1: A New Golden Age: Rome Reclaims her Ancient Past 39 1.1 The Name Rome 41 1.2 Petrarch’s Rhetoric of Return and Renewal 45 1.3 Papal Rome Reborn 52 1.4 Literary Rome and the Cultural Hegemony of Italy 61 1.5 Conclusion 68 2: Competing Appropriations of Rome’s Empire without End 70 2.1 Divine Origins for an Eternal Empire 72 2.2 Genealogical Claims to Rome’s Imperial Legacy 82 2.3 Grounding the Imperium in the Physical Location of Rome 89 2.4 Augustus and the Return of the Golden Age 94 2.5 Conclusion 104 3: Weaponized Images of Roman Virtue and Vice 106 3.1 Rome’s Circular Discourse of Moral Reform 109 3.2 Portrayals of Virtue Having Left Rome 117 3.3 The Thin Line between Virtue and Vice: Rome’s Military Ambition 122 3.4 Renaissance Rome as “Selling God” 130 3.5 A Stereotype of Sexual License 136 3.6 Conclusion 143 4: The Symbolic Resonances of Rome’s Cityscape 147 4.1 Competing Narratives of Decay and Restoration 149 4.2 Ambivalent Responses to the Ancient Remains 160 4.3 The Humanists as Guides to Rome’s Literary Landscape 171 4.4 Roman Ruins as Symbol of Universal Truths 179 4.5 Conclusion 187 5: The Humanist Poets as “New Romans” 190 5.1 Literary and Cultural Competition in Renaissance Europe 192 5.2 Poets Reviving or Plundering the Latin Legacy of Rome 197 5.3 Humanist Efforts to Reconstruct Rome in Writing 210 5.4 The Durability of Poetic Monuments 217 5.5 Conclusion 222 Epilogue 226 Appendix of Humanist Authors 228 Bibliography 232 Index of Authors and Works 254 Index of Keywords and General Index 263