Adam Bunni PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

emperor. Admittedly, Augustus’ motives for relaxing these age restrictions would be
chiefly to allow him to elevate those useful to him into positions of power, or to
reward his favourites for their loyal service, but the effect of this reform, in filling all
manner of important magistracies with many more iuvenes, would be important
nonetheless.
C. Vergil on Youth
Regardless of whether or not it was Octavian’s intention to alter the perception
of young men in Roman society, it is clear that his own youthfulness was considered
by some influential men to be a hindrance to his attempts to position himself as
Rome’s sole ruler. This negative attitude towards youth was both fostered and
cultivated by the literature of the late Republic, witnessed in the conventional
depiction of the literary iuvenis. In view of this, Vergil’s decision to refer to Octavian
specifically as a iuvenis even as late as the Georgics demands attention. Although
Vergil’s treatment of Octavian-Augustus within his works is always considered at the
very least calculated, the poet’s reference to the new Caesar as a iuvenis has attracted
minimal scholarly interest. While Octavian’s 34 years at the time of the publication of
the Georgics, in 29BCE, did not technically prevent him from being considered a
‘young man’, the connotations attached to youth should have made it a controversial
designation, one way or another. An “Augustan” Vergil might have wished to avoid
so tricky an issue, making do with the equally acceptable vir, or homo, while a
“subversive” Vergil could have seized upon the dangers of youth as a means of
furthering his devious designs of besmirching Octavian’s reputation. 95
i) Octavian in the Georgics
The remainder of this chapter will focus more sharply upon the manner in
which youth is presented within the Georgics, primarily through discussion of the
incidences of the word iuvenis and its cognates in the poem, with particular attention
being paid to their contexts and referents. The purpose of this survey will be to
investigate how far Vergil’s depiction of his poem’s youthful characters is consistent
95 “Augustan” is, of course, an anachronism, but one which hopefully may be excused as an alternative
to the clumsy “Octavianist”.
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