Gaius Maecenas

Gaius Maecenas (born c. 70 bc—died 8 bc) was a Roman diplomat, counsellor to the Roman emperor Augustus, and wealthy patron of such poets as Virgil and Horace. He was criticized by Seneca for his luxurious way of life.

The birthplace of Maecenas is unrecorded, but his mother’s family, the Cilnii, had lorded it centuries earlier in Arretium (modern Arezzo, about 90 miles [145 km] north of Rome), and this was apparently also the hometown of his father’s family. Tacitus (in Annals) once calls him Cilnius Maecenas (Etruscans used the mother’s family name), but officially he was Gaius Maecenas. His great wealth may have been partly inherited, but he owed his position and influence to Octavian, later the emperor Augustus. Maecenas felt that, though a knight (slightly humbler than a senator but basically a nonpolitical member of the privileged class), his lineage and power overtopped any senator’s, and he refused a career as one.

He was perhaps present at Philippi (the battle, in 42 bc, in which Antony, at first an ally of Octavian, defeated Caesar’s assassins Cassius and Brutus), though if he was there it was hardly as a combatant. As a counsellor he negotiated two years later the short-lived marriage of Octavian and Scribonia, designed to conciliate her kinsman the formidable Sextus Pompeius, last of the great republican generals. Before the year’s end he had secured greater advantages for his leader: a treaty had ended the dangerous armed confrontation with Antony at Brundisium (modern Brindisi), and Antony had married Octavia, Octavian’s sister. In 38–37 he persuaded Antony to come to Tarentum (modern Taranto) and lend the warships that Octavian needed to win complete control of the West. Maecenas administered Rome and Italy, while Octavian fought Pompeius (36) and Antony (31). Although holding no office or military command, he swiftly and secretly scotched a plot to kill Octavian on his return from the East and executed its supposed leader, the son of the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. If not on this occasion, at least in general, Maecenas kept his hands unstained by bloodshed and, in an age of ruthless violence, won praise for his mildness and humanity.

During Octavian’s continued absence from Rome, Maecenas shared with Agrippa (Octavian’s executive lieutenant) the position of informal vice-regent. He could use Octavian’s seal and even alter his dispatches at will and continued to be deeply involved with foreign and domestic affairs after Octavian, now Augustus, had established his principate (27). He was the most trusted of advisers, holding his own in competition with the Agrippa faction.

Maecenas shared Augustus’ dynastic hopes and worked for the eventual succession of Marcellus, the emperor’s nephew. Meanwhile, Maecenas had recently married the beautiful, petulant Terentia. Her brother by adoption, Varro Murena, quarreled with Augustus, was disgraced, and plotted his assassination. The conspiracy was detected and Murena executed (23), though Maecenas had earlier revealed the plot’s discovery to Terentia, thus giving his kinsman a chance to escape. Augustus forgave the indiscretion, but from that point on Maecenas’ influence waned. Agrippa had emerged from the crises of 23 as co-regent, son-in-law, and Augustus’ prospective successor. Maecenas had become a sick man, aging rapidly, though in 17 he was still sufficiently buoyant to mock Agrippa because the latter lacked a pedigree.

The domestic life of Maecenas was unhappy. Terentia tired of him and is said to have become Augustus’ mistress. Maecenas died childless and left all his wealth, including his palace and gardens on the Esquiline Hill (the eastern plateau of Rome), to Augustus, with whom he had never ceased to be on friendly terms.

Maecenas impressed ancient writers by the contrast between the great energy and ability he showed in public life and the luxurious habits he flaunted as a courtier. His character as a generous patron of literature has made his name a personification of such activities. His patronage was exercised with a political object: he sought to use the genius of the poets of the day to glorify the new imperial regime of Augustus. The diversion of Virgil and Horace toward themes of public interest may be ascribed to him, and he endeavoured less successfully to do the same thing with Sextus Propertius. The relationship between Maecenas and his circle is largely a matter of conjecture, but he and Horace were certainly personal friends. It has fallen to the lot of no other patron of literature to have his name associated with works of such lasting importance as the Georgics of Virgil, as well as Horace’s Satires 1, Epodes, Odes (books 1–3), Epistles (book 1), and Propertius (book 2).

Maecenas himself wrote both prose and verse, but only fragments survive. His prose works on various subjects were ridiculed by Augustus, Seneca, and Quintilian for their undisciplined style. They include a dialogue, Symposium (or Dinner Party), in which Virgil and Horace participated.