Laudatio Iuliae amitae

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The laudatio Iuliae amitae is a well-known funeral oration that Julius Caesar delivered in 68 BC to honor his deceased aunt Julia, the widow of Marius. The introduction[1] of this laudatio funebris is reproduced in the work Divus Iulius by the Roman historian Suetonius:[2]

Quote[]

When quaestor, he pronounced the customary orations from the rostra in praise of his aunt Julia and his wife Cornelia, who had both died, and in the eulogy of his aunt he spoke in the following terms of her paternal and maternal ancestry and that of his own father:

The family of my aunt Julia is descended by her mother from the kings and on her father's side is akin to the immortal gods. For the Marcii Reges go back to Ancus Marcius, and the Iulii, the family of which ours is a branch, to Venus. Our stock therefore has at once the sanctity of kings, whose power is supreme among mortal men, and the claim to reverence which attaches to the gods, who hold sway over kings themselves.[3]

See also[]

  • Poetry by Julius Caesar

References[]

  1. ^ A good indication for the introductory character is the reference to the name of the deceased, combined with exact ancestral relations. This pattern was reiterated by Nero at the beginning of his funerary oration for Claudius antiquitatem generis, consulatus ac triumphos maiorum enumerabat (Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annals 13.3.1). However, whether Caesar's introduction hints at a Roman funerary custom to deliver a (προοίμιον), can't be concluded, since other supporting sources are missing. (Cp. also Sanctus Ambrosius episcopus Mediolanensis, De Excessu fratris Satyri 1.1: deduximus […] fratrem meum Satyrum). In favor of the introductory character: H. Graff, De Romanorum laudationibus commentatio, Dissertation, Dorpat 1862; F. Vollmer, "De funere publico Romanorum" in: Jahrbücher für classische Philologie, Supplement volume 19, 1893, pp. 321–364; W. Kierdorf: Laudatio funebris, Meisenheim am Glan 1980
  2. ^ Suetonius, Julius 6 = ORF3 No. 121, fragment 29 = Caes. frg. 7 KLOTZ
  3. ^ amítae méae Iûliae [dicr] A1 mâtérnum génus_ab rêgibus_órtum, [cl. heroica]
    B1 patérnum cum diîs_immortâlibus coniûnctum_(e)st. [cr + mol]
    A2 nam ab_Áncô Mârciô sunt Mârciî Rêgês, [cr + tr]
    quô nômine fuit mâter; [cr + tr]
    B2 â Vénere Iûliî, [cr?]
    cûius géntis família_(e)st nóstra. [cr + tr]
    est érgô_in génere
    A3 et sánctitâs rêgum, [cr + tr]
    quî plûrim(um)_ínter_(h)óminês póllent, [cr + tr]
    B3 et caerimônia deôrum, [cr + tr]
    quôr(um)_ípsî_(i)n potestâte sunt rêgês. [cr + tr]
    (comments by Karl Deichgräber: "Elegantia Caesaris—Zu Caesars Reden und 'Commentarii'". In: Gymnasium 57, 1950)

This article incorporates material from the Citizendium article "Laudatio Iuliae amitae", which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License but not under the GFDL.

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