Frayn, Joan M.

2018-09-13T15:55:42Z

2018-09-13T15:55:42Z

1945

At this point it may be well to review the Roman cult of Apollo as we have found it, and its development throughout the Roman period, comparing it briefly with the cult as it came to them from the Greeks. As a background to this study we shall bear in mind the fact that the Greeks being closer to their :Eastern origins than the Romans, their religion often shows a tendency to mysticism and to a childlike reverence which rather avoids than seeks complete explanation or application.

We have seen that, when at the height of its popularity and influence in Rome, the cult of Apollo was an important part of the state religion. It was in fact at no time, except perhaps for less than fifty years before our records begin, entirely outside the national religion, and it was never to any extent a matter of personal belief or private emotion. This in itself, however, does not mean that it lacked either sincerity or influence. If we would find a parallel, the feelings ,of the Romans about their official religious ceremonies and institutions, and therefore about almost all their religion, must have been similar to ours as we stand with the crowd to sing a solemn traditional hymn at a time of national emergency, or listen to the speech of an archbishop or king which ends with a sort of patriarchal blessing. In both cases the religious act represents the lowest common multiple of the spiritual experience of a people. But there is an instructive difference. In the case of the Romans, there were not many people of very high spiritual development and in fact the loftier souls did not rise very far above the general level. Likewise, the general level being low, few would fall far below it. This would be true, at any rate, until Christianity arrived to upset the balance, Under such conditions it was comparatively easy to find and use the common factor, and only too easy for religion to be stabilized at the most convenient level. Polytheism has also great advantages as the type of a national religion, because deities and cults can be retained to meet the needs of those who fall short of or surpass the general level of spiritual development.

We have here some of the reasons why the religions of ancient Greece and Rome seldom received the impetus and challenge of religious leaders, reformers or "prophets ". This has been remarked by A.B. Drachmann ( Atheism in Pagan Antiquity) who, incidentally, in his study of atheism has revealed rather more about religion than irreligion. He writes (p. 15): "But what is characteristic of the whole process is the fact that it went on without breaks or sudden bounds. Nowhere in ancient religion, as far as we can trace it, did a powerful religious personality strike in with a radical transformation, with a direct rejection of old ideas and dogmatic accentuation of new ones."

As we have found, however, in tracing the history of the Roman cult of Apollo, there was, especially in that cult, a continual demand for such a religious leader. We have called him an "Apolline prophet" and have tried to indicate some of those who from time to time, for a smaller or larger section of Apollo's worshippers, fulfilled this function. It is probably in the context of this hope that we should place such literature as Virgil's Fourth Eclogue. This poem has recently been discussed by Professor H.J. Rose, in "The Eclogues of Vergil" where he rejects the suggestion of Norden and others that the "child" is merely allegorical. The grounds of this rejection are that the concluding lines of the poem seem to refer vividly to a human mother, and that the personification of a period of time does not occur elsewhere in classical literature. The latter objection is certainly very strong in relation to the argument of Norden which is quoted (H.J. Rose, op, cit. p. 208 -9). The former, however, is applicable to Prof. Rose's own theory almost as much as to that of Norden. For Prof. Rose suggests that the father of the "wonder -child" is Octavian, who, though not actually a father when the poem was written, is regarded by the poet as inaugurating a Golden Age for the continuance of which he would certainly require an heir. The mother of the child, however, would as yet be unknown, though she would not be the abstract figure required by the other theory.

We would therefore suggest that the child in the Fourth Eclogue of Virgil is, primarily, the Apolline prophet whom we have traced through about seven centuries. In so far as Virgil envisaged the earthly parentage of this child it may be readily admitted that he thought of Octavian, to whom might be attributed the very possibility of this Golden Age. The address to Follio may, as has often been suggested, refer to the hope of a rapprochement between Octavian and Antony during his time of office, and so to a further union of Apolline and Dionysiac religion. Most of the other features of the poem, and its general stru.ture, require no further explanation than that given by ProfeBsor Rose (op.cit. p. 167ff.) who would connect it with rhetorical or poetical forms of birthday or marriage tributes.

In the Roman cult of Apollo, therefore, we have traced the continuation of the search for an Apolline prophet, and also, the development among the Romans of the idea of prophecy and of the providential government of the world. Through the Sibylline Books and the ideas therewith associated, the Romans grew to recognise not merely the idea of Spontaneous and casual prophecy, but of a controlled and controlling "fatum" in relation to which their own efforts had their place.

In the cult of Apollo Medicus and Aesculapius we have discerned some of the Romans' own progress in the understanding of health and healing. It has also become clear that they did not receive in this respect all that the Greek civilisation could offer, and that we have been the poorer for what they could not transmit. The influence, however, of the traditions of religious healing which the Romans were able to accept has been traced asfaras the Christian era, and some estimate of its contribution tt Christian thought and action has been attempted.

It would appear that, in general, the history of Apolline religion was that of a constant striving to express in practice a spiritual ideal, or to find someone capable of such expression. Most, however, of Roman, if not of Greek, religion was in essentials the reverse of this, namely an attempt to spiritualize practical expedients. If Christianity finally proved to have a greater appeal in the ancient world than the religion of Apollo, it was mainly because it seemed able to provide this long -sought expression of spiritual values. Apolline religion pre- :pared the way, however feebly, for this development in the Hellenistic and Roman world, but, as we have tried to show, there were two conflicting lines of influence operative upon the development of the Roman cult of Apollo. These we have called the Etruscan and the Greek spirit in religion, realising, however, that they cannot be completely dis- :tinguished at any period. The influence and effects which we are concerned to trace here, and those which have proved their validity in relation to subsequent religious progress, belong mainly to the heritage derived by the Romans from the Greek world.

It seems that the spiritual quest which we have detected in Apolline religion is, in some form, an essential preparation for the acceptance of Christianity. In so far as later generations have missed such necessary preparation, their understanding of Christian doctrine has been the weaker. .ë:aui the time of the early Christian Fathers, the Church has also borrowed freely from the other side of Roman religious tradition which we have traced ul- :timately to Etruria. ':There this has taken place, it has often resulted in obscuring, perhaps only temporarily, the broader, freer enlightenment associated with Apollo. To that extent have we, like many former generations, been deprived of one of the fundamental conditions of a higher spiritual development, a condition which, with our present meagre spiritual equipment, it is difficult otherwise to attain.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/32222

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2018 Block 20

Roman Apollo and kindred deities

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

PhD Doctor of Philosophy