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'''Gaius Cilnius Maecenas''' ({{IPA
During the reign of Augustus, Maecenas served as a quasi-[[culture minister]] to the [[Roman emperor]] but in spite of his wealth and power he chose not to enter the [[Roman Senate|Senate]], remaining of [[Equites|equestrian]] rank.
==Life==
Expressions in [[Propertius]]<ref>ii. I, 25–30</ref> seem to imply that Maecenas had taken some part in the campaigns of [[Battle of Mutina|Mutina]], [[Battle of Philippi|Philippi]], and [[Battle of Perugia|Perugia]]. He prided himself on his ancient [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] lineage, and claimed descent from the princely house of the [[Cilnia (gens)|Cilnii]], who excited the jealousy of their townsmen by their preponderant wealth and influence at [[Arretium]] in the 4th century BC.<ref>[[Livy]] x. 3.</ref> Horace makes reference to this in his address to Maecenas at the opening of his first books of ''[[Odes (Horace)|Odes]]'' with the expression "atavis edite regibus" (descendant of kings). [[Tacitus]]<ref>Tacitus, ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' 6. 11.</ref> refers to him as "Cilnius Maecenas"; it is possible that "Cilnius" was his mother's [[Roman naming conventions|nomen]] – or that Maecenas was in fact a [[cognomen]].<ref>Varro, however, specifies that the name ''Maecenas'' is a nomen based on origin like Lesas, Ufenas, etc: see {{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.cisi.unito.it/arachne/num4/simpson.html |first1=Chris J. |last1=Simpson |title=Two Small Thoughts on 'Cilnius Maecenas' |date=1996 |work=Arachnion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100401205942/http://www.cisi.unito.it/arachne/num4/simpson.html |archive-date=2010-04-01 }}</ref>
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It was in 38 BC that Horace was introduced to Maecenas, who had before this received [[Lucius Varius Rufus]] and [[Virgil]] into his intimacy. In the "Journey to Brundisium",<ref>Horace, ''Satires'', i. 5.</ref> in 37, Maecenas and [[Marcus Cocceius Nerva (consul 36 BC)|Marcus Cocceius Nerva]] – great-grandfather of the future emperor [[Nerva]] – are described as having been sent on an important mission, and they were successful in patching up, by the [[Treaty of Tarentum]], a reconciliation between the two claimants for supreme power. During the Sicilian war against [[Sextus Pompeius]] in 36, Maecenas was sent back to Rome, and was entrusted with supreme administrative control in the city and in Italy. He was [[vicegerent]] of Octavian during the campaign that led to the [[Battle of Actium]], when, with great promptness and secrecy, he crushed the [[Conspiracy (political)|conspiracy]] of [[Lepidus the Younger]]; during the subsequent absences of his chief in the provinces he again held the same position.
[[File:Terentia, spouse of Gaius Maecenas.jpg|thumb|Bust of Maecenas' wife Terentia (1st century BC)]]
During the latter years of his life as recorded by [[Suetonius]] he fell somewhat out of favour with his master.<ref>''Augustus'', 66</ref> The historian attributes the loss of the imperial favour to Maecenas' having indiscreetly revealed to Terentia, his allegedly beautiful but difficult wife, the discovery of the conspiracy in which her brother [[Lucius Licinius Varro Murena]]<ref>Murena was accused of being in a conspiracy with Fannius Caepio and executed in 22 BC ({{cite web |url=http://www.tonykline.co.uk/PITBR/Latin/HoraceIndexMNOPQR.htm |website=A.S. Kline |title=Index to Horace Satires: Epistles |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130505081841/http://poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/HoraceIndexMNOPQR.htm |archive-date= 5 May 2013 }}).</ref> was implicated, but according to [[Cassius Dio]]<ref>liv. 19</ref> (writing in the early 3rd century AD) it was due to the emperor's relations with Terentia. Maecenas died in 8 BC, leaving the emperor sole heir to his wealth.
==Reputation==
Opinions were much divided in ancient times as to his personal character; but the testimony as to his administrative and diplomatic ability was unanimous. He enjoyed the credit of sharing largely in the establishment of the new order of things, of reconciling parties, and of carrying the new empire safely through many dangers. To his influence especially were attributed the more humane policies of Octavian after his first alliance with Antony and [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)|Lepidus]].
The best summary of his character as a man and a statesman, by [[Marcus Velleius Paterculus]],<ref>ii. 88</ref> describes him as "of sleepless vigilance in critical emergencies, far-seeing and knowing how to act, but in his relaxation from business more luxurious and effeminate than a woman." Expressions in the ''[[Odes of Horace]]''<ref>ii. 17. a</ref> seem to imply that Maecenas was deficient in the robustness of fibre which Romans liked to imagine was characteristic of their city. ==''Maecenate'' (patronage)==
[[File:Bakalovich at Maecenas' reception.jpg|thumb|[[Stefan Bakałowicz]]: ''At Maecenas' Reception Room'', 1890]]
[[File:Page 30. — Frog; the seal-device of Mecaenas. If Isaac Taylor be right in interpreting his Etruscan, name, MAIKNE, as Frog-man (analogous to the Italian Ranuccio), the great statesman had put in his seal a rebus on his name, &c (frog).jpg|thumb|Frog on an engraved gem: the seal-device of Mecaenas.<ref>{{Cite book
Maecenas is most famous for his support of young poets; hence, in most European languages, his name has become
Maecenas supported [[Virgil]], who wrote the ''[[Georgics]]'' in his honour. It was Virgil, impressed with examples of [[Horace]]'s poetry, who introduced Horace to Maecenas. Indeed, Horace begins the first poem of his ''Odes'' (''Odes'' I.i) by addressing his new patron. Maecenas gave him full financial support as well as an estate in the Sabine Mountains. [[Propertius]] and the minor poets [[Varius Rufus]], [[Plotius Tucca]], [[Valgius Rufus]], and [[Domitius Marsus]] also were his protégés.
His character as a munificent patron of literature – which has made his name a household word – is gratefully acknowledged by the recipients of it and attested by the regrets of the men of letters of a later age, expressed by [[Martial]] and [[Satires of Juvenal|Juvenal]]. His patronage was exercised, not from vanity or a mere [[Amateur|dilettante]] love of letters, but with a view to the higher interest of the state. He recognized in the genius of the poets of that time not only the truest ornament of the court, but the power of reconciling men's minds to the new order of things, and of investing the actual state of affairs with an ideal [[glory (religion)|glory]] and [[majesty]]. The change in seriousness of purpose between the ''Eclogues'' and the ''Georgics'' of Virgil was in a great measure the result of the direction given by the statesman to the poet's genius. A similar change between the earlier odes of Horace, in which he declares his epicurean indifference to affairs of state, and the great national odes of the [[Carminum liber tertius|third book]] has been ascribed by some to the same guidance. However, since the organization of the Odes is not entirely chronological, and their composition followed both books of ''[[Satires (Horace)|Satires]]'' and the ''[[Epodes (Horace)|Epodes]]'', this argument is plainly specious; but doubtless the milieu of Maecenas's circle influenced the writing of the Roman Odes (III.1–6) and others such as the ode to Pollio, Motum ex Metello (II.1).
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Two poems in the ''[[Appendix Vergiliana]]'' are [[elegiac poetry|elegies]] to him. [[Virgil]] cannot have written them, as he died eleven years before Maecenas; they may have been written by [[Albinovanus Pedo]].<ref>Duff, J. W. ''Minor Latin Poets'' (Cambridge, 1934) pp.114–5</ref>
==Works==
Maecenas also wrote literature himself in both [[prose]] and verse, which are now [[lost literary work]]. The some twenty fragments that remain show that he was less successful as an author than as a [[judge]] and patron of literature.
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==Legacy==
[[File:Maecenas Coole Park.JPG|thumb|Bust of Maecenas at [[Coole Park]], Ireland]]His name has become a byword in many languages<ref>''μαικήνας'' in Greek, ''mecenaat'' in Dutch, ''mesenaatti'' in Finnish, ''mécénat'' in French, ''Mäzen'' in German, ''mecenate'' in Italian, ''mecenat'' in Romanian, ''mecen'' in Slovenian, ''mecenas'' in Spanish, Polish, and Ukrainian, ''mecénás'' in Hungarian, and ''меценат'' in Russian and Bulgarian.</ref> for a well-connected and wealthy patron. For instance, [[John Dewey]], in his lectures ''[[Art as Experience]]'', said: "Economic [[patronage]] by wealthy and powerful individuals has at many times played a part in the encouragement of artistic production. Probably many a savage tribe had its Maecenas."<ref>{{cite book |last=Dewey |first=John |author-link=John Dewey |date=1934 |title=''[[Art as Experience]]'' |location=New York |publisher=[[Capricorn Books|G.P. Putnam's Sons]] |page=9 }}</ref>
In various languages, [[Phillis Wheatley]], the 18th-century poet and the first African-American writer to publish a book, published a poem "To Maecenas" as the first poem in her 1773 book ''Poems on Various subjects, Religious and Moral''.
In Poland and Western Ukraine, a lawyer would customarily be addressed with the honorific
In [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]'s novel ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'', Maecenas is one of the three famous wealthy men, along with [[Midas]] and [[J. P. Morgan]],
==In other media==
Maecenas is a supporting character in [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]'', in which he is presented as a level-headed and loyal lieutenant to Octavian; [[Enobarbus]] describes him as 'half the heart of Caesar'.<ref>{{Cite web|title=''Antony and Cleopatra'' at Folger|url=https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/antony-and-cleopatra/read/}}</ref> Maecenas was portrayed by [[Alex Wyndham]] in the second season of the 2005 [[HBO]] television series [[Rome (TV series)|''Rome'']]. He was portrayed by Russell Barr in the made-for-TV movie ''[[Imperium: Augustus]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340529/|title = Imperium: Augustus|website = [[IMDb]]|date = 30 November 2003}}</ref> He is also featured in one episode of the second series of ''[[Plebs (TV series)|Plebs]]'' on [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]. In the 2021 TV series ''[[Domina (TV series)|Domina]]'', he was portrayed by [[Youssef Kerkour]].
==See also==
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===Secondary sources===
* [[Victor Gardthausen|V. Gardthausen]], ''Augustus and seine Zeit'', i. 762 seq. ; ii. 432 seq.
* Nora Goldschmidt, "Friends in High Places" (review of [[Emily Gowers]], ''Rome's Patron: The Lives and Afterlives of Maecenas'', Princeton, February 2024, {{ISBN|978 0 691 193144}}, 463 pp.), ''[[London Review of Books]]'', vol. 46, no. 14 (18 July 2024), pp. 33-34. "However little we know about the real Maecenas, his shifting role as the archetypal patron of the arts – shaped by the Roman poets he supported – has defied oblivion..." (p. 34.)
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Maecenas, Gaius|volume=17|pages=296–297}}
* {{cite journal |last= André|first= Jean-Marie |date= 1967 |title= Mécène. Essai de biographie spirituelle|url= http://www.persee.fr/doc/ista_0000-0000_1967_mon_86_1|language= fr|journal= Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon |volume= 86 |issue= 86 |doi= 10.3406/ista.1967.1011 |isbn= 2251600868 }}
* The fragments of Maecenas' poetry have been collected and edited by J. Blänsdorf (ed.),
* Philippe Le Doze, "Mécène. Ombres et flamboyances", Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2014.
::''Fragmenta poetarum Latinorum epicorum et lyricorum praeter Ennium et Lucilium'', 3rd ed., Stuttgart: [[Teubner]], 1995, pp. 243–48.
* S. Lyons, ''Music in the Odes of Horace'', 2010, Oxford, Aris and Phillips ({{ISBN|978-0-85668-844-7}}).
{{Augustus}}
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[[Category:8 BC deaths]]
[[Category:People of the War of Mutina]]
[[Category:People of the War of Actium]]
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