Victima Nulla Litat: Caesar’s Death According to Ovid

Cynthia A. Hornbeck (University of Utah)

Ovid’s account of the apotheosis of Julius Caesar (Met. 15.745-870) is an intricate fusion of myth, memory, and political propaganda. Ovid reiterates the story of Caesar’s deification as popularized by Augustus, and decorates the episode with encomia, but maintains an ironic tone. This paper argues that Ovid’s equivocal language presents the Ides of March as a calamity that remains meaningless even in light of the glories of Augustus’ reign.

The earlier apotheoses of Hercules (Met. 9.134-272), Aeneas (Met. 14.566-608) , and Romulus (Met. 14.805-51) use a similar vocabulary to that of Caesar’s apotheosis, prefigure its narrative structure, and introduce the themes of divine parentage and sacrifice. While all three heroes have Olympian parents, Caesar does not, and must be deified so that Augustus in turn can become a god. Yet Venus does not understand that Augustus is Caesar’s child, and worries that Julius Caesar’s death will end her race. By emphasizing the importance of parentage, but questioning Augustus’ through Venus, Ovid unravels the propaganda’s logic. He then vividly depicts a series of omens, returning to the ritualistic language of the three earlier deifications. But Ovid eschews description of the bloody event itself. Rather, Jupiter’s prophecy of Augustan majesty serves as an anticlimactic distraction for both the reader and Venus. Preceded by disregarded omens and failed sacrifices, the elided murder of Caesar fails the reader. The few details provided are either contradictory or inaccurate. In his later account of the same episode (Fast. 3.697-712), Ovid even elides Caesar, replacing him with a simulacrum. In the Metamorphoses, the sacrifice disappoints; in the Fasti, it doesn’t happen.

When Caesar has become the sidus, Ovid examines the notion of fatherhood, providing four mythological exempla in which sons surpasses their fathers. However, none of these exempla can be read as endorsements of Augustus. The reader is ultimately left with a disquieting comparison between Augustus and Jupiter, who is portrayed as a totalitarian ruler throughout the Metamorphoses.

Thus Caesar is deified only because Augustus wants to be deified, and Caesar’s death is an ineffective sacrifice resulting in the rule of a tyrant. Ovid has so couched this assertion in light sarcasm and flattering encomium that he fools Augustus and many of his modern readers.