Lo scenario urbano nella letteratura erotica latina

Abstract

A survey of the classic issue 'urbanitas' versus 'rusticitas' applied to love in Latin comedy, epigrammatic poetry, elegy and novel. The prominence of the city in late republican and Augustan poetry is grounded on the philosophical debate about human civilization and progress promoted by Lucretius, the epicurean poet who was critic about the moral shortcomings of modern urban society. Inspired by the lucretian speculation on progress, Vergilius (in eclogue X), the elegists, and especially Tibullus (in elegy II 3), explore the close connection existing between love and urban background, while Ovid praises Rome as the city of love and Venus’ realm.