Ordo renascendi est crescere posse malis (Rutilius Namatianus I.140): the sack of Rome and the resilience of western Roman aristocracies

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Rutilius Namatianus’ poem De reditu suo was written a few years after the devastation of Rome in 410. It has been read as nostalgia for Rome’s past greatness written in a climate of senatorial escapism. This article revises this reading, instead analysing the poem as the literary expression of resilience on the part of the traditional western aristocracies. The collective strategy of conservative western Roman elites was to face the crisis by rebuilding the beatitudo temporum of urban structures and consolidating the ideology of the Urbs aeterna. By contrast, the increasing importance of ascetic movements can be seen as an alternative coping strategy adopted by the Christian aristocracy, overcoming the trauma of 410 through religious renewal.