ABSTRACT
This essay examines how three Roman poets- Lucretius, Horace, andOvid- responded to the political turmoil and regime change at the end of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BCE. As Rome transitioned from are public to an empire under Augustus, these poets endeavoured to make sense of the changing world through their writings. Lucretius turned to science and philosophy to rationally explain existence. Horace advocated living in the moment and flattered Augustus to adapt to the new order. Ovid used myth and sensuality to subtly question imperial rule. Though they processed the crises differently, the oiets asserted enduring Roman values such as Epicureanism. Their works reveal how elites navigated profound political revolution.
Keywords:Roman Republic, Augustan Rome, Lucretius, Horace, Ovid, Epicureanism, political
change, imperialism, poetry
Copyright © 2023 Scholar of Tomorrow. All SoT articles are distributed under the attribution non-commercial, no derivative license. This means that anyone is free to share, copy and distribute an unaltered article for non-commercial purposes provided the original author and source are credited.