Classical Culture and the Idea of Rome in Eighteenth-Century England [Paperback]

This book looks at the aristocratic adoption of Roman ideals in eighteenth-century English culture.This book is the first to look at the aristocratic adoption of Roman ideals in eighteenth-century English culture. In the century following the Revolution of 1688, the ruling class promoted SH by way of its patronage SH a classical frame of mind embracing all the arts, on the foundations of 'liberty' and 'civic virtue'. Ayres' study shows that the propensity to adopt the self-image of virtuous Romans was the attempt of a newly empowered oligarchy to dignify and vindicate itself by association with an idealised image of Republican Rome.This book is the first to look at the aristocratic adoption of Roman ideals in eighteenth-century English culture. In the century following the Revolution of 1688, the ruling class promoted SH by way of its patronage SH a classical frame of mind embracing all the arts, on the foundations of 'liberty' and 'civic virtue'. Ayres' study shows that the propensity to adopt the self-image of virtuous Romans was the attempt of a newly empowered oligarchy to dignify and vindicate itself by association with an idealised image of Republican Rome.This book is the first to look at the aristocratic adoption of Roman ideals in eighteenth-century English culture. In the century following the Revolution of 1688, the ruling class promoted--by way of its patronage--a classical frame of mind embracing all the arts, on the foundations of liberty and civic virtue . Ayres' study shows that the propensity to adopt the self image of virtuous Romans was the attempt of a newly empowered oligarchy to dignify and vindicate itself by association with an idealized image of Republican Rome.Preface; List of abbreviations; List of plates; 1. Oligarchy of virtue - liberty and the Roman analogy; Civic virtue and the Roman analogy; Literary personae: Pope, Swift, Johnson, Thomson, Fielding, Burke; 2. Virtue made visible - sensibility, sculpture, political gardens and templó#