Which scholar attributes Servius's claim that the poet imitates Homer to praise Augustus through ancestors?

Which scholar attributes Servius's claim that the poet imitates Homer to praise Augustus through ancestors?

• A. Cox - Homeric influence
• B. Thomas - Book 8
• C. Richard Rutherford - Homeric influence
• D. Ian Du Quesnay - Homeric influence

Answer: (D)

The key idea here is how intertextual readings connect Virgil’s imitation of Homer with a political purpose in Augustan Rome. Ian Du Quesnay is the scholar who attributes Servius’s claim to this political reading: that Virgil’s Homeric mimicry isn’t just literary borrowing but a deliberate means to praise Augustus by weaving Roman ancestors into the epic tradition. Du Quesnay argues that Servius’s remark can be understood as endorsing a propaganda link—by aligning the Aeneid with Homer, the poet signals a prestigious Greek epic lineage to legitimize the Augustan regime, presenting Rome’s heroic ancestry as part of a continuous, Augustan-validated tradition. This framing shows how a classical intertext can function as political rhetoric, not merely stylistic choice. Other scholars discuss Homeric influence in Virgil more broadly, but this specific attribution to Servius—using imitation as a vehicle to praise Augustus through ancestors—is distinctive to Du Quesnay’s interpretation.

The key idea here is how intertextual readings connect Virgil’s imitation of Homer with a political purpose in Augustan Rome. Ian Du Quesnay is the scholar who attributes Servius’s claim to this political reading: that Virgil’s Homeric mimicry isn’t just literary borrowing but a deliberate means to praise Augustus by weaving Roman ancestors into the epic tradition. Du Quesnay argues that Servius’s remark can be understood as endorsing a propaganda link—by aligning the Aeneid with Homer, the poet signals a prestigious Greek epic lineage to legitimize the Augustan regime, presenting Rome’s heroic ancestry as part of a continuous, Augustan-validated tradition. This framing shows how a classical intertext can function as political rhetoric, not merely stylistic choice. Other scholars discuss Homeric influence in Virgil more broadly, but this specific attribution to Servius—using imitation as a vehicle to praise Augustus through ancestors—is distinctive to Du Quesnay’s interpretation.