Maledictus note #5

Beautiful, awe-inspiring, impressive? Yes, but at what cost. What of the Greek communities now deprived of these masterpieces. What's Augustus trying to say with a display of Greek statues in a classic Tuscan temple?

Remember who these artists worked for originally? GREEK DESPOTS! Mausoleus and Alexander and others! Was Augustus to be the new despot? Of course! Why do you suppose he had his domus (that complex of private homes converted to imperial offices) attached to the temple precinct? Why have himself seated Apollo-like in the Latin library? The heart shrivels at the spectacle of art perverted by the will of the despot!!! ... lacrimae rerum, indeed!