The grass is always greener ... in Rome?

No wonder Rutilius doesn't seek the proverbial "greener pastures" in Gaul; it's always sunny in Philadel... er, Rome. The skies are bluer (caelis plaga candidior), the fields are greener (tractusque serenus).* And why wouldn't they be in a city that produces her own daylight (quem sibi Roma facit purior esse dies)?

Of course we don't really think Rome had perpetui soles, but Rome's magical weather systems described c. 190-204 of DRS offer some insight into perceptions of the city and that elusive concept of Romanitas.

Rome may not have produced daylight, but she was, for all intents and purposes, the center of the world. Rome's existence in the center of the sun's orbit, in a sense, caused each sunrise and sunset. Even in ancient maps, more descriptive than geographically accurate, Rome appears in the center of the known world.

But what about Romanitas? What does it mean to be a citizen of the city in the center of the world? We know Romanitas has something to do with being born or at least raised in Rome, or, dei prohibete, being cultured enough to pass for a Roman. It has something to do with having an accent particular to the city, dressing according to the fashions of the city, seeming like someone from the city. Of course, these are relative, not definite descriptors, mutable depending on the current state of the city. But the Romanitas Rutilius presents in DRS seems to have to do with familiarity.

Whether or not the grass is greener in Rome, the important thing is that it seems to be. The day seems to be purer (videtur...purior esse dies); the sounds of the city are familiar (notae redduntur ab aethere voces). Rutilius knows his way around the Seven Hills even when his eyes can't make out the details (duces oculi grata regione fruuntur, dum se, quod cupiunt, cernere posse putant). These qualities suggest to me the sense of homecoming. Everything appears brighter, cleaner, more colorful, regardless of reality. Rome is Rome not because it is marked so on a map or by smoke (indice fumo), but by the overwhelming sense of the "rightness" associated with home.

So the question is, is Rome really home for Rutilius, or does our author, nervous about his Gallic origins, put on such airs in order to establish and secure a reputation of Romanitas?


*Ok, shinier and brighter, but I think we can read some colors into these adjectives without giving in to the age old what-colors-did-ancient-people-really-see argument.