Apollo, Augustus, and the Poets

John Miller's volume on Apolline poetics, which has recently received meritorious recognition as the 2010 recipient of the Charles J. Goodwin award, addresses this and many other important questions: when did Octavian begin to cultivate an association to the god Apollo?; why Apollo?; and in what way does the poetry of the age reflect that association? Miller also goes to great lengths to explain some of the more puzzling aspects of the Aeneas-Apollo intercourse: the plague at Sicily (for what? misinterpreting a vague prophecy?), the disappointing nature of the Sibyl's prophecy at Cumae, and the absence of Apollo's healing touch when Aeneas is struck in Book 12.