The essay appeared in DDR: Eine Archivexpedition, ed. Ulrich von Bülow and Sabine Wolf (Berlin: Christian Links Verlag, 2914)
Exploring Grünbein;s relation to Latin as a language and to literary works in Latin by Catullus and Ausonius, the essay widens the focus to examine Grünbein's ideas about the Roman Empire, especially its depiction in Hermann Broch's novel The Death of Virgil.