| Titre | L'apparition de la fabula praetexta à Rome et la célébration des exploits de M. Claudius Marcellus sur un mode héroïque | |
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| Auteur | Jean-Luc Bastien | |
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Revue | Revue historique |
| Numéro | no 711, juillet 2024 | |
| Page | 411-433 | |
| Résumé |
La fabula Praetexta est un genre théâtral romain qui apparaît à la fin du iiie siècle av. n. ère et qui tire son nom de la toge prétexte, celle des magistrats et des rois dont les exploits étaient mis en scène dans des pièces à sujet « historique ». Des premières pièces nous ne connaissons que les noms : Clastidium et Romulus. Leur auteur, Naevius était proche de Marcus Claudius Marcellus qui s'était illustré en 222 par un exploit mémorable. À Clastidium, il avait vaincu un chef celte en duel et avait obtenu de dédicacer les « dépouilles opimes », sur le modèle de Romulus, le fondateur du rite.L'étude propose de contextualiser le cadre dans lequel le Clastidium a été représenté afin d'en éclairer le sens. Claudius Marcellus comme la plupart des triomphateurs romains décide d'ériger un temple à la suite d'un vœu réalisé à la bataille de Clastidium, mais il choisit d'associer deux divinités : Honos et Virtus. L'emplacement et de la date de dédicace du temple ne sont pas anodins et permettent de le relier à la procession annuelle des chevaliers romains, le jour anniversaire du temple des Dioscures (15 juillet).La dédicace du temple par le fils de Marcellus le 17 juillet 205 av. n. ère, trois ans après la mort de son père, a dû être l'occasion de la représentation de la fabula Clastidium. Elle permettait d'exalter la mémoire de Marcellus sur un double modèle : romuléen, par la référence aux dépouilles opimes, et dioscuréen par la célébration de sa Virtus. La comparaison de Marcellus avec des divinités ayant connu une apothéose astrale atteste d'une héroïsation empruntant à la religion astrale. Source : Éditeur (via Cairn.info) |
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| Résumé anglais |
Roman scenic performances experienced an important shift at the end of the First Punic War, as the magistrates in charge of the Ludi in 240 decided to have a Greek drama staged. The translation of the text was then assigned to the poet of Tarentine origin Livius Andronicus, considered as one of the fathers of Latin literature. This episode initiates the development of a theatrical form inspired in particular by the new Greek comedy, whose success was to last for almost a century. The comedies known as fabulae palliatae are fairly well known to us through the works of Plautus and Terence. This is not the case for the fabula praetexta, a Roman-inspired form which appeared a few decades later during the Second Punic War (218-202 B C). The origin of this new form is attributed to the poet Naevius, a contemporary of Livius Andronicus, from whom we only have the titles of two works: Clastidium and Romulus. Like the palliatae, these praetextae take their name from a garment – in this case the pretext toga of magistrates and kings, whose exploits were portrayed in works with an “historical” subject. It was also at this time that other historical narratives were written in Rome in various forms, referring the history of the city from its origins. Naevius probably staged a flattering portrait of Marcellus in Clastidium by celebrating his achievement on the Romulean model. Nevertheless, the sources we have on Marcellus reflect a lively debate on the construction of the character's memory. During his lifetime, he had faced strong opposition from a part of the Roman aristocracy, which the historian Polybius had adopted in part. Marcellus had also generated glowing tales, which Plutarch reflects in his Life of Marcellus. Since we cannot judge the content of this praetexta celebrating Marcellus' victory at Clastidium in more detail, this study proposes to explore the background of its performance, to investigate the circumstances for which the play was written and staged. It probably accompanied the dedication ceremony of the temple to Honos and Virtus, two deities associated by Marcellus in an original and polemical way. Marcellus, like many triumphing generals, had decided to erect a temple to deities in conformity with the vow made on the battlefield. In fact the vow seems to be connected to the Battle of Clastidium in 222, but Marcellus waited until he returned victorious from the famous siege of Syracuse in 212-211 to erect this votive temple – while strongly linked to the victory of 222 by Marcellus' vow, it was nevertheless decorated with many works of art taken from Syracuse, including a famous celestial sphere that had belonged to Archimedes.The association of these two “conceptual deities” in a temple was the first time in Rome and caused controversy within the nobilitas, the aristocracy that reserved for itself the access to the consulate. Linking this access to the higher magistracies (the Honores) to those who had demonstrated their Virtus (military exploits and courage) tended to challenge the primacy accorded to heredity, established de facto by the Roman nobilitas. The dedication of the temple of Honos and Virtus took place on July the 17th, the temple's dies natalis and the date on which the main cultic ceremonies occurred every year. The choice of this date linked this temple with that of Castor and Pollux, whose natalis was on July the 15th. The association of these two temples is quite clear, as they were linked by a remarkable procession: the transvectio Equitum.The knights, i.e. the Roman elite owning a public horse, started their procession at the Capenes gate, where the temple of Honos and Virtus was located, to go to the temple of Castor and Pollux in the forum. These fraternal and equestrian deities incarnated the spirited Virtus of the young Roman knights over whom they exercised a form of patronage. In making such a “connection”, Marcellus expressed very explicitly his conception of the devolution of power, and in particular for the higher magistracies, which was to be based on the recognition of the Virtus of the equestrian order's members, rather than a more hereditary approach of a nobilitas reduced to less than a hundred families. Marcellus was also celebrating his own career, since he himself had distinguished in many equestrian battles during the First Punic War before obtaining a late first consulship in 222, at the age of 46. Staging the Naevius' praetexta Clastidium at the dedication of this temple was a way of exalting the importance of the Virtus he had shown as a knight, while also celebrating his victorious consulships and his famous equestrian duel of 222. Unfortunately, Marcellus was killed in an ambush in 208, without having been able to conclude the dedication of his temple, which fell to his son who accomplished it on July the 17th, 205. This circumstance probably provided the opportunity to represent the Naevius' Clastidium. This praetexta could then assume an elaborated meaning. The feat of 222 performed on the Romulean model certainly conferred on it a heroic dimension, which was accomplished, according to my hypothesis, in an astral mode. Indeed, the connection established between the temples of Castor and Pollux, divinities who experienced an astral apotheosis, and that of Honos and Virtus where the first Roman representation of the cosmos appeared, must have established a significant mise en scène of an astral apotheosis. Source : Éditeur (via Cairn.info) |
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| Article en ligne | https://shs.cairn.info/revue-historique-2024-3-page-411?lang=fr |
