Statue, memorie e oblio nell'ultimo Cicerone. A proposito della nona Philippica

Abstract

The relationship between word and image is notoriously central to rhetorical thought from Greece to ancient Rome. It finds its foundation in the doctrines of enargheia / evidentia and ekphrasis, on which countless attestations and acute reflections come from the ancient world. Within this strand of interest, in itself particularly fruitful, it is interesting to observe how it takes shape in the reflection conducted by Cicero on an issue, only apparently marginal, concerning the appropriateness of erecting statues. The article reconstructs a significant section of this question in the debate that took place in the delicate juncture of the civil wars immediately following the assassination of Caesar. In the entirely internal clash within the Senate, which would soon result in the war against Antony, singular positions emerge regarding the usefulness of erecting statues as an act of particular political intensity. Cicero's considerations appear to be extraordinarily modern, opening up a debate on the appropriateness of erecting or pulling down statues that deserves to be explored further, also in light of the recent controversy triggered by the so-called Cancel culture