Crimen ego sum. Inversione di ruoli, allusioni intertestuali e riscritture epico-tragiche in [Quint.] decl. mai. 6

Abstract

Declamatio maior 6 (Corpus proiectum) depicts a family situation marked by radical reversals of traditional family roles. The article investigates the ways in which the fictional speaker develops his argument through a dense dialogue with literary tradition, particularly epic and tragic tradition. The figure of the son is initially modelled on Aeneas, hero of filial piety, and then, in death, evokes Hippolytus from Seneca's Phaedra. The portrait of the father, on the other hand, takes on the traits of Theseus from the aforementioned tragedy, a father who, once he becomes aware of his responsibilities, tries, albeit in vain, to repair his lost relationship with his son. The result is a creative reworking of well-known characters from mythological and literary tradition, a hybrid plot that intersects epic values and tragic pathos, in the light of a product that, taking the form of a literary laboratory and space for narrative experimentation, is capable of reflecting in an original way on the crisis of family ties that characterised the cultural and social landscape of imperial Rome.