Jupiter: Discurse and Utopia in the Imperial Epic (Virgil, Valerius and Silius Italicus)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33064/37aeuph9144Keywords:
Discourse; Epic Poetry; Golden Age, Roman Empire; UtopiaAbstract
Since the advent of the epic sagas of Flavian poetry, Jupiterʼs inaugural speech has formed a narrative pattern with respect to its Virgilian predecessor; in these speeches, the regent god programmatically announces the arrival of a new era for the world. However, they are also speeches of political power in which the supremegod, employing a utopian tone, idealizes the future of humanity under his universal and absolute regency. This poetic device invented by Virgil is a reflection of the era in which he lived and the way he interpreted the political reality of his time. Valerius Flaccus, the first epic poet of the Flavian dynasty, revived this discursive formula
and extended it to a mythological past situated in the transition from the Golden Age to the Iron Age, which explains why his Jupiterʼs speech is that of an incipient king dictating new rules for his subordinates. Finally, with Silius Italicus we observe a “historical” Jupiter, whose purpose is to ensure the improvement of Roman virtue at the expense of the suffering that the war against Carthage will bring on his path to greatness. This paper analyzes the three speeches in light of a utopian interpretation. It is concluded that the ideological vision of each poet is reflected in the words of their respective Jupiter and gives identity to the way in which each one interprets the
future of the world in relation to the past that they narrate.
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