Ut fama est. La voce del poeta tra diceria e asseverazione. Sondaggi nella letteratura latina antica e tardo-antica

In Latin literature (as well as in its Greek models), the poet’s speech is represented ambivalently: as the result of both invention and tradition, what the poet says is both a lie and an authoritative word. Plautus had already highlighted this ambiguity of the poetic speech, but this duplicity becomes evident when Latin poets, through the so-called Alexandrian footnote, claim to repeat the song of other poets. Catullus, in his carmina docta, employs the Alexandrian footnote as a display of doctrine (c. 68), or to signal his personal innovations (c. 64), or for parodic purposes (c. 67). In Lucretius’ poetry the relationship between the poet’s voice and truth becomes a key issue of his didactic poem and the reference to the fama in some cases aims to stigmatize the lies of myth, in others to asseverate historical and scientific content. As for Virgil, he proves to be influenced as much by Catullus as by Lucretius. Christian poets (Paulinus and Licentius are considered here) renew the function of this stylistic device, either by transforming (i.e. Christianizing) the very nature of the fama they refer to, or by interpretating the myth through allegory. In Augustine, Virgil’s speech helps to asseverate the refutation of his opponent Faustus