Histoire de Rome - de -178 à -167 (Histoire de Rome (Texte intégral) t. 4) (French Edition)

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Agir et souffrir en homme de coeur est le propre d'un Romain. Tu rencontreras un poignard et un ennemi jusque sous le vestibule de ton palais. Va, je n'userai point des droits que me donne la guerre: Ils envoient donc des ambassadeurs pour demander la paix. Pour moi, je ne veux point tromper plus longtemps mes concitoyens, et garder une magistrature inutile. M'a-t-on fait passer sous le joug? Moi qui n'ai pas voulu souffrir Tarquin pour roi, je souffrirais un Sicinius! It is, therefore, the historian's craft that constitutes the focus of Croizy- Naquet's book, rather than the texts as autonomous literary artifacts, whose overall literary strategies and interpretative import tend to get lost in this kind of investigation.

This is particularly regrettable in the case of the Histoire Ancienne, admittedly an extremely difficult work to explicate, given the breadth of its historical compass and the wide variety of texts translated by the author, in all likelihood why it has yet to receive a sustained literary analysis comparable to that accorded the Faits des Romains. Since Croizy-Naquet is concerned only with Roman history, she has good reasons to avoid an overall interpretation of the Histoire Ancienne, but the structure of her investigation would have precluded it in any case.

Each chapter not only provides a thorough analysis of the ways these early romance chroniclers compiled and composed their respective works, but carefully distinguishes between them, showing how their historiographical aims and modes differed in significant ways, producing histories whose thematic similarity belies fundamental disparities in technique and language. One of the major arguments of the book turns precisely on the question of knowledge of the past, for Croizy-Naquet believes that both authors — to.

Philippe Contamine, Paris, , p. Hence, she maintains, one of the principal novelties of Roman history as presented in these works is a recognition of the intrinsic difference of the Roman world in space, time, beliefs and customs, and a desire to convey an awareness of alterity and to find adequate means of expressing it to a medieval audience. Noting that the first man was. He admonishes his public for not remembering this and for no longer believing the clergy in spite of their attempts to tell the truth. These criticisms are softened by his inclusion of himself in the group he addresses:.

Qu'iert il de nos qui chascun jor Corrossons cent foiz le Segnor, v. A lamentation about the general state of decadence of earthly life follows ; people are lazy when it comes to " bien fere " line 80 and death is not feared as it should be. The poet then emphasizes the pain of death's grip, impossible for even a saint to describe.

Que si aigrement pince et mort Que la dolor ne puet descrire Sains ni sainte, tant sache dire, v. The theme of death as the great equalizer inspires the following lines:. C'est ce que la mort aprochomes, E nos cors acompaigneromes As vers de terre sans orgoill. Segnor, e n'esteroit mesure Que nos nos en porpensessimes, E nos malisses lessesimes?

The poet's vision presents the individual's post-death consciousness as accompanying the body, the fate of which is gruesomely evoked by the mention of the earthworms. The vulnerability of the body is. The reference to the corpse's ultimate destiny is coupled with the remark that we will be " sans orgoill " ; thus human pride and corporeal existence meet the same end. Appropriately, the poet then calls for a moral awakening, which will be the antidote for the rather unsettling scenario he has just presented. He continues with a comparison between strength, nobility, beauty, and wealth and the universal fate that he has just described:.

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Que vaut force, que vaut noblece? Que vaut hautesce ni parages? Despite all the wealth that his public may have, upon death they will wear a single garment ; despite their strength, they will be prey to insects ; despite their nobility and beauty, they will be humbled. In a reversal of the ubi sunt thematic which laments the disparition of great men and women of generations past, here the poet looks into his distinguished public's future and foretells their unglorious end, telling them bluntly that those who put their trust and faith in the transitory are foolish:.

Certes, li hom n'est mie sages Qui en tout ce a sa fiance, Car il n'i a fors trespassance. In speaking of his text, the poet compiler describes it as having " sens et mesure " line " sens " referring to the work's meaning and " mesure " representing not only the moral quality of moderation but also, by extension, the just selection and treatment of materials included in the compilation.

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Moreover, the narrator claims that. Those who listen with their " euer " will hear the greatest work that has ever been translated into French. The reference to the " plus haute ovre " in this context refers to a story with the highest spiritual import and implications. He takes up this theme again later after summing up his history's contents:. Ce vos sera trestout retrait Tot si a point e tot a trait, Que, qui voudra raison entendre, Petit i avra a reprendre. Finally, the closing couplet is telling: The author insists that his story will be entertaining and at the same time contain no fictions ; moreover, he asserts that truth itself is good to hear and offers its own pleasures, establishing an association between love of truth and the following of God's commandments.

Towards the end of the prologue, he makes the claim again, mentioning his patron:. S'il veut, en romans dou latin Li cuic si traire lonc la letre Que plus ne mains n'i sera metre. In fact, as mentioned above, the compiler worked from a variety of sources, not all of them Latin ones ; his affirmation that he is translating must be seen in the light of the medieval writer's traditional reference to textual auctoritas, a conventional introductory comment guaranteeing the text's authenticity.

In the prologue as a whole, the topical emphasis is on the truth of the material and its role in the spiritual edification of the listener rather than on the marvels or the heroes of the stories to be told. The topos of salvation history is specifically presented in the context of its impact on the contemporary public and the obligation to honor the covenant all Christians have with God, or face exile, everlasting pain, and misery.

This opposition is seen in terms of a choice that must be made by the individual at the present time, not as an ancient event. Thus the time framework of the compilation is three-dimensional: The narrator- poet's insistence on the moral aspects and effects of his history both here and in the verse passages examined below is a common thread among the texts discussed and points to Wauchier de Denain's authorship of the work. The first moralization in the Histoire ancienne is also particularly revealing as regards the point of view of the poet compiler and the function of these verse passages.

In this case, the poem is preceded by a prose introduction in which he recalls the fall and reminds his public that God, who is eternal, never fails to reward his servants:. Segnors e dames, por Deu entendes e retenes.

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Certes encor est e iert parmenablement cil sires qui a ces queje vos ai dit si droiturerement lor dessertes rendi, c'onques encor n'i out faillance. De ce ne soit nus en doutance. After enjoining his public to do good rather than evil and to believe " Mes a la fois, si je pooie, Aucun mot volentiers diroie Ou on bon essample preist Des ovres faire Jhesucrist It is noteworthy that the author closes his moralizing with an explanation of what he intends by this interruption.

It is also of interest that he uses the final verb " prendre " in the subjunctive mood, accompanied by an imperfect-conditional construction in the two lines above.

This tentativeness might indicate an awareness that his preaching may not meet with great enthusiasm on the part of his public. At the same time, his choice of the verb " doctrine " in the rubric as well as his description of himself elsewhere as" maitres " 36 preceding a different poem makes it clear that he sees himself as a teacher. As Joslin points out, " for the author of the Histoire ancienne.

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Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski has studied these didactic moralizations and their interplay with the prose text and sees them as " the principal purpose of the Histoire ancienne " A general review of the other verse passages reveals a focus on impending death and the necessity to serve God or face everlasting punishment. Of the nineteen passages, in six cases the red rubrics that introduce them specifically announce the topic of death.

The poet expresses surprise that people do not change their behavior in the face of death, which forces us to leave behind wealth, honor, beauty and prowess, and exempts no one. Misdeeds are punished after death, and those who think to challenge God should reflect on this. The passage described above occurs in the section on Rome, preceding the death of Daire. It fits into the narrative, but the poet's intent is to appeal to the listener more than to relate historical information. After death, wealth and the correct use of it seems to be a second major preoccupation of the writer.

This is visible in castigating passages on covetousness and greed, such as that in which he criticizes the Cistercians as well as other religious for their interest in money cited in the discussion to follow , and it is also present in poems praising generosity and reward-giving to loyal servants. The wealth motif may well find its origins in the writer's self-interest: E par prometre sans doner Peut on le fou reconforter, Mais ce ne fait ou le sage home. However, the mention of wealth is always intertwined with Christian moral judgment on his part, and in this case his self-interest as a poet who has probably not yet been paid for a commissioned work lies in the same direction as his didacticism.

Other moralizations are dedicated to topics such as sodomy, pride, envy, greed, the loyal servant, the guardianship of God, God's love for the prodom, and God's mercy. Thus out of a total of twenty verse passages including the prologue , only one — six verses on the fleeting unhappiness occasioned by Regulus' sudden departure from Rome without adieux — is clearly not in the sphere of spiritual instruction.

The prologue and the moralizing poems demonstrate that for the compiler of the Histoire ancienne, the matter of primary importance was how his listeners should direct their behavior in such a way as to bring themselves closer to God. A predicator, he preaches a warning to fear the day of judgment when his aristocratic public must account for its greed and other sins.

The poet's insistence on these repeated themes and his occasionally heavy-handed manner of doing so, although surrounded by events narrated in prose, allow one to conclude that the question of moral comportment may well have been of more interest to the writer than was history per se. The writing of saints lives would be consonant with this overriding interest in salvation history and emphasis on the didactic aspects of Christian history, and the existence of vernacular prose sainis lives with highly similar interpolated verses from the same time and region seems therefore to be more than a mere coincidence.

Thompson's recent study of these translations, he divides Wauchier's corpus into two sections: Wauchier's authorship is ascertained by the fact that he names himself in a verse. The author also identifies himself in a poem found in the midst of Marciau de Limoges, one of four vies that Meyer did not include in his article on this subject the other three are the lives of Gilles, Nicholas, and Alexis.

In addition to Wauchier's self-naming, similarities in style and content point to a single authorship of these works. They are in a single volume edited by Michelle Szkilnik, entitled L'Histoire des moines d'Egypte suivie de La vie de saint Paul le simple as found in Carpentras The Vie de seint Marciau occupies fols. It tells the story of Saint Martial of Limoges, the patron saint and the first bishop of the city. Popular tradition has Martial baptized by Christ himself and assisting him with the food and the materials for the washing of the disciples' feet at the last supper, then later being sent into Gaul by Saint Peter, his close relative, to evangelize its inhabitants.

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Among the miracles he performs are numerous healings and bringing back from the dead as well as the casting out of demons. He converts a powerful duke,. Etienne, who in turn is responsible for the Christianization of the rest of the territory. Martial also forces demons to unmask themselves and to speak against their will. He foretells his own death and upon his passing is escorted into heaven by the holy spirit, after having founded a bishopric at Limoges Furthermore, it has been speculated that if indeed Wauchier de Denain was the author of the Histoire ancienne, he may have stopped work on it upon finding a new patron, Philippe de Namur, whose sponsorship of a set of hagiographical texts allowed Wauchier to work in his preferred domain, that of salvation history.

As noted above, the collection of sixteen lives translated for Philippe de Namur also contains numerous versified interventions similar to those in the Histoire ancienne. We shall now turn our attention to an examination of some of these poems. The following verse passage is found on fol. It opens with the criticism of those who do not fear damnation, thinking only of this life on earth. The poet reminds his listeners that their power and status will pass and they will lose everything and be put into hell without any chance of salvation if they do not perform good works with what they have.

Death controls all, the mighty as well as the lowly, and the rich man will see that he also must die and his wealth will fail him. II estoit bons aumosniers por l'amor de nostre seigneur, et fesoit toutes bonnes oevres por avoir vie parmenable. Qe feront donqes li duc et li conte qui ore sont? Ailors met chascun sa penssee:. Ou il n'a fors confusion, Povretez de euer et tristece. Il cuident por lor grant hautece. D'autrui vint et autrui l'avra. Mes je sai bien, dolent seront Qant por autrui le lesseront! Com seront esperdu Qant il seront confus et mat- Mis en enfer sanz nul rachat.

Ffous est qi enfer ne resoigne! Molt le doit l'en bien redouter, Car pou voit l'en mes genz durer. La mort a son voloir les meine- Ausint le haut corne le bas. Por ce est molt doulent et las. Onqes n'a preu ja n'avra rien La ou mestier avra d'aide, Car il ert fors de ceste vie.

A ma matire revendrai:. Qi ore aprimes se descuevre. Bien fist, sel doit l'en bien retrere Por ceus qi bien ne pueent fere:. Et lor povres cuers torneroient A aucun bien ques secorust Qant il secorre les deiist. The above verses can be usefully compared to two different excerpts from the Histoire ancienne. First, the tenth moralization, preceded by an introduction similar to that preceding the above poem, in which the writer laments his contemporaries' wrongheadedness:.

Segnor e dames, e que sera ce donc de ceaus qui sainte iglize guerroient, e ceus font mal e heent qui Damedeu servent, le segnor de tote creature? Chascuns hom portera son fais,. Mais on deit bien son dit muer- De raison m'est qui le face Ansi com on mue la face. Vienent de lui, ce seit on bien. As noted above, the introduction in the form of a rhetorical question calling attention to his public's failings is noticeably similar in the two poems. In both, he warns his listeners that each will be responsible on judgment day for his own acts, and in both he speaks of providing good examples for his public to follow, thus justifying his verse interruption of the prose narrative.

The second example from the Histoire ancienne the thirteenth mora- lization in that work is one which contains the same themes as those in the passage cited from seint Marciau:

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