The article analyses Sychaeus’ aristeia (Sil. 5. 457-516): after killing two Italic soldiers, the young Carthaginian confronts a Syracusan cohort, which tries to escape from him by climbing two oak trees. The Sicilians find a dishonourable death, as one of the trees is felled and the other one burnt. Exploiting different intertextual links (Vergil, Ovid, Lucan), Silius stresses the anti-epic nature of their behaviour and the dangers associated with the absence of virtus, while anticipating Sychaeus’ imminent death. Moreover, Silius alludes to this passage in the simile at 10. 163-169 (at the end of the battle of Cannae), thus linking Sychaeus’ episode to the central turning point of the poem.
Ai margini del Trasimeno: l’aristia di Sicheo in Silio Italico (5. 457-516) / Guerci, LUIGI MARIA. - (2024), pp. 89-98. (Intervento presentato al convegno Margini e marginalità: un'analisi multidisciplinare delle figure e dei contesti. Seminario delle dottorande e dei dottorandi di Filologia e storia del mondo antico. tenutosi a Rome; Italy).
Ai margini del Trasimeno: l’aristia di Sicheo in Silio Italico (5. 457-516).
Luigi Maria Guerci
2024
Abstract
The article analyses Sychaeus’ aristeia (Sil. 5. 457-516): after killing two Italic soldiers, the young Carthaginian confronts a Syracusan cohort, which tries to escape from him by climbing two oak trees. The Sicilians find a dishonourable death, as one of the trees is felled and the other one burnt. Exploiting different intertextual links (Vergil, Ovid, Lucan), Silius stresses the anti-epic nature of their behaviour and the dangers associated with the absence of virtus, while anticipating Sychaeus’ imminent death. Moreover, Silius alludes to this passage in the simile at 10. 163-169 (at the end of the battle of Cannae), thus linking Sychaeus’ episode to the central turning point of the poem.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
