Commilito et vir militaris: aspectos bélicos da exaltação do imperador romano em Plínio, o jovem

Abstract

In the Early Empire, the image of the Caesars sought to assert itself through models traditionally valued by the Roman society. In the first years of the second century CE, when the empire reached its maximum extent due to the achievements of the Emperor Trajan, the military values served as an important factor to support the image of this ruler. In this context, the speech of Pliny the Younger, entitled Panegyric of Trajan highlights the achievements and the military posture of the ruler. Based on researches that emphasize the matter of the moral and political ideas grounded on ancestral values as well as on the role of the stoic philosophy in the framing of the image of the ideal prince, this article intends to debate some aspects of our analysis about Pliny’s narrative. In this speech, the compliment about Trajan’s martial virtues, supported by the notions of virtus and mos maiorum, was fundamental. Essentially connected to the roman traditions, the ideas which shape the narrative of Panegyric provide a picture of equilibrium between autocratic and military aspects of the ruler and the goals of the senatorial order, which sought to keep alive the republican institutions in the Principate system.