Le langage de la sagesse dans l’Heautontimoroumenos de Térence

Abstract

Chremes is highly caracterized by his way of speaking : he speaks skillfully, uses rhetorical tools and philosophical themes. He embodies then the comic type of the philosopher. Nevertheless, unlike what we can see in Plautus’ comedies, the Heautontimoroumenos (Self-Tormentor) does not satirized the philosophical discourse itself but the characterwho claims to be a philosopher but don’t act as such. Terence seems thus to make a place in his comedy for philosophical and moral discourse so that he can take the latter into account for real and bring some new ideas to Roman people. By doing so, the playwright gives us an actual instance of what we call appropriation : an appropriation of a theatrical genre, the Greek new comedy, but also of Greek ideas. The play deals more specifically with the father’s power and the grounds on which it is based. Because Terence puts the juridical dimension of the father / son relationship in the background, he’s in a position to highlight the importance of ethical principles which govern it, such as balance, indulgence and affection, all virtues derived from his coherent vision of what «human » means. The play leads the spectator to think about Roman norms by playing with some comic codes, in particular with the character of the pater durus and also by using sentences in a complex manner, so that we can say that both dramatic and reflexive issues are in symbiosis.