Senari e trimetri giambici nelle versioni poetiche di Marco Tullio Cicerone

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the iambic versifications in Cicero’s translations from Attic dramatists (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides). It is common knowledge that Cicero used to insert his own translations of tragic passages (altogether 117 lines, of which 83 senarii and 34 iambic trimeters) in his philosophical works. From structure’s examination of these two meters, which are employed in the deverbia, it turn out Cicero’s senarii are following the dialogical verse of the previous Latin drama, while his iambic trimeters have paved the way to Seneca’s Tragedies.