La réception française de Cicéron au 20e siècle : le cas Carcopino - The French Reception of Cicero in the XX century: the Case of Carcopino

Authors

  • Jordi Pià-Comella Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13135/2532-5353/5500

Abstract

Published in 1947, Jérôme Carcopino’s Secrets of Cicero’s Correspondence has provoked violent reactions because of its decidedly negative portrayal of Cicero. This article seeks to understand how one of France’s most brilliant Latinist ended up penning such a prejudiced and unfair portrait of Cicero. Leaning on Carcopino’s biography of Caesar and his autobiography, we argue that this portrait stems from a specific understanding of the figure of the providential man: the au- thor contrasts his Cicero, seen as the symbol of a static republic, with the image of the “great men” such as Caesar, Napoleon, Pétain. In truth, Carcopino manipulates his quotes in the manner of a lawyer, cutting and distorting citations from the Letters. For this former Vichy minister judged and deposed, does his Secrets stage a trial which never took place – the trial against those members of parliament and of the resistance who, in his view, stood out for their opportunism and cowardice?

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Author Biography

Jordi Pià-Comella, Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle

 Jordi Pià-Comella (piacomellajordi@gmail.com), agrégé, maître de conférences de Latin à l’Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle (2012), a été chercheur invité à l’Université St Andrews (2019). Il est spécialiste de la philosophie hellénistique et romaine ainsi que des genres littéraires. Il est notamment l’auteur d’un livre sur la religion et le stoïcisme impérial (Une piété de la raison, Turnhout 2014). Élu membre junior de l’Institut Universitaire de France (2018), il travaille actuellement sur l’intégration culturelle du cynisme à Rome.

Cicero, Society, and the Idea of artes liberales

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Published

2020-12-31

How to Cite

Pià-Comella, J. (2020). La réception française de Cicéron au 20e siècle : le cas Carcopino - The French Reception of Cicero in the XX century: the Case of Carcopino. Ciceroniana On Line, 4(2), 447–463. https://doi.org/10.13135/2532-5353/5500

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2020): “Cicero, Society, and the Idea of artes liberales” Congress Proceedings edited by Jerzy Axer and Katarzyna Marciniak

Section

Papers

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