Musa silvestris is a poem in dactylic hexameters which Pellecchia wrote for the two-thousand-year anniversary of the birth of Vergil (Bimillenario Virgiliano), celebrated throughout Italy in 1930. This poem was specifically inspired by the celebrations of the Bimillenario that took place in Naples, which Pellecchia personally attended (vv. 31-32). Despite the different focus, this poem is similar to Pellecchia (1926) in terms of diction and thought, especially as far as the memory of the First World War and the celebration of Mussolini and the regime are concerned. Additionally, the poem contains numerous allusions to Vergil. The author uses these to celebrate not only the poet’s literary legacy, but also the privileged connection that Fascist Italy claimed to have established with ancient Rome. An important theme of the poem is the importance of the land and agriculture, which seems to be why in this poem Pellecchia often gives the word to characters of Vergil’s Eclogues. This emphasis is fully in line with the general tone of the Bimillenario, during which many scholars and politicians referred to Vergil to support the agricultural policies of the regime (Foss 1998: 310-312; Nelis 2011: 92-93).

Musa silvestris is divided into three cantus (“songs”). In the first cantus (vv. 1-107), Pellecchia recalls the celebrations of Vergil that took place in Naples in 1930 (vv. 1-32). Then follows an invocation of Vergil himself: Pellecchia invites the Roman poet to observe the nova fata (“new destinies”, v. 41) of the Italian nation revived by Mussolini’s regime (vv. 39 ff.) This section often alludes to Vergil’s poetry and to the prophetic passages of Eclogue 4 and Aeneid 6 in particular. In this way, the poet suggests that Vergil had actually foreseen the advent and successes of Fascism (this was a popular cliché in early-1930s Fascist propaganda).

In the second cantus (vv. 108-213), Pellecchia gives the word to Tityrus (from v. 130), the shepherd of Vergil’s Eclogue 1. Through Tityrus’ voice, Pellecchia describes the history of Italy after the end of the First World War, guiding the reader from the socio-economical unrest of the late 1910s (the so-called Biennio rosso, 1918-1920) to the Fascist March on Rome and the (in the author’s eyes) providential seizure of power by Mussolini. As in Natalis Urbis (Pellecchia 1926), Pellecchia draws attention to the failed attempts on Mussolini’s life in the mid-1920s. The failure of these attempts is explained by the idea that the leader of Fascism, being the Man of Providence, was protected by God itself. This section concludes with an analogy between Mussolini and the emperor Augustus. Pellecchia suggests here an analogy between Augustus’ closing of the doors of Janus’ temple and the era of peace attributed to Mussolini’s regime.

The third cantus (vv. 214-301) is sung by the shepherds Mopsus and Menalcas (the protagonists Vergil’s Eclogue 5). The focus is again on the First World War, specifically on the general Armando Diaz (1861-1928), celebrated at the time as one of the main actors of Italy’s victory against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The poet laments the general’s recent death and then goes on to recall in eulogizing terms the Italian victory at the Second Battle of the Piave River (15-23 June 1918) under his leadership. At the end of the poem, Pellecchia imagines that Vergil’s ghost is rejoicing at Italy’s recent fortunes, and voices the hope that Italians will continue to devote themselves to the cultivation of the land.

Bibliography

Latin texts

Pellecchia, Vincenzo. 1931. Musa Silvestris in Solemnia P. Vergilii Maronis Neapoli acta. Salerno: R. Beraglia.

Secondary sources

Binnebeke, Xavier van. 2020. ‘Hoeufft’s Legacy: Neo-Latin Poetry in the Archive of the Certamen Poeticum Hoeufftianum (1923–1943)’. In Studies in the Latin Literature and Epigraphy of Italian Fascism, edited by Han Lamers, Bettina Reitz-Joosse, and Valerio Sanzotta, 245–325. Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 46. Leuven: Leuven University Press.

Foss, Clive. 1998. ‘Augustus and the Poets in Mussolini’s Rome’. In Style and Tradition. Studies in Honor of Wendell Clausen, edited by Peter Knox and Clive Foss, 306–25. Beiträge Zur Altertumskunde 92. Stuttgart: Teubner.

Nelis, Jan. 2011. From Ancient to Modern. The Myth of Romanità during the Ventennio Fascista: The Written Imprint of Mussolini’s Cult of the ‘Third Rome’. Brussels and Rome: Belgisch Historisch Instituut te Rome.

Niccolò Bettegazzi