Septimii Severi somnium - 1930
Septimii Severi somnium is a poem in dactylic hexameters (283 in total) which Taberini submitted without success for the Certamen Hoeufftianum of 1930 (van Binnebeke 2020: 286 n. 12). In this poem Taberini voices his support for the regime’s ongoing effort to colonise Libya and put an end to the Libyan resistance movement. The main character is the Libyan-born emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193-211 CE), who in a vision of Rome’s future sees his home-town, Leptis Magna, being conquered by Mussolini’s regime. Taberini exalts the idea of Rome as beacon of civilization to portray the Fascist aggression in a positive light, especially by drawing on the constructed opposition between “Romans” and “barbarians”. The poem is mentioned in Garavani’s commemoration of Taberini (Garavani 1934: 185). Sacré discusses the author’s use of the device of the prophecy post eventum (Sacré 2020: 230-231).
The first part of Septimii Severi somnium (vv. 1-90) focuses on Septimius Severus’ military campaign against the Picts, the people inhabiting Caledonia (now Scotland). It begins with a description of the fortification of Hadrian’s Wall (in modern-day Northern England), which aimed to keep the Picts out of Rome’s empire (vv. 1-35). The Picts’ attempt to climb the wall and defend their land against the Romans concludes with the capture of many of them (vv. 36-90). The widespread hostility in Fascist Italy against Great Britain was surely a factor in the author’s choice to frame Septimius’ vision within an expedition against the ancient inhabitants of that land. Barbarus and cognate words (e.g. barbaricus) recur constantly in the poem (e.g. vv. 1, 11, 15, 42, 50, 78, 92, 98, 129 162, 198, 243, 247, 249) to characterise Rome’s constructed enemies: the ancient Britons fighting against Septimius and the Libyans attacked by the Fascist regime. The idea of Rome’s civilizational superiority is thus the connector between Septimius’ expedition and Italy’s aggression of Libya.
The second part (vv. 91-173) begins with the dialogue between a local bard and Septimius Severus, in which the durability of the Roman empire is pondered. The bard claims that no empire is unperishable, and therefore Rome will also fall (vv. 108-112). He also predicts the rise of the British Empire (vv. 116-121). Severus reproaches him for such views and asserts the god-sanctioned stability of the Roman Empire (vv. 129-136). However, the old man’s prophetic words haunt the emperor and lead him to a pensive soliloquy in which he laments Rome’s moral decadence (vv. 145-173).
The last part of the poem recounts the dream that the Roman emperor had the following night (vv. 174 ff.). A godly figure appears in a dream to Septimius Severus (v. 178), who later identifies herself as the Sibyl of Cumae (v. 214). The Sibyl illustrates to the emperor the future of Rome (vv. 219-273), explaining him that the fall of the empire will not lead to the end of Rome itself. To show this she tells the emperor about the coming of Christ and the transition to Christian Rome. She then invites Septimius to look at the Christian Cross in the sky (vv. 226-229), in a way reminiscent of the legend of Constantine’s vision of the Cross before the battle against Maxentius in 312 CE. Septimius is still somewhat puzzled by the Sibyl’s revelation, unable to understand the paradox of Rome being eternal despite the doomed end of the empire (vv. 230-240). At this point the Sibyl announces the advent of Mussolini and Fascism. She tells Septimius Severus that after centuries of hardship (which include the First World War and its aftermath, vv. 259-264), a dux will rise who will reinvigorate the Fatherland, bind Church and State together, and restore ancient Rome’s domination in Libya (vv. 265-272).
The text was first published in 1933
(Taberini 1933 = A), on which this edition is based, but it was
submitted already in 1930 to the Certamen Hoeufftianum from
which a typoscript survives (Harlem, Noord-Hollands Archief, 64. 833, nr. 12
= B). The two differ in a number of places. Many of the manual
corrections found in B been reversed in A,
suggesting the corrections were not Taberini’s own. The copy of A available
to the FLT-editors notes a few corrigenda in the print, which have been
corrected in the main text. Variant readings and manual corrections are noted
in the critical apparatus. Variances in orthography are not noted unless they
present different opportunities for interpretation.
Bibliography
Latin
texts
Taberini, Luigi. 1930.
‘Septimii Severi somnium’. Haarlem, Noord-Hollands Archief, 64. 833, nr. 12.
———. 1933. Septimii Severi somnium. Carme
latino con traduzione italiana dell’autore. Ancona: Tipografia
Dorica.
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.
Garavani, Giunio. 1935. ‘Commemorazione del Prof. Luigi Taberini’. In Atti del III congresso nazionale di Studi Romani, edited by Carlo Galassi Paluzzi, 4:185–86. Bologna: Licinio Cappelli Editore.
Sacré, Dirk. 2020. ‘The Certamen Hoeufftianum during
the Ventennio Fascista: An Exploration (with Unpublished
Poems by Vittorio Genovesi and Giuseppe Favaro)’. In Studies in the Latin Literature and Epigraphy of Italian Fascism,
edited by Han Lamers, Bettina Reitz-Joosse, and Valerio Sanzotta, 199–241.
Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia 46. Leuven: Leuven University Press.
Nicolò Bettegazzi
SOMNIUM
Anni MCMXXIX (26 marzo 1929).41
Critical Notes
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1) reficiunt A : restaurant B
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2) Fabri, altas turres et propugnacula firma. A : Nunc fabri, et opus infectum completur aperte. B Nunc is manually added.
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3) nonnulli A : complures B
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4) At longe tumidus miratur Barbarus ira, A : Iratus longe miratur Barbarus illos; B
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5) a muro modice absunt A : haud longe a muro sunt B
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6) oram / tristam A : illam / terram B
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7) Verses 32-40 are moved before this passage in B.
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8) Arcessunt socios...Lucifer, aucti A : om. B
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9) Ipsi conferti redeunt murumque propinquant. / Excubias caedunt, somno vinoque sepultos, A : Excubias caedunt murumque propinquant. B
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10) lapidosus A : lapidusus B, manually corrected.
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11) Victores iam se credunt, glomerantur et audent. A : Usi tum sudibus pro apta testudine magnis, / Muros dissiliunt horrendis ictibus altos / Castri, quod proprius cernunt: bacchantur inanes, B continues from line 41.
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12) tribuitque B : tributque A, manually corrected tribuitque.
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13) Audaces hostes, densi bacchantur inanes, / Irati tandem accurrunt, hostesque repellunt A : Nonnulli; sed tum accurunt hostesque repellunt. B
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14) istant A, manually corrected. : instant B, manually written over illegible print.
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15) Insistunt tamen et pugnant A : Insistunt tamen et pugnant B, manually corrected Insistunt pugnant tamen et.
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16) Ampla indutus veste senes A : Ampla indutus veste senes B, manually corrected Veste senes ampla indutus.
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17) Cum nablium fragile et baculum sint tela poetae. A : Sed nablium fragile; non tractat tela senectus. B
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18) tum A : et B
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19) Severus A : tyrannus B
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20) acer A : omnes B
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21) Assidet in solio A : In solio assidetB
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22) om. A : «His acri cura medeatur fortibus,» inquit, / Dignis, qui magnam noscant dein tempore Romam! B
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23) sic ignave et stulte demittere A : tam demisse et stulte se flectere B
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24) reor A : arbitror B
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25) Quamvis terrarum felix orbi imperet unus. A : Etsi unus toti orbi terrarum imperet ille. B
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26) Imperio iunget terras populosque remotos. A : Divitias et opes magnas cumulabit ubique. B
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27) Num latet A : Praeterit B
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28) instar centum est Pictorum A : instar centum est Pictorum B, manually corrected centum est instar Pictorum.
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29) In quos non virtus A : Non virtus dominatur in illos B, manually corrected to Non virtus in eos.
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30) non mihi Romam / Lapsuram invictam pariter suadebitur unquam!A : sed mihi nunquam / Lapsuram invictam Romam suadebitur apte! B
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31) magno A : magno B, manually corrected gelido.
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32) surgit anicla A : anicula surgit B
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33) scrutatur A : cunctatur B. cunc is manually added.
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34) quum A : cum B
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35) Num domini imperitant animis, iuga corpora spernunt? A : Estne animi imperium, corpus si liber aberret? B
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36) si tibi A : nec tibi B
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37) Francus erit Caesar noster Germanicus olim! A : om. B
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38) amplexi matre A, manually corrected amplexi matrem : amplexi matrem B
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39) Grata Italis...dictione tenebit. A : om. B
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40) dum clamat frustra, expergiscitur amens. A : dum clamat, frustra expergiscitur amens. B
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41) Anconae, a. d. VII Kal. Apriles / Anni MCMXXIX (26 marzo 1929). A : Usus est magister vitae. added manually in B.