Utinam nunc matrescam ingenio!’ Pacuvio, fr. 18.139 R.3 e il paradosso della somiglianza materna nella cultura romana,

Abstract: In Pacuvius’ Dulorestes frg. 18.139 R.3 (utinam nunc matrescam ingenio, ut meum patrem ulcisci queam!) the hapax matresco seems signalling the paradox of becoming similis matris as a requirement to do an action, the matricide, which will turn around the mother herself. The Pacuvian reinterpretation of the myth of Orestes seems to be based on the overturning of the Roman model (that is to follow the father's path, the generis fatum). The struggle of following the mother's path (similes matris) ranks the Pacuvian persona loquens among the Latin heroes/heroines (i.e. Hippolytus, Phaedra, Deianira, Hermione) characterized by an unusual resemblance to their mother and, in so doing, it overturns the canon; in fact what the generis fatum has prescribed do not lead to virtue but to its opposite. .