L’oracolo e il parricidio. Mito ‘in filigrana’ nella Declamazione maggiore 4

The paper is based upon the insights of Mary Beard, who looks at declamation as a form of Roman myth-making. In this perspective, I propose a reading of pseudo-Quintilian’s Major Declamation 4, which seems to engage in a mutual dialogue with the myth of Oedipus and, particularly, with Seneca’s namesake drama. Such a rewriting of the myth moves from a combination and selection of its main issues (oracle, parricide) and aims to open new interstices. In this way, the mythical plot goes through a process of Romanization: the tragic hero turns into a declamatory vir fortis and a Senecan sapiens, so preserving its world from the contamination of parricide.