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.24Valerius also helps us form a picture of the spectacle that the epulum Iovismust have been.He tells us that flute-players wear masks because they wereonce forbidden to eat in Jupiter s temple (something to which they had longbeen accustomed; 2.5.4).After this prohibition they fled to Tibur.Thesenate, concerned about the deserted religious ceremonies (sacra), sent a dele-gation.These senatorial representatives got the flute-players so drunk that73IN IOVIS SACRARIO: IN JUPITER S INNER SANCTUARYthey could be loaded up on carts, and hauled home.From then on flute-players wore masks to hide their shame at the manner of their return.Whatdoes the story tell us about Valerius view of the epulum Iouis? Flute-playersin costume, flute music, triumphal pageantry  these elements help recon-struct a scene that was likely roused to at least half-conscious recollection inthe mind of a Roman who had personally witnessed these restored cere-monies.Such elements would also have contributed to a feeling that divinitywas at work.Interesting too is the emotion through which reconciliation (inboth the cases of the flute-players and of Scipio and Gracchus) is broughtabout.Social harmony is restored through public humiliation and personalshame, very useful emotions in general:25The Romans were ever obsessed with convictions of guilt, disgrace andimminent disaster.& It is just possible that these sickening doubtswere in some perverse manner the most effective goad to action.26Valerius contemporary, Tiberius, was, moreover, especially effective atinducing them,27 and Valerius, in consequence of his  rhetoric, can be espe-cially helpful to an investigation of the emotional side of such issues.28 Agod, spectacle, and guilt seem favorable enough conditions indeed forpersonal perceptions of divine transformation.Returning then, after this circumstantial tour to that particular epulumwhen social harmony was restored, we must note, aside from divinity, anotherforce of reconciliation.Scipio s daughter embodies (literally) another divineforce of reconciliation.Cornelia is the noble daughter of a noble father.Assuch, she constitutes a reservoir of a sacred force, pudicitia.29 Proper mainte-nance of pudicitia promotes of course social harmony at home and success atwar abroad.30 It suffices here to note that Valerius, apart from the rhetoricalprominence granted the sacra, has brought together a constellation of forcesthat allows us to conclude that divinity had a hand in the reconciliation ofScipio and Gracchus.Valerius readers would likely have grasped suchconnections intuitively.The sacra of the epulum Iouis, granted rhetoricalprominence in the context of a political reconciliation that preventedprecisely the sort of civil strife that almost ruined Rome, must be viewed asan integral component of this exemplum.Religion can add emotions that sanc-tify and justify.That which  feels right will always be more cogent than thatwhich only  appears correct. In short, Valerius increased religiosity providesa basis for more generalized political and universalizing lessons (about socialharmony and its foundations) for an audience located in the present.Scipio, supplication, and reconciliationValerius relates other anecdotes in which both Publius Scipio AfricanusMajor and Jupiter Best and Greatest play a part.In fact, over half the anec-74IN IOVIS SACRARIO: IN JUPITER S INNER SANCTUARYdotes involving Iuppiter Optimus Maximus involve Scipio as well, and it is tothese we shall turn next.We will sketch some tentative observationsregarding Jupiter and Scipio, after which we shall turn to other RomanJupiters, proceed to foreign Jupiters, and then finally take stock of IuppiterValerianus.Not only did Jupiter Optimus Maximus reconcile Scipio to the elderTiberius Gracchus, but Scipio also invoked Jupiter Optimus Maximus toreconcile the Roman people to himself.Valerius sets the scene: Scipio wentto the forum on the day appointed for his trial on charges of taking bribesfrom Antiochus (along with his brother Lucius whom he had accompaniedto Asia; 3.7.1).The year was 187 BC,31 and Scipio had torn up the accountbooks he was supposed to place in Jupiter Optimus Maximus temple.But,granted permission to speak by a tribune of the plebs, Scipio ascends therostra, places the triumphal crown on his head (we note that during theepulum Iouis, Jupiter Optimus Maximus was himself arrayed as atriumphator;32 such visual connections must have been readily apparent tothe assembled crowd, especially one accustomed to seeing Scipio linger inthe Capitoline temple), and speaks:hoc ego, & Quirites, die Karthaginem magna spirantem legesnostras accipere iussi: proinde aequum est uos mecum ire inCapitolium supplicatum.(Valerius 3.7.1)On this very day, my fellow citizens, I compelled threateningCarthage to submit to our laws: it is therefore fitting that you gowith me to the Capitol to offer humble thanks.After Scipio bids the people participate in religious observance, the crowd isoverawed, and all depart for Rome s holy center.The crowd includes thewhole senate, the entire equestrian order, and all the plebs [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]