Wisdom in politics, wisdom in battle: some characters of the Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata
Resumo
This contribution is intended to consider some of the characters in the
apoftegmatic collection, who can extricate themselves from difficult political and war
situations, showing to be able to act in an intelligent and reasonable way, and avoiding
that insane passions can take over and, consequently, may compromise the stability
and integrity of the state or of the army. The pronounced sentences given by them are
a clue of φρόνησις and σωφροσύνη, clearly or vaguely expressed terms within this
pamphlet. The anecdotes are analyzed from an intratextual point of view, highlighting
the various rhetorical devices the author uses, and in an intertextual viewpoint, in
order to highlight the affinities and/or discrepancies that emerge from the comparison
of the variants of the same anecdote in Plutarch’s works.