Néron

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani approaches Nero mainly through Racine's Britannicus. He dwells on the "nascent monster" who answers Britannicus with "Rome is silent, at least imitate its silence"1. He often returns to the scene in which Nero, in love with Junie after she has been abducted at night, dreams of her and moves from threat to entreaty: he reads in it a sadomasochism condensed "into a line and a half"23. Nero also serves him as a figure of absolute power, whose infinite desire drives it to destroy the finite4. He compares him to the prince of the "Conte", who kills those who follow him, and repeatedly pairs him with Caligula as a figure of destructive power. He also uses him as the Hegelian example of the empire in which only one is free. He recalls that Nero set the palaces ablaze and ordered Seneca to commit suicide. In 2024, however, he qualifies this portrait: in his view, history has blackened Nero because he enjoyed the favour of the populares5.

1. 1#2.6 Entre crise et guerre : Philosopher ?1 Aug 2017 · 36:00
2. 2Racine4 Feb 2019 · 40:39
3. 3#14 Cavernes d'Hier et d'Aujourd'hui - De Platon à la modernité10 Jun 2022 · 53:09
4. 4#15 Nietzsche : Pertinence philosophique ou musicale ? Réponses aux questions23 Jun 2022 · 3:43
5. 5L'après scrutin - Entrée en zone de turbulences11 Jul 2024 · 49:41

Summary produced automatically from 18 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.