Prince et citoyen : essai sur le charisme de l’empereur romain, d’Auguste à Sévère Alexandre
- Collection:
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Nb. de pages:
450
Description
L’analyse de ce paradoxal « monarque républicain » met en évidence les pratiques du primus inter pares (premier entre ses pairs) et du civilis princeps (prince citoyen), à l’origine d’un charisme différent selon que le prince interagissait avec les primores Vrbis ou avec le reste du populus. Fondée sur une civilitas qui évitait en partie la « quotidianisation » du charisme parce qu’elle réaffirmait périodiquement l’exceptionnalité de l’abaissement impérial, la domination de cet homme à la fois prince et citoyen tirait sa singularité du respect affiché pour les pouvoirs légaux-rationnels et traditionnels au fondement de la cité.
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Based on an adaptation of the Weberian concept of charisma, this book examines a system situated midway between respect for republican norms and the construction of a monarchy that is linked to the charismatic domination of the Roman emperor. The main objective of this study is to consider the attitude of princes who built their charisma as monarchs by acting like “normal” citizens, or by adopting behaviours inherited from the Republican times: the more the emperor lowered himself, the higher he rose, and the higher he rose, the more he had to lower himself. If he took care to maintain such a dynamic, he was praised as a good monarch because he was a good citizen, and vice versa.
Analyzing this paradoxical “republican monarch” highlights the practices of the primus inter pares (first among equals) and of the civilis princeps (citizen prince), which gave strength to a different charisma, based on the prince interacting with the primores Vrbis or with the rest of the populus. Founded on a civilitas that partly avoided the “routinization” of charisma by periodically reaffirming the exceptionality of imperial debasement, the domination of this man who was at the same time prince and citizen drew its singularity from the respect shown for the legal-rational and traditional powers at the foundation of the city.