Cornélio Nepos, a biografia política e a competição aristocrática na República Romana Tardia

Abstract

This dissertation aims to examine the sociopolitical and cultural tensions and disputes that characterized late Republican society (historical timeframe: 44-27 BCE) through the lens of contemporary biographical/historiographical works from the period. Using as research sources two biographies by Cornelius Nepos, especially the Life of Atticus (a Roman intellectual of the 1st century BCE) and the Life of Epaminondas (a Theban general of the 4th century BCE), we will explore, among other questions, the extent to which the biographer employed his literary work as a means of political intervention in a context marked by social instability and the imminent rise of autocratic power in Rome. Among the structural transformations underway during this period, we observe a certain decline in behavioral norms anchored in the mos maiorum, which helps us understand the moralizing nature of Nepos's biographies and his reiteration of ethical values rooted in the Republican tradition. As a methodological framework, we draw on the works of Antoine Compagnon, Pedro Paulo Funari, Antonio Cândido, and others. Theoretically, we rely on contributions from scholars such as François Dosse, Pierre Bourdieu and Reinhart Koselleck. Additionally, we will engage with concepts such as allelopoiesis, exempla, portrait, and repertoire.