Fortuna e consilium: la vicenda di una massima attribuita al mimografo Publilio

Abstract

The most extensive collection of sententiae currently attributed to the mimographer of Caesarian age Publilius circulated throughout the Middle Ages and early modern time under the name Senecae proverbia. This paper focuses on one of these maxims, dealing with the power that fate (fortuna) and rationa­lity (consilium) exert over human life. This study was inspired by one of the scrolls depicted in the so-called Giorgione’s Frieze in Castelfranco Veneto featuring this sententia, because it appears here with a textual variation that completely overturns the meaning of the γνώμη. After having analyzed what may have been its original facies, an attempt is made to reconstruct the history of the circulation of this sententia, from Antiquity to Modern times. The paper will then suggest a possible source for the textual innovation and put forward the point in time when this shift might have occurred. Framing this shift will allow us to further investigate its connection to the cultural context and uncover the relationship between fortune and virtue developed during Humanism and Renaissance.