Choosing the Right King (Virgil, Georg., 4, 67-108)

Résumé 0

Georg. 4, 67–108 has to be considered as an analogical discourse. The beehive provides an analogy for reflecting on the Civil wars (the impious act par excellence as Virgil tells us) as well as on the struggle for power. In his awareness of the contemporary institutional changes, Virgil asserts that the king is no longer legitimate as such. Not only he has to be chosen among the best, but also he has to be shaped and controlled so as to offer moral guarantees that will limit his overwhelming power. Behind the question of the virtues of the prince, appears a further question about the moral value of the population as a whole. As the rex assumes the role of coryphaeus, the people fall in step with him. These few lines prove that Virgil developed a philosophy related to the political upheavals that Rome was undergoing at the time.