“Farei de você um exemplo”: tradução integral, com notas e comentários, do Epítome das Histórias Filípicas, de Justino

Abstract

The corpus of this study is Justin’s Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus. Little is known about its author – who is conventionally called Justin –, and the possibilities for its dating range from the 2nd to the 4th century of the Common Era. We did a qualitative research based on bibliographic sources with the main objective of analyzing the construction of exempla in this text. For this purpose, we selected as object characters from the first half of the Epitome, which occur in some of the longest narratives in the text. This selection is justified because we consider that, in these cases, there would be better detailing of their characteristics. The analysis of their actions is based on the concept of exemplum, as presented by ancient authors, such as Cicero and Quintilian, and contemporary researchers, such as Rebecca Langlands (2018) and Matthew Roller (2018). Additionally, we sought definitions of vices and virtues commonly linked to exempla in Latin texts, mainly that of Valerius Maximus. We consider that Justin’s text is located at the intersection between history and rhetoric, and the construction of his exempla is more extensive than would be expected in works of a rhetorical nature due to the fact that the author presents his themes from a point of view that privileges foreigners, thus combining teaching with delight and guaranteeing something new for his immediate readership. Observing the lack of an extensive and accessible translation of the Epitome in Portuguese, we translated the work entirely from the Latin text established by Marie-Pierre Arnaud-Lindet (2003, cf. Justinus), and our translation is based on Antoine Berman’s propositions (2007 [1985]). Along with the translation, there are notes and an onomastic index, and we hope that these elements can contribute to the visibility of Justin’s text for the entire Portuguese-speaking world.