Carducci, Cesare e il cesarismo

The role of ancient Rome in Carducci’s works is a problem of great political significance. Roman antiquities provided the poet with numerous positive political myths. In the context of Carducci’s memory of the Roman past, the figure of Julius Caesar had a more ambiguous role, as the name ‘Caesar’ could indicate tyrants of the past or current time. The poet thus took part in the debate on Caesarism, which was very lively in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. The concept of Caesarism was tightly connected to the political and military deeds of Napoleon I and Napoleon III. Carducci’s contribution to the reflection on this theme is mainly represented by two sonnets entitled "Il cesarismo", composed in 1868 in order to indirectly condemn the unlawful aspects of Napoleon III’s power. The present contribution aims to place Carducci’s reflection on Caesarism within the nineteenth-century debate and to emphasize its elements of originality.