プルタルコス『対比列伝』と英雄伝承 : 『テミストクレス・カミルス伝』の統一的解釈の試み

抄録

A special feature of Plutarch's Parallel Lives is that although individual lives are sometimes read as independent histories, each pair of biographies, one Greek and one Roman, forms a single unit. Some scholars see them as parallel lives: Erbse and Lamour, for example, held that certain pairs share a proem and a postscript that together offer central points for interpretation; Stadter thought that each pair contained an important keyword; Duff took the view that each pair dealt with an identical moral problem. In this paper, I treat the Lives of Themistocles and Camillus as a single unit with a pair of contrasted heroes and offer an interpretation in terms of literary influence. Some scholars have already pointed out that several of Plutarch's Lives show literary influences. De Lacy noted that Plutarch used tragic expressions to indicate antipathy towards certain persons, while Mossman found traces of tragedy and epic in the Life of Alexander; Zadorojnyi discovered the same thing in the Life of Crassus. One of Greek mythology's most famous pairings of contrasted heroes is that of Achilles and Odysseus: they are respectively (1) emotional and rational, (2) marked by powerful soliloquy and ingenuous speech, (3) brave and tricky, (4) dying young in battle, surviving war and wandering for many years. In Plutarch's Lives of Themistocles and Camillus, Themistocles plays the role of Odysseus, Camillus that of Achilles. In similar situations, they act in contrary ways: Themistocles' first political success is achieved with a trick, while Camillus succeeds through brave military action; Themistocles does not hesitate to make use of a betrayer, while Camillus rejects such a man; Themistocles is skilful at self-justification, while Camillus is poor. While the Life of Themistocles contains many episodes that recall Odysseus, such as the metaphor of the Trojan Horse, bribery of his enemy and the drift to Sicily, the Life of Camillus alludes directly to Achilles: 'just like Achilles'. At the same time, the structure of the Life of Themistocles echoes the legends of Odysseus, while the Life of Camillus is similarly modelled on the acts of Achilles. The Life of Themistocles highlights the battle of Salamis during which his tricks are emphasized, while one third of his Life is devoted to his romantic wandering, with episodes that suggest the Odysseus legends, as when Themistocles presents himself unidentified at Court. The Life of Camillus includes some stories that call the Iliad to mind, such as his absence from the battlefield, the plight of his country and eventual victory following his return; we may note especially that during the Gallic invasion Camillus became angry and cursed the Romans, a curse overheard by a god who exacts due punishment, an episode which is totally absent in Livy. Why did Plutarch model Themistocles on Odysseus and Camillus on Achilles? We can suggest three motives: (1) to illuminate their fundamental characters, (2) to compact each Life by extracting the specific heroic elements, (3) to make two Lives a single unit by means of contrast.