De Heliogabalo fertur (ferunt), dicitur..

Nelu ZUGRAVU

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2024-0008

Abstract. The text analyzes the incidence of the verbs fertur (ferunt) and dicitur in the biography of Elagabalus from the Historia Augusta, reaching the conclusion that they are found almost entirely in chapters XVIII, 4-XXXIII – a “catalogue” of multiple and unbelievable excesses of Elagabalus, committed overwhelmingly as privatus; they introduce apocryphal dialogues, direct or indirect dicta principis, allusions, rumors that the anonymous hypocritically tries to avoid, calumnies, fabellae difficult to verify, lines reproduced from ancient poets, parodied after them or “originals”, omina imperii invented. Therefore, both expressions are part of the category of narrative tools that reveal the uncertainty of what is reported, the relative quality of the sources, the filtered, “secondary”, “retold”, “ambiguous” character of the historical narrative, the absence of documentary support in some columns of the biography, a fact that gave free rein to imagination and exaggerations.

Keywords: Elagabalus; Historia Augusta; fertur (ferunt); dicitur; narrative tools.