Irruption et résolution de la violence dans la vie d’un rhéteur du IVe siècle : l’expérience de Libanios d’après l’Autobiographie (Oratio 1)

How does Libanios account for certain personal or collective events that can be related to the category of violence in his autobiography? The outbreak of violence against individuals, in particular Libanios himself, is related to the furious madness, drunkenness, or greed of certain individuals; the desire for revenge and slanderous denunciations are questioned in the context of professional rivalries or in political-religious oppositions. Contempt for the laws by the people and the incompetence or passions of the powerful are invoked by Libanios in the outbreak of collective violence. The end of violence is related to reparation, to the clemency of the powerful, to the magnanimity of the victim, to the power of speech, and to Fortune very often. Libanios’ text encourages us to open the intermediate category of avoiding the emergence of violence, through withdrawal, through the search for protectors or the establishment of a relationship of friendship, through prudent behavior, or thanks to Fortune which makes enemies disappear.