Sub imagine pacis non pacem, sed bella gerunt: The Trojan embassy and war under the guise of peace in Dracontius’ “Abduction of Helen” (Rom. 8.255–256).

Abstract

The episode with the Trojan embassy occupies a central place both in terms of plot and structure in the 5th-century poet Dracontius’ epyllion “The Abduction of Helen” (De Raptu Helenae = Romulea 8 = Rom. 8). It is after the failure of peace negotiations with Telamon regarding the return of Priam’s sister Hesione, i. e., the main mission of the ambassadors, that the kidnapping of Helen — the key event of the poem — occurs, followed by the Trojan War. The author’s words opening the scene have not been the subject of special research or commentary until recent years. It was only in 2019 that the German researcher K. Pohl, author of the most recent translation and edition of ‘Helen’ to date, drew attention to them. It concerns the characterization of the delegates: that those “under the guise of peace bring not peace but war” (Rom. 8.255–256). To the question whether these words contain direct criticism of the ambassadors, whether Dracontius considers them, at least in part, guilty of further tragic events, Pohl answers in the affirmative, implying first of all the unprofessional behavior of the negotiators. Diaz de Bustamante, relying precisely on the episode with Apollo’s prophecy, once called doom the main force responsible for the war, but in a positive way for the Trojans: after all, the deity promised them “unlimited power”. Since the researcher did not give any further arguments, and Apollo did not seem to act in the interests of the Trojans and tried to lead them astray, this point of view was rejected in the scholarly literature — and, as I try to argue, it seems unfair.