Omnibus in commune: sguardi su Traiano e sulla civitas (che guarda Traiano)

This paper aims at evaluating the visual dynamics constructed in Pliny’s Panegyricus in praise of Trajan. I focus on specific comparisons between the visual features Pliny associates to Trajan and those Seneca assigns to Nero in his De Clementia, while both resorting to the highly-visual metaphor of the Emperor-sun – with a few insights into the visual characterisation of Domitian in Statius’
Silviae. Through the looking-glass provided by the comparisons, it will be shown how the way in which Pliny portraits the civitas looking at and interacting with Trajan – and makes the reader, which is part of the civitas itself, experience the same vision – is not only an epiphenomenal expression of Trajan’s ‘good’ power but actively engaged in crafting its perception and its very reality.