Le rejet de la tragoedia et les tragiques dans l’Orestis de Dracontius à la lumière du manifeste inaugural : Te rogo, Melpomene, tragicis descende cothurnis (Drac. Orestis 13)

The title Orestis tragoedia, traditionally retained, is not authentic for various reasons – generic, literary, because of the transmission of texts and the story of the word tragoedia: I thus propose to choose the title Orestis. Through the metapoetic image of Melpomene’s invocation and reject (v. 13‐14), Dracontius proclaims in fact his refusal of theatrical mimesis and Greek tragedy; he establishes a dialogue with Horace and proclaims a Roman inspiration, in order to create a new genre, arisen from mastered tragedy. Furthermore, the inflection brought to tragic data shows that Dracontius wants to give a new vision of Orestes’ myth and, by a « writing of memory », to preserve Roman culture. Finally, Orestis reveals an impoverishment of the different expressions of the tragic at the end of the 5^th century.