Mirella Saulini, Historical Archives of the Pontifical Gregorian University
Political Drama is a theatrical genre intending to criticize governments or to convince people to accept a political idea. The purpose of this paper is to compare a political treatise and a work of Political Drama. Both of them, Speculum Principis Christiani by the Jesuit Pedro Ribadeneira (1526-1611) and Flavia Tragoedia by Jesuit Bernardino Stefonio (1560-1620) propose the Christianus Princeps as a model for rulers.
The phrase specula principis indicates a distinct literary genre: a speculum is a sort of a handbook for Emperors, Kings or Princes to make them perfect rulers.
In 1595 Pedro Ribadeneira wrote Tratado de la Réligión y virtudes que deve tener el Princípe christiano, translated into Latin and better known as Speculum Principis Christiani. The treatise polemically responds to Il Principe by Niccolò Machiavelli.
In the jubilee year 1600, Bernardino Stefonio wrote and performed Flavia Tragoedia, set in Rome during the reign of Domitian (81-96 A.D.), who persecuted Christians. Domitian adopted as heirs to the throne of Roman empire his Christian nephews Vespasian and Domitian. It goes without saying that he ignored they were Christians.
Vespasian and Domitian have an important role in Flavia Tragoedia. In the fourth scene of the third act of the tragedy, Saint John the Evangelist assesses them about the virtues that make a perfect emperor, and they answer according to their own faith, of course.
What a model of an emperor do they propose? Is it a model for the Roman emperor or for every emperor in every time?
Undoubtedly the polemist Ribadeneira and the dramatist Stefonio, both Jesuits, formulate a proposal for a politically and morally perfect ruler. There is a link between the models they propose.
Why in the occasion of a jubilee year, did Stefonio write and performe a sort of speculum principis? Is it hearing and seeing, in our terms – theatre, the most effective means not only to provide a moral message but also to convey a political project for a kingdom and for a state?