How to Justify a Murderer: Ancient Rhetorical Echoes in Alexandre Sylvain Van den Bussche’s Épitomes de cent histoires tragiques

Abstract

In 1581, Alexandre Sylvain Van den Bussche published in Paris his most significant work, Épitomes de cent histoires tragiques, a collection formally indebted to Seneca the Elder’s Controversiae. The thematic material is derived both from classical and contemporary sources, while also reflecting the inventive capacity of an erudite author who freely appropriates ancient exempla in order to illuminate the realities of the sixteenth century. Each epitome is structured in three parts: an initial exposition of the case, followed by two opposing orations articulating pro et contra positions. Of particular scholarly interest is the judicial discourse that subjects the act of homicide to moral evaluation. In this context, one observes – often with considerable astonishment – the paradoxical construction of the speaker’s ethos (whether as prosecutor or advocate), the deployment of a rigorously organized network of arguments and rhetorical figures, and the calculated appeal to the affective disposition of the reader, who assumes the role of witness to a simulated trial. Through these strategies, the author foregrounds a striking form of axiological relativism. Such a procedure deliberately destabilizes the interpretive horizon of the audience, compelling them to interrogate values that might otherwise appear self-evident. It provokes a series of unsettling questions: must the individual who has killed with premeditation necessarily be judged guilty? Are we confronted with sophistic reasoning? Can the author be regarded as a neutral arbiter? Ultimately, it is the reader who bears the responsibility of exercising critical initiative in the search for answers.