TRAJAN AND PREDESTINATION FOR TRIUMPH Notes for a study of the triumphal semantics in the Panegyric of Pliny the Younger

A close reading of Pliny the Younger's Panegyric to Trajan reveals that its discursive structure is enriched by several references to the triumph, even if it was held only afterward, in 102 CE. Through the detection of these features and the analysis of selected passages of the text, I will highlight all its details and evidence related to this kind of imagery. My main aim is clarifying the way in which they can interplay with the eulogistic devices of the discourse. Hence, I will demonstrate if and how their presence allows the association of the character of Trajan the laudandus with those of the great triumphatores of the Roman Republican tradition.