Świat "Quidama" i peryferyjna perspektywa Syna Aleksandra z Epiru a obraz Rzymu we francuskiej historiografii połowy XIX wieku (Jean-Jacques Ampère, Amédée Thierry)

The Polish Late Romantic poet Cyprian Norwid (1821–1883) is the author of a long and captivating narrative poem Quidam (written between 1854 and 1859) in which he focuses on Rome during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. In this poem Norwid devotes much attention to the relation between the old, gradually declining pagan world (Greece and Rome) and the revealed religions from the Orient (Christianity and Judaism). This narrative about the time of intellectual and spiritual transition owes its originality to a particularly Polish (East Central European) perspective. It appears that the specific ambience of Hadrian’s Rome, the interdependence between old and new is illustriously shown by the title quidam (meaning Alexander’s son) who has arrived from the periphery of the Empire to its centre. A similar “provincial” perspective is sometimes found in contemporary French historiography (Amédée Thierry), but it has a different sense. French historians, while somewhat deliberately actualising Roman history, tend to identify the fate of the Empire with contemporary France (although Gaul was Rome’s province). Norwid’s more complicated attitude is reflected in the construction of the main protagonist (Alexander’s son). Due to his origin, he never identifies with Rome, but he feels strongly attracted to ancient Greece, although he also notices the absence of vitality of the “exclusive” Greek spirit. Alexander’s son is existentially privileged since he understands the emptiness of his times, but he lacks the ability to fill this void with a new life. It is possible to transfer the relation between the Empire’s periphery (the province) and its centre (Rome) to Norwid’s times and to link it with his status as a Polish emigré in France, although there exists no full symmetry between these two worlds. The perspective of the narrator of Quidam often merges with the point of view of Alexander’s son, but the difference is that the former knows more: he can grasp the fate of his main character in the context of “holy history” (Heilsgeschichte). Their closeness contributes – on the other hand – to the possibility of a non-political actualisation of the poem (going beyond the allegory of Poland: Greece oppressed by its neighbours, and Russia as Rome). Norwid’s epoch was—from his “peripheral” point of view—characterised by similar intellectual and spiritual emptiness as that in Hadrian’s Rome.