Fra antico e moderno: Leopardi, Stratone di Lampsaco e i Moralisti greci

Abstract

In the Autumn of 1825 Leopardi writes his Frammento apocrifo di Stratone da Lampsaco. The text would only be published in 1845 in the posthumous edition of Leopardi’s Opere (Florence, Le Monnier). The fragment was composed about a year after the Cantico del Gallo silvestre, which concluded the manuscript of 1824, and recovers its fictitious frame (an allegedly found manuscript), turning the conclusion of the Operette from poetica to filosofica. The inspiration behind the choice of Strato is identified in Bayle’s Dictionnaire (in the entry for Spinoza Theophrastus’ ‘physicist’ pupil is considered as a possible precursor of the modern philosopher). However, a close examination of all possible sources does not suffice to explain the more ambitious undertaking carried out by Leopardi who, in those months, appears to be looking for a connection between ancient testimonies (Cicero, Diogenes Laertius, Plutarch) and modern reinterpretations, especially eighteenth-century ones, of Stratonian materialism. In examining the operetta’s Preambolo, the essay aims to investigate the connection between the unfinished project of the Moralisti greci and the Frammento, whilst documenting Leopardi’s tendency towards an instrumental interpretation of classical texts.