O bosque na literatura latina: respeito ou violações ao sagrado

Abstract

This article contains excerpts from various Latin authors, ranging from Cato, the Elder, to Lucan, the poet of Pharsalia. Based on these testimonies, our goal is to comment on how the ancient Romans usually considered certain types of natural spaces to be sacred. The woods are included in this category because they were often revered or feared as the homes of gods or goddesses, whose power could benefit or harm humans. Because of their belief in this type of interaction between the divine and Nature, representatives of this people frequently venerated and had scruples before the wild spaces. Cato is a good illustration of this respectful attitude because he suggests in several chapters of his book On agriculture that people pray or make atoning sacrifices before harvesting wood from the forest. However, there are still instances in Virgil’s works and the Pharsalia of individuals (such as the Virgilian agricola and Caius Julius Caesar) attacking the woods, with bad consequences.