Rhetorical strategy called the recusatio, starting from the rejection of the epic in the Hellenistic period, developed in diverse ways in Roman poetry (Tibullus, Vergil, Horace, Martial and others). It was often connected with the poet’s declaration of his literary interest, hierarchy or program. The author’s aim is to confront these topoi with Clemens Ianicius’ realization of this strategy in three elegies: Tristia III (Excusat Petro Cmitae, Viro Illustri, Patrono suo, silentium suum Patavinum…), Variae elegiae VI (Verecunde a Petro Cmita petit, ut ei ad Italica studia subsidio sit) and Variae elegiae XI (A Franciscano quodam rogatus, ut in Scotum quiddam scriberet, se illi excusat).
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