The Prooemia, preserved in fragmentary form, which are assigned to books 1 and 7 of the Annals of Ennius, combine the idea of the epic as a sacred song (the story of Rome being the subject of a laudative idealization) with the idea, inherited from Alexandrian poets “philologists”, of poetry as a learned technique. With verses that probably open the poem, Musae quae pedibus magnum pulsatis Olympum (fr. Skutsch 1), Ennius takes openly stand in the Homeric tradition: he usually refers to Homer’s epic model and the poetic function it represented, to inherit him the rôle of initiator (the verse was probably followed by the episode of the dream in which Ennius was consecrated ‘Homer reincarnated’). But at the same time Ennius proclaims himself the first poet dicti studiosus: he suggests an image of himself not only as vates but also as primus inventor of a learned poetry that creates a new language and a new rhythm. This self-definition finds in the Prooemium a favourable space: it is, however, a particular Prooemium since it is not at the beginning of the work but at the beginning of Book 7. Ennius presents his poem and its originality in relation to the topos of primus ego in two Prooemia: at the beginning of the poem, in the form of a dream initiatory as a moment of poetic investiture according to the Theogony, and then at the beginning of Book 7 in literary terms, making an agonistic reference to Naevius. The political function and duty of the Roman poet requires a poetic form that defines new literary terms. This definition is the only one that can reflect the rôle of the poet and express the change of the poetic function in relation to the model of the poet “philologist” of Alexandrian tradition.

The Prooemia, preserved in fragmentary form, which are assigned to books 1 and 7 of the Annals of Ennius, combine the idea of the epic as a sacred song (the story of Rome being the subject of a laudative idealization) with the idea, inherited from Alexandrian poets “philologists”, of poetry as a learned technique. With verses that probably open the poem, Musae quae pedibus magnum pulsatis Olympum (fr. Skutsch 1), Ennius takes openly stand in the Homeric tradition: he usually refers to Homer’s epic model and the poetic function it represented, to inherit him the rôle of initiator (the verse was probably followed by the episode of the dream in which Ennius was consecrated ‘Homer reincarnated’). But at the same time Ennius proclaims himself the first poet dicti studiosus: he suggests an image of himself not only as vates but also as primus inventor of a learned poetry that creates a new language and a new rhythm. This self-definition finds in the Prooemium a favourable space: it is, however, a particular Prooemium since it is not at the beginning of the work but at the beginning of Book 7. Ennius presents his poem and its originality in relation to the topos of primus ego in two Prooemia: at the beginning of the poem, in the form of a dream initiatory as a moment of poetic investiture according to the Theogony, and then at the beginning of Book 7 in literary terms, making an agonistic reference to Naevius. The political function and duty of the Roman poet requires a poetic form that defines new literary terms. This definition is the only one that can reflect the rôle of the poet and express the change of the poetic function in relation to the model of the poet “philologist” of Alexandrian tradition.