“Vigilasne rex? Vigila”. Il doppio corpo del re romano e le sue bellicose resurrezioni primaverili

Starting from the purpose of adding a piece to the understanding of the formation of the primal idea of the monarchical institution, we examine here an odd formula referred in Servius’ commentary on the Aeneid: on an unknown day the vestals virgins used to say to the rex sacrorum «Vigilasne rex? Vigila». Our research deals with two main problems: I. Which is the meaning of the verb ‘vigilare’? II. When the priestesses would have had to pronounce it? Suggesting the opportunity to interpret the verb in its ancient meaning of ‘to wake up’, specifically in the nuance of ‘to regain strength/to flourish’, we use a multi-disciplinary approach leaning on philosophy, anthropology, law, and comparative linguistics, getting to locate the pronunciation of the formula at 1st March, the end of the regifugium, annual celebration at the crossroads peaceful season/warfare season, involving a transformation of the rex, with the symbolically death of his civic face and the re-birth of his warlike side. In the concatenation of a complex annual ceremonial network concerning the figure of the king, the latter is shown as a paradigm of the eternal ambiguity of power, harnessed and kept under control through the instrument of ritual that presides over the mechanisms of the sovereign's continuous death and rebirth.