by Ida Renzicchi (Written and translated from Italian by the author)
SEBASTIAN the “ius exilii”
Sebastian and I, who had made use of the jus exilii *, never returned to our homeland. Even when our ``voluntary`` confinement could have been said to be over, we no longer had the strength to reset our lives again: the events that had occurred had also changed the landscape of our souls. Like others, unaware, we had imposed on ourselves, after millennia of history, the same condemnation in force in ancient Rome, because time passes but certain situations keep recurring. `{`...`}` I remember my mother who, before my departure, hugged me and kissed me while whispering in my ear: ``Don't come back! Whatever happens, don't come back! Swear to me that you won't go back...``, she hurriedly pushed me out of the door where, before I crossed the threshold of the house forever, she had pronounced, loudly, so as to be heard by those who were surely listening to us: ``Don't forget my love … have a good trip… behave well… and study eh… I'll wait for you… see you soon!”. I had replied: “Yes, yes!” Yes to what? That I would never come back or that I would have sense, that I would have studied… that I would have had a good trip? I didn't know either. My heart and brain were in turmoil. All that pretending to be a normal situation, when nothing was normal at all…
All rights are reserved to the author. Reproduction and any other, even partial not authorized by the author, use, is prohibited. The text publication is permitted for non-profit educational and cultural purposes with the permission and authorization of the author. For any contacts with the author: idarenzicchi@katamail.com idarenzicchi@gmail.com
*JUS EXILII. According to Roman penal law, the condemned to death was given the option of escaping the execution by voluntarily submitting to exile before the sentence. In this case the judge sentenced him in absentia to the aquae et ignis interdictio. The jus exilii was fully considered capital punishment, as it entailed the loss of the condition of Roman citizen and, if the defendant had returned to Roman territory, he would not have regained legal subjectivity and would have been considered a public enemy so no one would have helped and anyone could have attacked or killed him with impunity.
*”COURSES AND RECOURSES”
In May 2022, once again in history, a nation placed on the index, banning their printing and withdrawing them from sale, comprising online sales, some literary works including two dystopian novels: the famous masterpiece “1984” by the British writer George Orwell and Olgerd Bakharevich’s “Dogs of Europe”.
For people who have already lived the experience of repression and intellectual censorship, the news brings to mind excruciating memories of a period believed to have passed, when the lack of freedom caused death and despair: then, under the aegis of rights and equality, a regime, after having subverted the previous power considered liberticidal, had ended up in the complete negation of those same ideals of which it had proclaimed itself a champion.
Preventing knowledge is a serious crime, detrimental to the freedoms of others.
Ida Renzicchi
∗ Immagini di Regina KIRILLOV click here
