Aristidea VI: ritrovare il bandolo della matassa. Quattro nodi esegetici nel Primo Discorso sacro (or. 47, 4-5; 47, 7-8; 47, 28; 47, 41)

The article proposes a method of investigation for the exegesis and constitutio textus of the Sacred Tales. It consists of a multi-level analysis in which content-based inquiry, linguistic micro-analysis, and narratological theory must be combined and continuously adapted not only to the analogical-associative mechanisms that shape Aristides’ mind, but also to his strong identity as a rhetorician, a chronic patient, and a devotee of Asclepius. This method is then tested on four case studies drawn from the First Sacred Tale (Aristid. or. 47, 4-5; 47, 7-8; 47, 28; 47, 41), which raise issues of chronological reconstruction or present difficulties in distinguishing between dream and reality. The passages examined make it possible to identify specific textual problems and to describe distinctive features of Aristides’ idiolect.