The classroom is full of students; Aurora is sitting at the front, very different from where the old Aurora used to sit. Professor Martini enters wearing a gray suit and a black tie, his silver-rimmed glasses resting on his eyes, he announces that today they will review primary sources from the 18th century, and that is enough to make some of those present nervous. Aurora in her seat takes notes by hand, in her pastel pink hardcover notebook.
Sabrina enters with a determined step and a calculated smile. She was wearing a short, tight beige dress and a white linen jacket; her heels resonate like small gallops every time they touch the ground. She greets as always with her false kindness that does not fool everyone, she walks to a place not far from Aurora, but without saying a word to her. Both know that nothing will be the same between them.
Professor Martini, a thin man with eyebrows as bushy as his bibliographic citations, activates a floating screen above his desk. In the air, the image of an ancient manuscript opens, with slanted letters and margins full of notes.
"Today we will discuss a letter from Giambattista Vico, dated 1743, where he anticipates some ideas that would later inspire the Neapolitan Enlightenment. This document was rediscovered in 1981. At first it was considered apocryphal, until it was compared with other letters preserved in the Filangieri archive. Let's see…" He leans over and reads it aloud: "L’ordine delle cose civili ha natura che si disfa e si ricompone…".
Several heads rise. Martini looks up recognizing the young woman's voice.
"Sabrina, since you quoted Vico in your last essay, could you explain to us what he means by that fragment? What does it mean within his conception of"corsi e ricorsi storici"?"
Sabrina smiles. She tucks her reddish hair behind her ear, ready to overshadow Aurora.
"Sure… Well, Vico speaks of the order of things… as… something that is undone and redone, right? Like history… is like a cycle. Everything repeats… although, uh, not literally… it's more like a metaphor."
Some students exchange glances because she doesn't really say anything. Martini cocks his head and lowers his glasses to the tip of his nose.
"And what is the difference between the Vico's"ricorso"and mere historical repetition? What makes it philosophically innovative?"
Sabrina is silent for a second. Then she gives a somewhat tense smile.
"Well… I think… what makes it innovative is that… Vico, uh, says that not everything repeats exactly the same, but that... it changes. Over time."
The professor nods slowly, as someone who lets you speak, but has already taken note. His gaze sweeps the classroom and stops at Aurora, who almost speaks to him with her eyes.
"Miss Aurora?"
Aurora raises her chin. There is no rush in her face. Just an almost out of place calm, her back straight and her legs crossed elegantly.
"Yes, professor."
"Would you like to answer?"
Aurora nods and speaks without consulting notes. Her voice is clear and calm.
"The Vico's"ricorso"is not simple repetition, but a structured return that obeys the phases of the development of societies: the era of the gods, the era of the heroes and the era of men. Vico argues that, after the moral collapse of the latter, society returns to a stage similar to the first, but transformed. It is not a literal repetition, but a spiral evolution. Thus, his conception of historical time moves away from Cartesian linearity and anticipates the organic visions of history. That is the innovation." Her voice sounds calm, but it feels like she has given a scolding.
The classroom is in total silence. For a few seconds, only the slight hum of the screen in front of them is heard.
Professor Martini nods respectfully.
"Very good. That is, effectively, the key. Vico proposes a cyclical but not circular model. Thank you, Miss Rossetti."
Sabrina looks ahead, with her chin tense and, without anyone noticing, her fist clenches; it was unheard of that that poor idiot would make a fool of her.
A hand rises from further back. It is Lucia, the young woman with dark hair tied in a braid, who is usually behind where Aurora is sitting. Her voice is curious, without challenge.
"Aurora, where did you learn all that? Don't tell me it was in the platform summary, because I don't think it's there."
Aurora puts her pen back in its case before answering.
"I have read Vico, a lot. In ancient Italian and in modern translations. I also read his letters and the comments that Gentile dedicated to him in 1910. It's not so much… knowing it, but having read it enough to understand how he thought."
Lucia watches her carefully. That confident young woman is not the poor puppet everyone knows. Then she smiles with a genuine gesture.
"Well… I officially declare myself impressed. If you have an afternoon to spare someday, I would love to study with you. It would do me good to see how you study."
Aurora nods, with that firm kindness that asks for nothing in return.
"It will be a pleasure, miss." The young woman laughs and Aurora mentally scolds herself because she knows that she must stop talking like that.
When the class ends, Sabrina leaves before anyone else, without looking back. Her pace is faster than usual. Rage consumes her like boiling lava.
Lucia approaches Aurora at the foot of the outer staircase, at about two in the afternoon.
"I don't know how you do it," she says, "but every time you speak it seems that the words seek you out, not the other way around."
Aurora shrugs with a slight smile.
"There are things that are not chosen. They are only remembered; the key is to read and I know how to do it."
Lucia looks at her curiously, but doesn't ask anything else.
And Aurora appreciates, in silence, that prudence. Because the truth, even if she could tell it, would not do her any good. Nobody would believe that inside her still breathes the soul of a woman who died in 1762, who knows the margins of manuscripts that even today nobody has seen. Nobody must know it. Nobody will know it.
Aurora feels satisfied; without planning it, her first battle, although small, has been won against that vile traitor. Although she is willing to live with dignity and respect for the law, she recognizes that the desire to fix everything as Giuseppa would is present and she tries to control it at every moment.
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