can't test eloquent with php unit

I try to implement some unit tests with phpUnit, on a project that uses Eloquent. The installation is made with composer for both frameworks. But when I try to implement a simple example test, it fails loading database.php

the example test

include("database.php");
class ArticleControllerTest extends TestCase
{


    public function testAccueil()
    {
        //récupère la date du jour
        $a = \app\model\Article::first();

        $this->assertInternalType("string", $a->titreGeneral);

    }
}

Database.php

<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Illuminate\Container\Container;
use Illuminate\Database\Capsule\Manager as Capsule;
use Illuminate\Events\Dispatcher;

$capsule = new Capsule;

$capsule->addConnection(array(
    'driver'    => 'mysql',
    'host'      => 'localhost',
    'database'  => 'spectacles',
    'username'  => 'root',
    'password'  => 'root',
    'charset'   => 'utf8',
    'collation' => 'utf8_unicode_ci',
    'prefix'    => ''
));
$capsule->setEventDispatcher(new Dispatcher(new Container));
$capsule->setAsGlobal();

$capsule->bootEloquent();

error message with these script

PHP Warning:  include(../../database.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/spectacles/TestUnits/controllerTest/ArticleControllerTest.php on line 6

Warning: include(../../database.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/spectacles/TestUnits/controllerTest/ArticleControllerTest.php on line 6

PHP Warning:  include(): Failed opening '../../database.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:') in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/spectacles/TestUnits/controllerTest/ArticleControllerTest.php on line 6

Warning: include(): Failed opening '../../database.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:') in /Applications/MAMP/htdocs/spectacles/TestUnits/controllerTest/ArticleControllerTest.php on line 6

And error messages when I try to put the code in database.php directly in the example test :

PDOException: SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] No such file or directory

I don't think the problem comes prom the paths (they are the right paths). Did I miss something ?