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and what he means to gain by being forgiven. So the specific move the request for amorous reconciliation cannot be determined by the phrasing, however formulaic. Moreover, though from Alcumena's point of view the request is "happy" (since she believes she is speaking with her husband), the utterance obviously does not fulfill the necessary felicity conditions set down by Austin. |
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The pragmatic confusion, so crucial to the comic effect of the scene, shows considerable metalinguistic sophistication on the part of the poet, and presumes that the audience can appreciate the turns wrung on a well known speech-act (or speech event23 or Sprachspiel). One of the funnier aspects was probably that Juppiter, whatever his position in the cosmic hierarchy, must beg a mortal woman to take him back. This inversion of roles in the distribution of power is pressed home here, since Juppiter is acting out the role of a repentant husband begging for pardon and Alcumena holds the power to grant or withhold it. She begins by insisting on her innocence, and thus on the injustice done to her by Amphitruo's accusations. |
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ALC. Ego istaec feci verba virtute irrita;
nunc, quando factis me impudicis abstini,
ab impudicis dictis avorti volo. |
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ALC. I made those words of yours meaningless by my virtue;
now, since I've kept from shameful acts,
I wish to keep from shameful words.
(9257) |
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Then she responds directly to his request: valeas, tibi habeas res tuas, reddas meas ("Goodbye, you may take your things, give me back mine" 928).24 This phrase, as we know from the Twelve Tables, uses the legal language of divorce.25 Uttering the words tuas res tibi habeto (or agito) constituted a repudium (divorce). Thus in the turn where we might have |
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23 This term, which seems to have been introduced by Hymes (1972), is widely used in the ethnography of speech. Cf. Downes (1984) 255ff. for an introduction. The speech event contains 15 components which can be summarized in 8 compartments: Situation, particiants, ends, act sequences, key (tone, manner, etc.), instrumentalities (spoken or written speech, choice of dialect or language), norms (of interpretation and interaction), and "genre." But among the examples of "genre" is a poem! |
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24 On the force of the subjunctives in this verse, cf. Lindsay (1907) 64: "To disentangle the various threads of which the Latin Subj. is composed is not easy. [ . . .] In Amph. 928 valeas, tibi habeas res tuas, reddas meas, the three Subjunctives would, if they occurred in separate sentences, be classified as Optative, Permissive and Imperative respectively. But the crudeness of such a distinction is evident when we find them together in the same line." |
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25 Cicero, Phil. 2.28.69: Illam minam suas res sibi habere iussit, ex XII Tabulis, claves ademit exegit. Quam porro spectatus civis, quam probatus cuius ex omni vita nihil est honestius quam quod cum mima fecit divortium. The example of utterances that ipso facto constitute a divorce in some cultures is used by Austin (1980) 27 and has become a favorite. Cf. Petrey (1990) 9. |
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