NU

 

NU

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numerio – Ossia: Grice e Numerio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numerio. The gens Numeria was a minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. Few of its members held any of the higher offices of the Roman state.[1]  Origin As a nomen, Numerius is comparatively scarce relative to the praenomen Numerius, from which it is derived.[2] Numerius was not a particularly common praenomen, and is widely believed to have been of Sabine or Oscan origin, although despite its scarcity it was widely diffused among the Roman plebeians, and even received limited use by a few patrician families. According to Varro, there was a goddess Numeria, to whom women prayed during childbirth. She was mentioned in the ancient prayers recited by the Pontifex Maximus, and Varro writes that the praenomen Numerius was given to children who were born quickly.[1] As with other gentilicia that share a form with praenomina and cognomina, it is often difficult to determine whether persons named Numerius bore it as a praenomen, nomen, or cognomen.  Praenomina The Numerii seem to have used a relatively restricted number of praenomina. From extant records and inscriptions, they used primarily Gaius, Marcus, and Publius. A few Numerii are known to have borne different praenomina, including Quintus, Lucius, and Gnaeus. All of these were very common throughout Roman history.  Members This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation. Numerius, a friend of Marius, who lent him a ship at Ostia, when the general fled Rome after being proscribed by Sulla in 88 BC. There is some uncertainty as to whether Numerius was his nomen, or his praenomen.[i][3] Numerius Numestius,[ii] a friend of Atticus, who recommended Numestius to Cicero.[4] Quintus Numerius Rufus, tribune of the plebs in 57 BC, opposed the recall of Cicero from exile. Cicero thought that Numerius, whom he derisively refers to as Gracchus, had been bribed by his enemies, and states that they considered murdering Numerius in order to place the orator's friends under suspicion.[5][6][7][8][9] Numerius Atticus, a senator of praetorian rank, following the death of Augustus, reported seeing the emperor ascending to the heavens.[iii][10][11][12] Lucius Numerius Albanus, tribunus cohortis in AD 113.[13] Gaius Numerius Major, a decurion buried at Amisos in Pontus and Bithynia.[14] Gaius Numerius C. f. Major, son of the Decurion, who erected a monument in honour of his father.[14] Gaius Numerius, the former master of Agathemerus and Epaphroditus; his wife may have been named Licinia, since her freedwoman was named Licinia Pithane.[15] Gaius Numerius C. l. Agathemerus, a freedman of Gaius Numerius and his wife, mentioned in an inscription from Rome.[15] Gaius Numerius C. l. Epaphroditus, a freedman of Gaius Numerius and his wife, mentioned in an inscription from Rome, together with Epaphroditus' wife, Licinia Pithane, freedwoman of Gaius Numerius' wife.[15] Quintus Numerius Germanus, named in an inscription from Poetovio in Pannonia Superior.[16] Gnaeus Numerius Cn. f. Fronto, a cavalry veteran of the eighth legion, buried at Altinum in Venetia et Histria.[17] Gnaeus Numerius Cn. f. Felix, freedman of Gnaeus Numerius Fronto, also buried at Altinum.[17] Marcus Numerius Martialis, one of the heirs of Helvia Valeria, buried at Nemausus in Gallia Narbonensis.[18] Marcus Numerius Maximinus, the husband of Maximia Nigella, buried at Nemausus.[19] Publius Numerius Martialis Astigitanus, a native and municipal official of Astigi in Hispania Baetica, named in connection with a transaction for one hundred pounds of silver, and as a donor to the public works.[20] Publius Numerius Achilles Astigitanus, perhaps a freedman, buried at Astigi, aged ninety-eight.[21] Marcus Numerius Priscianus, named in a list of soldiers from the fifth cohort at Rome, dating to the beginning of the second century.[22] Quintus Numerius Q. f. Rufus, contributed to the building of a portico at Issa in Dalmatia.[23] Gaius Numerius Victor, mentioned in a funerary inscription from Lambaesis in Numidia.[24] Marcus Numerius, named in an inscription from Lambaesis.[25] Numerius Albanus, governor of Lusitania in AD 336.[12] See also List of Roman gentes Carus, Roman emperor who may have been part of the gens Carinus, Roman emperor and Carus' elder son Numerian, Roman emperor and Carus' younger son Footnotes  It would be unusual to refer to any Roman by praenomen alone, but this was occasionally done with members of the Claudia gens who bore the praenomen Appius, which was rare outside that family, since Appius was typically more distinctive than either a nomen or a cognomen. In theory Numerius could have been treated the same way, although there are no clear examples of it. This may have been Plutarch's intention, however; the Greek writers despaired of the relatively complex and repetitive Roman name.  It is unclear whether Numerius was Numestius' praenomen or nomen. There is an inscription from Paestum mentioning a N(umerius) Numestius Callistratus, AE 2013, 381, perhaps the same as the friend of Atticus and Cicero, in which Numerius appears to be a praenomen; but no other persons named Numestius are found in known inscriptions, so perhaps that was a cognomen, and Numerius his nomen gentilicium.  Atticus may intentionally have been identifying Augustus with Romulus, the legendary founder and first King of Rome. According to Livy (i. 16), after the death of Romulus, a man named Proculus Julius claimed to have witnessed the king descending from the heavens, urging his people not to fear, and proclaiming the future glory of the city. References  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 1214 ("Numerius").  Chase, pp. 131, 138.  Plutarch, "The Life of Marius", 35.  Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum, ii. 20, 22, 24.  Cicero, Pro Sestio, 33, 38.  Asconius Pedianus, In Ciceronis Pro Sestio, p. 11 (ed. Orelli).  Scholia Bobiensa, Pro Sestio, p. 303 (ed. Orelli).  CIL VI, 37069.  Broughton, vol. II, p. 202.  Cassius Dio, lvi. 46.  Suetonius, "The Life of Augustus", 100.  PIR, vol. II, p. 419.  PIR, vol. II, pp. 418, 419.  AE 1973, 499.  CIL VI, 23102.  CIL III, 13552,092.  CIL V, 2162.  CIL XII, 3611.  CIL XII, 3741.  CIL II, 1473, CIL II, 1479, AE 1988, 725.  CIL II, 139.  CIL VI, 1057, AE 1977, 154.  CIL III, 3078.  CIL VIII, 3304.  CIL VIII, 2566. Bibliography Marcus Tullius Cicero, Pro Sestio. Titus Livius (Livy), Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome). Quintus Asconius Pedianus, Commentarius in Oratio Ciceronis Pro Sestio (Commentary on Cicero's Oration Pro Sestio). Plutarchus, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars, or The Twelve Caesars). Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus (Cassius Dio), Roman History. Scholia Bobiensa (Bobbio Scholiast), Pro Sestio. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated CIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present). René Cagnat et alii, L'Année épigraphique (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated AE), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present). George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897). Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated PIR), Berlin (1898). T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952). Category: Roman gentes and the best choice for a Grice/Speranza vignette from THIS gens? Thanks

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numerio – Ossia: Grice e Numerio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numerio. For me the obvious Speranza–Grice choice is not the tribune, not the governor, and not even the friend of Marius. It is unquestionably Numerius Atticus, the senator who, after the death of Augustus, reported having seen the emperor ascending to heaven. The ancient sources themselves connect the episode with the older story of Romulus and Proculus Julius. [GREXv2 | Word] Why is it perfect for Grice? Because it sits exactly at the border between:  seeing, reporting, meaning, implicating, political usefulness, and uptake.  The question is not:  Did Numerius Atticus see Augustus ascend?  The Gricean question is:  What did Numerius Atticus mean by saying that he saw Augustus ascend?  and  What was Rome intended to gather?  A vignette almost writes itself.  Grice e Numerius Atticus G.: Vidistine Augustum in caelum ascendere? ("Did you actually see Augustus ascend into heaven?") N. Atticus: Vidi. ("I did.") G.: Oculis? ("With your eyes?") N. Atticus: Oculis. ("With my eyes.") G.: Et quid populus ex hoc colligere debet? ("And what should the people gather from this?") N. Atticus: Augustum inter deos receptum esse. ("That Augustus has been received among the gods.") +> that Augustus is now divine.  G.: Num hoc vidisti, an hoc significare voluisti? ("Did you see this, or did you mean to signify it?") N. Atticus: Quid interest? ("What difference does it make?") G.: Magnum. ("A large one.") +> that the distinction between witnessing and communicating matters.  This is exactly the sort of case Speranza would adore. With Novius Facundus one has:  shadow → hour.  With Numerius Atticus one has:  reported vision → imperial divinity.  The second is much richer conversationally. Because the shadow cannot lie. But Numerius can:  exaggerate, reinterpret, embellish, or merely report sincerely.  The whole political force of the episode depends on what hearers are expected to infer. The Atticus episode becomes a vignette about:  seeing, saying, meaning, and public uptake.  Which is almost a ready-made chapter of Meaning. A dry Speranzian ending might be:  Novius Facundus taught Romans how to infer an hour from a shadow. Numerius Atticus taught Romans how to infer a god from a testimony. Grice preferred the shadow. The shadow, at least, had no political ambitions. Well, Grice indeed coined 'disimplicate' for cases of 'see' as in 'Hamlet saw the ghost of his father or his father at the ramparts of Elsinore' and 'Macbeth saw Banquo' -- 'loose' uses -- almost 'parasitic' when one means LESS than what one says -- entailmend drop -- (dsimplicate) whereas in 'implicate' one means more than one what says. So what is the Latin of the present sentence. "I saw Ottavio ascend" -- "He saw" -- was the vision contested? Thanks Yes — and this may actually be the most Gricean thing in the whole Numerius episode. What Grice later called disimplication (or, in Speranza's reconstruction, the tendency of some verbs to loosen their ordinary entailments) fits videre rather well. Ordinarily:  Numerius Augustum ascendentem vidit.  ("Numerius saw Augustus ascending.") seems to entail:  Augustus was there. Augustus ascended.  But many uses of see do not behave so straightforwardly. Grice's favourite English examples are exactly of the type:  Hamlet saw his father's ghost. Macbeth saw Banquo.  The verb see survives while its ordinary existential entailments become shaky. One might say:  "Hamlet saw his father's ghost, but there wasn't any ghost."  without contradiction in ordinary dramatic criticism. Grice would say that the verb has undergone a kind of entailment-drop.  For the Augustan case the Latin would probably have been something like:  Augustum in caelum ascendere vidi. ("I saw Augustus ascend into heaven.")  or  Augustum ad deos ascendentem vidi. ("I saw Augustus ascending to the gods.")  or perhaps  Augustum in caelum ferri vidi. ("I saw Augustus being borne into heaven.")  depending on the stylistic register.  The beautiful Gricean question then becomes: What exactly is entailed by  Augustum in caelum ascendere vidi?  The official imperial reading is:  Augustus really ascended. Numerius was a witness.  The sceptical reading is:  Numerius sincerely experienced a vision. therefore he saw Augustus. but Augustus need not literally have ascended.  In modern Gricean terms: Literal seeing  x saw y entails y's presence.  Visionary seeing  x saw y does not entail y's presence.  The verb has become "looser."  And the ancient sources suggest that the report was not universally treated as a simple matter of fact. The story itself resembles the older Roman story of Proculus Julius claiming to have seen Romulus after his disappearance. Ancient writers themselves noticed the parallel. The report functions politically as confirmation of divinization. That very fact invites suspicion. Rome knew perfectly well the usefulness of such visions. (Your catalogue itself notes the comparison with Proculus Julius and Romulus.) So a Speranza dialogue might run: G.: Vidistine Augustum ascendentem? ("Did you see Augustus ascending?") N.: Vidi. ("I did.") G.: Et ascenditne? ("And did he ascend?") N.: Hoc populus Romanus colligat. ("Let the Roman people infer that.") +> that Augustus became a god. G.: Non quaesivi quid colligendum sit; quaesivi quid videris. ("I did not ask what should be inferred; I asked what you saw.") +> that seeing and political interpretation are distinct.  The lovely Speranzian point is that the report works precisely because Rome supplies the rest. Numerius says:  vidi.  Rome hears:  Divus Augustus est.  ("Augustus is now divine.") The vision is the saying. The divinization is the implicated content. And Grice, naturally, wants to know at exactly which point the entailment stopped and the implicature began. -- in which case would be a violation -- not ostentatious flout -- of the principle of conversational candour. Numerius is LYING. The point rests on Grice's causal theory of perception: Numerius sees that Ottavio ascends. -- entails: Ottavio ascends -- ii. Ottavio ascends causes Numerius's seeing that Ottavio ascends. If contestation occurred, it's suspiction of lying that occurred? thanks -- and why was Numerius in such privileged position? that his testimony mattered -- cf. 'the peasant saw an UFO -- or 'saw' an UFO if we must. Thanks Yes. If one takes Grice's causal theory of perception seriously, then the Numerius case becomes much sharper than the usual "vision" stories. Under a strong Gricean reading:  Numerius saw Augustus ascending.  commits one to at least:  Augustus ascended. Augustus's ascent caused Numerius's seeing.  That is precisely why Grice distinguished perception from imagination, dreaming, hallucination, and related cases. So if Numerius uttered:  Augustum in caelum ascendere vidi  while no such ascent occurred, then the problem is not merely that the audience inferred too much. The problem is that Numerius falsely represented a perceptual episode. In Gricean terms, that is not an implicature problem first and foremost. It is a problem of Quality. One might say:  Numerius did not flout Quality. He violated it.  A flout is overt and calculated. The hearer notices it. A lie is intended not to be noticed. So if Numerius knowingly fabricated the vision, he is not producing an ostentatious conversational effect. He is simply lying.  The interesting alternative is that Numerius was not lying. Suppose he sincerely experienced something:  a dream, a vision, a religious experience, a misperception.  Then:  "Numerius saw Augustus"  becomes analogous to  "Hamlet saw his father."  Now the entailment weakens. In Grice's language, the verb begins to be used in a looser way; one no longer has straightforward commitment to the object's presence. The contestation then becomes:  Did Numerius really see Augustus? Or only think he did?  rather than:  Was Numerius lying?   Your second question is perhaps even more interesting: why did Numerius matter? Because the story is not:  "A peasant saw Augustus ascend."  The sources present Numerius Atticus as a senator of praetorian rank. In other words, he belonged to the governing elite, and his testimony was delivered at exactly the moment when Augustus's divinization was becoming a matter of public and political significance. A Grice/Speranza dialogue practically writes itself: G.: Cur crediderunt Numerio? ("Why did they believe Numerius?") S.: Quia senator erat. ("Because he was a senator.") G.: Id argumentum ad veritatem non valet. ("That is no argument for truth.") S.: Non ad veritatem; ad fidem valet. ("Not for truth; for credibility.") +> that social standing affects testimonial uptake.  A Roman audience was unlikely to reason:  Numerius is a senator. Therefore Augustus ascended.  Rather, they reasoned:  Numerius is not a nobody. Numerius has public standing. Numerius is unlikely to expose himself to ridicule without reason. Therefore his testimony deserves uptake.  Whether that reasoning was sound is another matter. Speranza's neat formulation might be:  The shadow of Novius Facundus needs no witness. The apotheosis of Augustus needs nothing but witnesses.  Grice, naturally, prefers the shadow. The shadow is causal. The senator is conversational. And once senators enter the story, one is never quite sure whether one is dealing with perception, testimony, politics, or all three at once.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numerio – Ossia: Grice e Numerio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numerio. A close second would be Quintus Numerius Rufus, the tribune whom Cicero thought had been bribed and whose political enemies allegedly discussed murdering him in a way that would cast suspicion elsewhere. [GREXv2 | Word] But that becomes a vignette about accusation and suspicion.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numisio – Ossia: Grice e Numisio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numisio. The gens Numisia was a family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the fourth century BC, and from the second century BC to imperial times, they held a number of important magistracies. The name Numisius is frequently confused with that of Numicius, and in fact it seems probable that the two were originally the same. The Numicii of the early Republic are thought to have been patricians, and the Numisii mentioned in later sources were plebeians; but patrician families frequently developed plebeian branches over time.[1]  Origin In all probability, the nomen Numisius is merely a different orthography of Numicius, although this does not establish which is the original form.[1] Numicius appears to belong to a class of gentilicia formed from other names ending in -ex, -icis, or -icus, which took -icius as a suffix. But if Numisius is the true orthography, then the nomen is probably derived from the praenomen Numerius.[2]  Branches and cognomina The Numisii of the Republic were not divided into any families, and none of them bore any surname. Various cognomina are found in imperial times, of which the most notable may be Lupus, "a wolf", and Rufus, "red", typically given to someone with red hair.[1][3]  Members This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation. Lucius Numisius, one of the praetors of the Latin League in 340 BC, and subsequently the principal commander of the Latin forces during the Latin War.[4] Gaius Numisius, praetor in 177 BC, was assigned the province of Sicily.[5][6] Titus Numisius T. f. Tarquiniensis, a resident of Tarquinii, was one of the commissioners sent in 167 BC to settle the affairs of Macedonia following the Third Macedonian War. He was also one of the senate's emissaries sent to mediate between Antiochus IV, Ptolemy VI, and Ptolemy VIII.[7][8][9][10] Numisius, an architect whose plan for building a house or villa Cicero calls Numisiana forma.[11] Numisius Tiro, described by Cicero as a brigand employed by the triumvir Marcus Antonius.[12] Numisia Galla, a woman whose cause is described by the elder Seneca.[13][14] Numisius, an architect, who built the theatre at Herculaneum.[15] Gaius Numisius, a member of an important local family of Carthago Nova, named on a stone removed from the Monastery of San Ginés de la Jara in 2005.[16] Numisius Lupus, commander of the eighth legion in Moesia. When the province was invaded by the Roxolani, Lupus and his fellow commanders met and defeated them decisively, and were rewarded with the insignia of consuls.[17][18] Numisius Rufus supported the Flavian faction in the civil wars of 69 CE and marched the 8th legion to Verona which he helped to fortify.[19] Numisius Rufus, a legate who with Mummius Lupercus, helped defend Vetera Castra during the rebellion of Civilis, in AD 69 and 70. He escaped the camp before it fell, and went to Novaesium, where he was taken prisoner. He was taken to Treviri, where he was put to death by Valentinus and Tutor.[20][18] Publius Numisius Celer, the father of Numisia Celerina.[14] Numisia P. f. Celerina, the wife of Decimus Fonteius Frontinianus Lucius Stertinius Rufinus, legate in Numidia from AD 160 to 162.[14] Lucius Numisius, the father of Numisia Maximilla.[14] Numisia L. f. Maximilla, Vestalis Maxima in AD 201.[14] Numisia Procula, known from an inscription on a water pipe.[14] Numisius Licinianus, a senator, and one of the municipal officials of Beneventum.[18] Numisius Quintianus, a vir perfectissimus, known from a letter dating from AD 239.[18] Numisius Victorinus, a vir perfectissimus, and the father of Gaius Clodius Fabricius Numisius Victorinus.[14] Gaius Clodius Fabricius Numisius Victorinus, a man of praetorian rank.[21] See also List of Roman gentes References  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, pp. 1214, 1215 ("Numicia Gens", "Numisia Gens").  Chase, pp. 126–128.  Chase, p. 110.  Livy, viii. 3, 11.  Livy, xli. 8.  Broughton, vol. I, p. 398.  Livy, xlv. 17.  Polybius, xxix. 10.  SIG, 636.  Broughton, vol. I, pp. 425, 435.  Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem, ii. 2. § 1.  Cicero, Philippicae, ii. 4, v. 6, xii. 6.  Seneca, Controversiae, ix. 5, 15.  PIR, vol. II, p. 420.  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 1215 ("Numisius").  Palazón and Asensio, La ciudad de Carthago Nova, No. 219.  Tacitus, Historiae, i. 79, iii. 10.  PIR, vol. II, p. 419.  Tacitus, Publius. The Histories. Penguin. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-140-44964-8.  Tacitus, Historiae, iv. 22, 55, 70, 77.  PIR, vol. I, p. 416. Bibliography Polybius, Historiae (The Histories). Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem, Philippicae. Titus Livius (Livy), Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome). Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Seneca the Elder), Controversiae. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). Wilhelm Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum (Collection of Greek Inscriptions, abbreviated SIG), Leipzig (1883). George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897). Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated PIR), Berlin (1898). T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952). J.M. Abascal Palazón and S.F. Ramallo Asensio (eds.), La ciudad de Carthago Nova 3: La documentación epigráfica (The City of Carthago Nova 3: the Epigraphic Documentation), Murcia (1997). Category: Roman gentes And your first choice for a Grice/Speranza vignette from THIS gens? Thanks

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numisio – Ossia: Grice e Numisio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numisio. For me, the best Grice/Speranza vignette from the Numisii is not the generals, the Vestal, or even the architect. It is Titus Numisius T. f. Tarquiniensis, the Roman commissioner and diplomatic envoy sent to settle Macedonian affairs and later to mediate between Antiochus IV, Ptolemy VI, and Ptolemy VIII. [GREXv2 | Word] Why? Because diplomacy is almost pure implicature. A general says:  "Advance."  A diplomat says:  "Rome would view such a course with concern."  And means:  "Advance, and Rome will ruin you."  That is far more Gricean. In fact, the famous Roman diplomatic scene involving Popilius and Antiochus (the circle in the sand) is practically a textbook example of conversational economy. The explicit utterance is small; the implicated content is enormous. I would therefore reconstruct a Numisius vignette along the following lines.  Grice et Numisius Tarquiniensis Numisius: Senatus populusque Romanus pacem cupit. ("The Senate and People of Rome desire peace.") Rex: Et si pacem non cupiam? ("And if I should not desire peace?") Numisius: Tum deliberandum erit. ("Then it will be necessary to deliberate.") Rex: Quid deliberabitis? ("About what will you deliberate?") Numisius: De rebus necessariis. ("About necessary measures.") +> that Rome will intervene militarily.  Rex: Cur non aperte dicis? ("Why do you not say so openly?") Numisius: Quia satis aperte dixi. ("Because I have said it openly enough.") +> that diplomatic speech trades on recovery rather than explicit statement.  Grice/Speranza analysis The beauty of the case is that the king understands perfectly. The exchange does not fail because nothing explicit was said. The exchange succeeds because very little needed to be said. That is why I think Numisius the diplomat beats the others. So my ranking would be:  Titus Numisius Tarquiniensis — diplomacy and implicature. Numisius Tiro — threat and intimidation as conversational phenomena. Numisius the architect — meaning through constructed artefacts.  And Speranza would probably relish the first because a Roman envoy is almost the embodiment of Grice's principle that:  the less one says, the more one may succeed in meaning.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numisio – Ossia: Grice e Numisio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numisio. My second choice would be Numisius Tiro, Cicero's brigand in the service of Marcus Antonius. [GREXv2 | Word] A dialogue between Cicero and Tiro would immediately become a study in:  threats, intimidation, deniable menace,  all rich Gricean territory.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numisio – Ossia: Grice e Numisio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numisio. My third choice, and perhaps the most ingenious from a strict philosophy-of-language point of view, would be the anonymous Numisius the architect, whose building style Cicero refers to as a Numisiana forma. [GREXv2 | Word] Why? Because architecture gives the same problem as your Novius obelisk. One can ask:  Does the building mean something?  Or:  Does the architect mean something by the building?  That is exactly the transition from natural indication to non-natural meaning.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numitorio – Ossia: Grice e Numitorio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numitorio. The gens Numitoria was an ancient but minor plebeian family at ancient Rome. The first member of this gens to appear in history was Lucius Numitorius, elected tribune of the plebs in 472 BC. Although Numitorii are found down to the final century of the Republic, none of them ever held any of the higher magistracies.[1]  Origin The nomen Numitorius is a patronymic surname, based on the name Numitor, traditionally remembered as the name of the grandfather of Romulus and Remus, and the last of the Silvan kings of Alba Longa. Chase considers this to have been a genuine name from Latium's archaic past, signifying one who "arranges" or "orders".[i][2]  Branches and cognomina The only surname occurring among the Numitorii of the Republic is Pullus, meaning "dark" or "black".[1][3]  Members This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation. Lucius Numitorius, elected tribune of the plebs in 470 BC, the first year in which the tribunes were elected by the comitia tributa.[4][5] Numitoria, wife of the centurion Lucius Verginius, and the mother of Verginia.[6] Publius Numitorius, the uncle of Verginia, opposed the schemes of Appius Claudius Crassus, and after the downfall of the decemvirs in 449 BC, was elected tribune of the plebs. He accused the decemvir Spurius Oppius Cornicen of cruelly beating an old soldier, resulting in Oppius' condemnation and execution.[7][8][9] Gaius Numitorius, triumvir monetalis in 133 BC.[10] Quintus Numitorius Pullus, a native of Fregellae, which revolted in 125 BC, demanding Roman citizenship. Numitorius betrayed the Fregellates to the praetor Lucius Opimius, who captured and destroyed the town. His daughter was the first wife of Marcus Antonius Creticus.[11][12][13] Gaius Numitorius C. l., a freedman named on an inscription in Praeneste dated circa 130–101 BC.[14] Aulus Numitorius C. l., a freedman named on an inscription in Delos dated 110 or 109 BC.[15] Gaius Numitorius A. l., a freedman named on an inscription in Delos dated 110 or 109 BC.[15] Gaius Numitorius C. f., a senator in 101 BC,[ii] son of Gaius Numitorius, the moneyer of 133. He was killed by partisans of Marius and Cinna in 87 and his body was then dragged through the Forum.[16][17][18][19] Publius Numitorius Hilarus, whose funeral relief is in the Museum of Terme, Rome[20] Numitoria Q. f., the first wife of Marcus Antonius Creticus.[21] Gaius Numitorius, an eques who testified against Verres.[22] Numitorius, the publisher of Vergil's Eclogues.[23] Gaius Numitorius Asclepiades (Rome).[24] See also List of Roman gentes Footnotes  Chase describes Numitor as a cognomen, although in unraveling the distant Roman past, it is sometimes difficult to establish whether a particular name should be considered a praenomen or a cognomen.  Classical scholars (Broughton, Syme, etc.) used to agree on the date of 129 BC for the Senatus Consultum De Agro Pergameno, where this name is found. However, more recent academics tends to follow Mattingly who asserted a date of 101 BC. References  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 1215 ("Numitoria Gens").  Chase, pp. 131, 143.  The New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. pullus.  Livy, ii. 58.  Broughton, vol. I, p. 31.  Dionysius, xi. 30.  Livy, iii. 35, 54.  Dionysius, xi. 28, 38, 46.  Broughton, vol. I, p. 48.  Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, pp. 277-278.  Cicero, De Inventione, ii. 34.  Livy, Epitome 60.  Velleius Paterculus, ii. 6.  CIL I, 1455  CIL I, 2257  Appian, Bellum Civile, i. 72.  Florus, iii. 21. § 14.  Sherk, "Senatus Consultum De Agro Pergameno", p. 368.  Mattingly, 1972, p. 420.  Beacham, Richard C. (1991). The Roman Theatre and Its Audience. ISBN 9780674779143.  Cicero, Philippicae, iii. 6.  Cicero, In Verrem, v. 63.  PIR, vol. II, p. 420.  CIL I, 1347 Bibliography Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Inventione, In Verrem, Philippicae. Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil), Eclogues (Bucolics). Titus Livius (Livy), Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome). Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia. Marcus Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman History. Lucius Annaeus Florus, Epitome de T. Livio Bellorum Omnium Annorum DCC (Epitome of Livy: All the Wars of Seven Hundred Years). Appianus Alexandrinus (Appian), Bellum Civile (The Civil War). Cassius Dio, Roman History. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897). Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated PIR), Berlin (1898). T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952). Robert K. Sherk, "The Text of the Senatus Consultum De Agro Pergameno", in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, vol. 7, pp. 361–369 (1966). Harold B. Mattingly, "The Date of the Senatus Consultum De Agro Pergameno", in The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 93, No. 3 (Jul., 1972), pp. 412–423. Michael Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge University Press (1974, 2001). John C. Traupman, The New College Latin & English Dictionary, Bantam Books, New York (1995). Categories: Roman gentesRoman gentes of Latin origin and the first choice for a Grice/Speranza vignette from THIS gens? Thanks --

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numitorio – Ossia: Grice e Numitorio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numitorio. For me the best Grice/Speranza vignette from the Numitorii is neither the moneyer nor the publisher of Vergil. It is unquestionably:  Publius Numitorius, uncle of Verginia.  Why? Because the whole Verginia episode is about a clash between:  what is said, what is really intended, legal form, political abuse, and the recovery of hidden intention.  That is almost pure Grice. The dramatic moment is that Appius Claudius Crassus does not openly say:  "I desire the girl."  Instead, he proceeds through a legal fiction. Officially:  "A claim concerning status is being adjudicated."  Unofficially:  "I want Verginia."  The contrast is exactly what Speranza loves:  dictum versus propositum, public reason versus concealed motive, legal speech versus practical intention.  A reconstruction could run:  Numitorius et Appius Appius: De statu puellae quaeritur. ("The question concerns the girl's status.") Numitorius: De statu an de puella? ("About her status, or about the girl?") +> that Appius' legal concern is merely a pretext.  Appius: Legem sequor. ("I follow the law.") Numitorius: Legem sequeris; sed quid sequeris per legem? ("You follow the law; but what do you pursue through the law?") +> that the legal proceeding has an ulterior purpose.  Appius: Quid insinuis? ("What are you suggesting?") Numitorius: Quod omnes intellegunt. ("What everybody understands.") +> that Appius' true intention is already publicly recoverable.  Grice G.: "Excellent Roman case." S.: "Why?" G.: "Because Appius says one thing and means another." S.: "Implicature?" G.: "More nearly dissimulation." S.: "Accetto before Accetto?" G.: "Precisely."  The really beautiful feature is that Numitorius never needs direct access to Appius's mind. He reasons from the circumstances:  the extraordinary legal manoeuvre, the identity of the girl, the behaviour of Appius, the surrounding political context.  Therefore:  Appius's explicit legal claim implicates a private desire.  A Roman audience immediately recovers this. That makes the vignette stronger, I think, than the traitor Quintus Numitorius Pullus, and richer philosophically than the publisher of Vergil. Speranza's dry closing might be:  The founder Numitor gave Rome its genealogy; his descendants gave it something almost as Roman: the discovery that a magistrate may invoke the law while meaning something else entirely. And once that distinction is seen, Grice is never far away.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numizio – Ossia: Grice e NUMIZIO – GREX GRICEIANA -- verbalia: NUMIZIO The gens Numicia was an ancient patrician family at Rome. The first of the Numicii to appear in history was Titus Numicius Priscus, consul in 469 BC. Later members of the family were plebeian. Members of this gens are first mentioned down to imperial times, and the nomen Numicius is regularly confused with Numisius, which was probably nothing more than a different form of the same gentile name.[1]  Origin The nomen Numicius appears to belong to a class of gentilicia formed from other names ending in -ex, -icis, or -icus, which took -icius as a suffix. However, if as seems likely, the name is really the same as Numisius, it might perhaps be derived from the praenomen Numerius.[2]  Branches and cognomina The only surname of the Numicii in Republican times is Priscus, a common cognomen meaning "old, ancient", or "antique".[3]  Members This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation. Titus Numicius Priscus, consul in 469 BC, had the conduct of the war against the Volscians, defeating them before Antium, the Volscian capital, and taking the town of Caeno. When the Sabines attempted to take advantage of the consuls' absence, Numicius and his colleague invaded their territory simultaneously, ending the threat.[4][5][6] Tiberius Numicius, tribune of the plebs in 320 BC,[i] was given as a prisoner to the Samnites, together with the other tribunes and the consuls, after the defeat of the Romans at the Caudine Forks, during the Second Samnite War. The Samnites saw their sacrifice as a pretext for renewing the war, and refused the prisoners, allowing them to return home.[7][8][9] Publius Numicius Pica Caesianus, a praefectus equitum in the time of Augustus, he subsequently served as quaestor pro praetore in Asia, and tribune of the plebs.[10] Numicius, the person to whom Horace addressed the sixth epistle of his first book. He might be the same person as Publius Numicius Pica Caesianus.[11][10] Numicius Priscus, a member of the praetorian guard, mentioned in an inscription from Rome, dating to AD 147.[12] Gaius Numicius, the former master of Gaius Numicius Eusebius, and perhaps also the former master of Prima Numicia Paulla and Gaius Numicius Philinus, or of Numicius Taurus.[13] Lucius Numicius, the father of Marcus.[14] Marcus Numicius L. f., named in an inscription from Helvia Ricina in Picenum.[14] Publius Numicius, the former master of Publius Numicius Berullus. His wife may have been named Afraia, as that was the nomen of her freedwoman.[15] Publius Numicius, the former master of Publius Numicius Surus and Numicia Laudica.[16] Quintus Numicius, the former master of Quintus.[17] Quintus Numicius Q. l., a freedman, named in an inscription from Rome.[17] Marcus Numicius Acastus, a freedman, possibly of the wife of a Quintus Numisius.[ii][18] Publius Numicius P. l. Berullus, a freedman, and husband of Afraia Italia, freedwoman of his former master's wife, mentioned in an inscription from Rome as having donated six jars of ointment.[15] Gaius Numicius C. l. Eusebius, buried at Rome, aged twelve.[19] Numicia P. l. Laudica, a freedwoman buried at Rome.[16] Prima Numicia C. l. Paulla, a freedwoman mentioned in an inscription from Rome.[20] Gaius Numicius C. l. Philinus, a freedman mentioned in an inscription from Rome.[20] Marcus Numicius Severus, tent-mate and heir of Publius Aelius Fuscus, a soldier in the third cohort of the praetorian guard, who was buried at Rome, aged twenty-two, after five years' service.[21] Publius Numicius Suntrophus, mentioned in an inscription from Rome as having donated four jars of ointment.[22] Publius Numicius P. l. Surus, a freedman buried at Rome.[16] Numicius C. l. Taurus, a freedman mentioned in an inscription from Rome.[23] Titus Numicius Thermus, mentioned in an inscription from Rome as having donated six jars of ointment.[24] Publius Numicius Xanthus, probably a freedman, named in an inscription from Rome.[25] Gaius Annius Numicius, named in an inscription from Ostia.[26] Numicia Primigenia, female whose domus was found in Pompeii. Lived with someone named Lesbianus.[27] Footnotes  Livy names Lucius Julius in place of Tiberius Numicius.  Acastus is named immediately following a Quintus Numisius Q. l. Thyrsus, and is identified as the freedman of an otherwise unidentified woman or wife. It would make sense if she were the wife of the Quintus Numisius who manumitted Thyrsus, although the nomina are different. Given the similarity of the nomina, however, either Numisius or Numicius could be a mistake for the other. But if the two spellings were in fact interchangeable, then there may be no mistake at all. See also List of Roman gentes References  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, pp. 1214, 1215 ("Numicia Gens", "Numisia Gens").  Chase, pp. 126–128.  Chase, p. 111.  Livy, i. 63.  Dionysius, ix. 56.  Broughton, vol. I, p. 31.  Cicero, De Officiis, iii. 30.  Livy, ix. 8–12.  Broughton, vol. I, p. 153.  PIR, vol. II, p. 419.  Horace, Epistulae, i. 6.  CIL VI, 3885.  CIL VI, 2744, CIL VI, 7794, CIL VI, 7805.  CIL IX, 5775.  CIL VI, 10378.  CIL VI, 33450.  CIL VI, 38673a.  CIL XI, 3782.  CIL VI, 2744.  CIL VI, 7794.  CIL VI, 2483.  CIL VI, 33266.  CIL VI, 7805.  CIL VI, 7809.  CIL VI, 33265.  CIL XIV, 4563.  Dutsch, Dorota; Suter, Ann (28 November 2015). "Ancient Obscenities: Their Nature and Use in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds". University of Michigan Press. p. 248. ISBN 9780472119646. Bibliography Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Officiis. Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace), Epistulae. Titus Livius (Livy), Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome). Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Romaike Archaiologia. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated CIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present). Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated PIR), Berlin (1898). T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, American Philological Association (1952). Category: Roman gentes And from THIS gens? Thanks

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numizio – Ossia: Grice e NUMIZIO – GREX GRICEIANA -- verbalia: NUMIZIO For the Numicii, my first choice is even clearer than with the Numisii. It is Numicius, the addressee of Horace, Epistles I.6. The reason is simple:  Horace's entire letter is about what one ought to value.  And that immediately creates a Gricean tension between:  what people profess to value, what their conduct reveals they value, what they say, what they implicate by their lives.  In fact the letter famously begins:  Nil admirari prope res est una, Numici, ("To be astonished at nothing, Numicius, is almost the one thing...")  and proceeds by asking what men really seek in life. That is pure conversational territory.  Why not the others? Tiberius Numicius at the Caudine Forks is interesting politically, but the conversational content is limited. Titus Numicius Priscus defeating Volscians and Sabines is military narrative. Numicia Primigenia of Pompeii is fascinating archaeologically, but less obviously Gricean. The Horatian Numicius gives us:  appearance versus commitment, profession versus practice, explicit doctrine versus revealed preference.  Those are classic Grice-and-Speranza themes.  Grice et Numicius (Horatian reconstruction) G.: Quid maxime cupis, Numici? ("What do you most desire, Numicius?") N.: Virtutem. ("Virtue.") G.: Et si aurum offeratur? ("And if gold is offered?") N.: Recusabo. ("I shall refuse it.")  A little later: S.: Numicius aurum accepit. ("Numicius accepted the gold.") G.: Sed virtutem se cupere dixit. ("But he said that he desired virtue.") S.: Dixit. ("He did.") G.: Aliud dixit, aliud significavit. ("He said one thing, he signified another.") +> that Numicius values wealth more than virtue.  Grice/Speranza moral Horace's Numicius is attractive because he allows a distinction between:  what a person explicitly asserts about himself,  and  what a reasonable observer is entitled to infer from his conduct.  In Gricean language:  life itself begins to function as evidence of what one means.  The resulting implicature is not generated by a sentence but by a pattern of action. Speranza would relish this because it lets him move from Horace to Grice through a very Roman route:  not "Listen to what the man says," but "Watch what the man consistently does."  And that yields a delightfully Horatian implicature:  Numicius virtutem laudat. ("Numicius praises virtue.")  +> that he would like to be thought virtuous. which is considerably weaker than  +> that he actually values virtue above everything else.  That gap between praise and commitment is where both Horace and Grice become interested.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Nummio – Ossia: Grice e Nummio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Nummio. The gens Nummia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens appear almost exclusively under the Empire. During the third century, they frequently obtained the highest offices of the Roman state.[1]  Praenomina Little can be said about the praenomina of the early Nummii, for nearly all of the Nummii Albini, the only prominent family, bore the praenomen Marcus, and were distinguished from one another by their various other names. The only other praenomen occurring among the Nummii who appear in history is Titus, although in inscriptions we also find Lucius, Gaius, Publius, and Quintus.  Branches and cognomina The main family of the Nummii bore the surname Albinus, "whitish", an old and honourable cognomen long associated with aristocratic Roman families.[2] Members of this family bore additional surnames, such as Senecio ("old man"), Justus ("just, upright"), Dexter ("right, fortunate"), and Tuscus ("Etruscan").[3] Besides these, one of the early Nummii adds Gallus, a surname that can be translated as either "cockerel" or "Gaul", and perhaps Rusticus ("rural, rustic").[2]  Members This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation. Titus Rustius Nummius Gallus, consul suffectus in AD 34.[4][1] Didius Nummius Albinus, the brother or half-brother of Marcus Didius Severus Julianus, emperor in AD 193. He was probably put to death by Septimius Severus. He may have been the father of Marcus Nummius Umbrius Primus Senecio Albinus, consul in AD 206.[5][6] Marcus Nummius M. f. Umbrius Primus Senecio Albinus, consul in AD 206, had been one of the Salii Palatini. He married Vibia Salvia Varia, and was the father of Marcus Nummius Senecio Albinus, consul in AD 227, and Nummia Varia. Marcus Nummius Justus may have been another son.[7] Marcus Nummius M. f. M. n. Senecio Albinus, consul in AD 227, was the step-brother of Lucius Roscius Aelianus Paculus Salvius Julianus, consul in AD 223. Senecio was the father of Marcus Nummius Tuscus, consul in AD 258, and perhaps also of Marcus Nummius Albinus, consul in 263.[8] Nummia M. f. M. n. Varia, daughter of the consul of 206, was a priestess of Venus Felix. In AD 242, she was assigned the prefecture of Peltuinum.[9] Marcus Nummius Justus, perhaps a son of the consul of 206.[8] Nummius (M. f. M. n.) Albinus,[i] a senator, served as consul in an uncertain year, circa AD 240. He was praefectus urbi in 256, during the reign of Valerian, and again from 261 to 263. He was consul for the second time in 263. He is probably the same Albinus who died as an old man under Aurelian.[11][7] Marcus Nummius Attidius Senecio Albinus, possibly identical with Nummius Albinus, consul in 263.[12] Marcus Nummius M. f. M. n. Tuscus, consul in AD 258, was probably the father of Nummius Tuscus, consul in 295.[8] Nummius Faustianus, consul in AD 262.[13] Marcus Nummius Ceionius Annius Albinus, praetor urbanus in the late 3rd century. He was likely a son of Albinus, consul in 263.[14][15][16] Nummius (M. f. M. n.) Tuscus, consul in AD 295, and praefectus urbi from 302 to 303.[11][8] Nummius Albinus, dedicated an altar to Jupiter Serenus at Rome, perhaps in the late 3rd or early 4th century.[17][6][18] Nummius Albinus, named in pottery fragments from Carthage, together with Nummius Tuscus.[19][20] Nummius Tuscus, named in pottery fragments from Carthage, together with Nummius Albinus. Possibly identical with the consuls of 258 or 295.[19][21] Marcus Nummius Albinus signo Triturrius, consul in AD 345.[22] Nummius M.f. Secundus, son of Albinus Triturrius.[22] Nummius Aemilianus Dexter, proconsul of Asia between AD 379 and 387, and praetorian prefect of Italy in 395.[23][24][25] Notes  This Nummius may be identified with the praefectus urbi "Ceionius Albinus" whom the Historia Augusta alleges received a letter from Valerian. Syme says the letter is a fabrication, and notes that the name Ceionius is not otherwise attested for him specifically, although a union between the Ceionii and Nummii dates from around this period.[10] See also List of Roman gentes References  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. II, p. 1215 ("Nummius").  Chase, p. 110.  New College Latin & English Dictionary, s. v. Justus, Dexter, Tuscus.  CIL VI, 244.  Aelius Spartianus, "The Life of Didius Julianus"  PIR, vol. II, p. 420.  PIR, vol. II, pp. 420, 421.  PIR, vol. II, p. 421.  PIR, vol. II, pp. 421, 422.  Syme, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta, pp. 154–155 (note 4).  Chronography of 354.  AE 2000, 93  CIL XIV, 5357  CIL VI, 314b  RE, vol. XVII (2), cols. 1411–1412 (Nummius 11).  PLRE, vol. i, p. 34.  CIL VI, 433  PLRE, vol. i, p. 36.  AE 1926, 28  PLRE, vol. 1, p. 37.  PLRE, vol. 1, p. 927.  CIL VI, 1748  CIL II, 4512  RE, vol. V (1), col. 297 (Dexter 7).  PLRE, vol. i, p. 251. Bibliography Chronograph of 354. Aelius Lampridius, Aelius Spartianus, Flavius Vopiscus, Julius Capitolinus, Trebellius Pollio, and Vulcatius Gallicanus, Historia Augusta (Augustan History). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated CIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present). George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897). Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated PIR), Berlin (1898). Syme, Ronald, Ammianus and the Historia Augusta, Oxford University Press (1968). Jones, A.H.M.; J.R. Martindale & J. Morris (1971–1992). Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07233-6. August Pauly; Georg Wissowa; Wilhelm Kroll; Kurt Witte; Karl Mittelhaus; Konrat Ziegler, eds. (1894–1980). Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler. John C. Traupman, The New College Latin & English Dictionary, Bantam Books, New York (1995). Category: Roman gentes And for THIS gens? Thanks

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Nummio – Ossia: Grice e Nummio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Nummio. For the Nummii, I think the richest Grice/Speranza vignette is neither the consuls nor the prefects. It is the almost comic figure of Nummius Albinus, the urban prefect to whom the Historia Augusta supposedly preserves a letter from Valerian, a document which Ronald Syme famously regarded as a fabrication. Your dossier itself highlights the problem of the letter and its authenticity. The whole case is therefore about:  what was said, who said it, whether anyone said it at all, and what later readers are expected to gather from a purported utterance.  That is nearly ideal Gricean territory. The key question becomes:  Can a forged utterance have an implicature?  Speranza would immediately answer:  Of course it can. It may even have more implicatures than a genuine one.  because the forger is trying simultaneously to imitate and persuade.  Grice and Nummius Albinus G.: Valerianusne haec scripsit? ("Did Valerian actually write this?") N.: Ita traditur. ("So it is transmitted.") G.: Non quaesivi quid traditum sit. ("I did not ask what is transmitted.") N.: Quid igitur quaeris? ("What then are you asking?") G.: Num Valerianus hoc scripserit. ("Whether Valerian wrote it.")  N.: Quid interest? ("What difference does it make?") G.: Magnum. ("A great difference.")  N.: Cur? ("Why?") G.: Si Valerianus scripsit, epistulam legimus. Si alius scripsit, consilium legimus. ("If Valerian wrote it, we read a letter. If someone else wrote it, we read an intention.") +> that forgery introduces a second level of communicative agency.  Why this one? Because it allows a peculiarly Speranzian inversion. Normally the problem is:  What did the speaker mean?  Here the problem is:  Who is the speaker?  Unless that is answered, Grice's ordinary machinery cannot even begin. A forged letter is almost the perfect philosophical object:  there is an utterance, there appears to be a speaker, there may be another actual speaker, readers must infer intention under uncertainty. But my first choice remains Nummius Albinus and the possibly forged letter. A dry Speranzian conclusion would be:  Many Romans were praised in letters. Nummius Albinus had the rarer distinction of being praised in a letter that may never have been written by the man whose name appears beneath it. Grice's question therefore is not what Valerian meant, but whether Valerian is the person whose meaning we are attempting to recover. That is a difficulty even Oxford never managed entirely to eliminate.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Nummio – Ossia: Grice e Nummio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Nummio. My second choice would be Nummius Aemilianus Dexter, because of the cognomen Dexter. Speranza could not resist the semantic temptation: G.: Estne Dexter quia dexter est? ("Is he Dexter because he is fortunate?") The play between a proper name and a predicate is very Gricean.  

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numonio – Ossia: Grice e Numonio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numonio. The gens Numonia, occasionally written Nummonia, was a minor plebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the early years of the Empire. Few if any of the Numonii held any Roman magistracies.  Origin The nomen Numonius belongs to a class of gentilicia ending in -onius, typical of plebeian gentes, or those of Oscan origin. It is likely based on the cognomen nummus, "money".[1]  Praenomina As was often the case in imperial times, all of the individuals known from the family of the Valae bore the same praenomen, Gaius, as do most of the other Numonii mentioned in inscriptions. However, a set of inscriptions from the ancient Etruscan city of Caere, likely among the oldest, as the individuals named have no cognomina, demonstrate that the Numonii also used Aulus and Lucius. In other inscriptions we find examples of Gnaeus and Quintus.  Branches and cognomina The only distinct family of the Numonia gens bore the surname Vala, also spelled Vaala, apparently obtained by an ancestor of the family who had stormed a vallum.[i] A coin of the gens depicts this feat.[2][3]  Members This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation. Numonii Valae Gaius Numonius C. f. Vala, an acquaintance of Horace, who lived near Velia and Salernum in Campania. About 22 BC, Horace, seeking a place to spend the winter, addressed a letter to Vala, inquiring as to the climate of the area. He may be the same Gaius Numonius Vala who was quattuorvir monetalis in 41 BC.[4][5] Gaius Numonius C. f. C. n. Vala, a legate under the command of Publius Quinctilius Varus in AD 9, fled the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, accompanying the Roman cavalry to the Rhine, but he was overtaken by the Germans and slain.[6][5] Gaius Numonius Vala, buried at Philae in Egypt, according to an inscription dating from AD 25.[7] Others Aulus Numonius A. f., named in an inscription from Caere in Etruria.[8] Gaius Numonius L. f., named in an inscription from Caere.[9] Gaius Numonius A. f., named in an inscription from Caere.[10] Numonia L. f., named in an inscription from Caere.[11] Numonia Secunda, named in an inscription from Tridentum in the province of Venetia et Histria.[12] Gaius Numonius, named in an inscription from Lambaesis in Numidia.[13] Gaius Nummonius, named in an inscription from Rome.[14] Numonia Alexandrea, buried at Catina in Sicily, aged twenty-five.[15] Gnaeus Numonius Cn. l. Aristo, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.[16] Numonia Bellia, wife of Julius Alexander, and mother of Julius Alexius, Julius Felix, Julius Gallonius, and Numonia Belliosa, buried with her husband at Lugdunum.[17] Numonia Belliosa, daughter of Julius Alexander and Numonia Bellia.[17] Numonia Candida, buried at Ammaedara in Africa, aged thirty-eight.[18] Gaius Numonius C. l. Canthus, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome.[19] Quintus Numonius Q. l. Dibus, a freedman, named in an inscription from Salernum.[20] Gaius Numonius Felix, the father of Gaius Numonius Rufus.[21] Numonia Q. l. Gaza, a freedwoman named in an inscription from Salernum.[22] Gaius Numonius Honoratus, named in a list of soldiers of the Praetorian Guard stationed at Rome, circa AD 200.[23] Numonia Q. f. Marciana, the wife of Manilius Justus, buried at Volcei in Lucania.[24] Numonia L. l. Megisthe, erected a monument at Rome for herself and her husband, Gnaeus Pompeius Prothesilavus.[25] Gaius Numonius C. l. Miccalio, a freedman buried at Rome.[26] Numonia Musa, a freedwoman formerly belonging to the wife of Gaius Numonius.[27] Gaius Numonius C. l. Phoenix, a freedman buried at Rome.[26] Gaius Numonius Pinarius, one of the Seviri Augustales, named in an inscription from Interpromium in Samnium.[28] Aulus Numonius Rogatus, buried at Ammaedara, aged seventy-five.[29] Gaius Numonius C. f. Rufus, buried at Rome, aged fifteen.[21] Gaius Numonius Secundus, buried at Novaricia in Mauretania Caesariensis, aged seventy-five, together with his wife, Fabia Rogata, aged sixty-five.[30] Numonius Sodalis, buried at Castellum Elefantum in Numidia.[31] Gaius Numonius Varia, named in an inscription from Opitergium in Venetia et Histria.[32] Numonia Veneria, wife of Nannaeius Quetinus, buried at Paestum in Lucania, aged twenty-seven.[33] Gaius Numonius Venulus, buried at Castellum Elefantum, aged seventy-five.[34] See also List of Roman gentes Footnotes  A vallum was a rampart, or palisade. Vaala is an archaic spelling. References  Chase, pp. 118, 119.  Eckhel, vol. v. p. 263.  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. III, p. 1202 ("Numonius Vala").  Horace, Epistulae, i. 15.  PIR, vol. II, p. 422.  Velleius Paterculus, ii. 119.  CIL III, 74.  CIL XI, 3670.  CIL XI, 3671.  CIL XI, 7596.  CIL I, 3308a.  CIL V, 5026.  CIL VIII, 18084.  CIL VI, 23157.  CIL X, 7080.  CIL VI, 35959.  CIL XIII, 2000.  AE 2013, 2000.  CIL VI, 6033.  Ephemeris Epigraphica, viii. 1. 302.  CIL VI, 23158.  EE, viii. 1, 303.  CIL VI, 1057, AE 1977, 154.  AE 1969/70, 175.  CIL VI, 24500.  CIL VI, 23159.  Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità, 1922-420.  AAN, 1900-187.  AE 2013, 2049.  CIL VIII, 20462.  CIL VIII, 6613.  CIL V, 2005.  AE 1975, 276.  ILAlg, ii. 3, 9929. Bibliography Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace), Epistulae. Marcus Velleius Paterculus, Compendium of Roman History. Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum (The Study of Ancient Coins, 1792–1798). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849). Theodor Mommsen et alii, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (The Body of Latin Inscriptions, abbreviated CIL), Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (1853–present). Wilhelm Henzen, Ephemeris Epigraphica: Corporis Inscriptionum Latinarum Supplementum (Journal of Inscriptions: Supplement to the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, abbreviated EE), Institute of Roman Archaeology, Rome (1872–1913). René Cagnat et alii, L'Année épigraphique (The Year in Epigraphy, abbreviated AE), Presses Universitaires de France (1888–present). George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. VIII (1897). Paul von Rohden, Elimar Klebs, & Hermann Dessau, Prosopographia Imperii Romani (The Prosopography of the Roman Empire, abbreviated PIR), Berlin (1898). Atti della Accademia di Scienze morali e politiche della Societa nazionale di Scienze, Lettre ed Arti di Napoli (Proceedings of the Academy of Moral Sciences and the National Society of Political Science, Letters and Arts in Naples, abbreviated AAN). Stéphane Gsell, Inscriptions Latines de L'Algérie (Latin Inscriptions from Algeria, abbreviated ILAlg), Edouard Champion, Paris (1922–present). Categories: Roman gentesNumonii And from this gens? Thanks

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numonio – Ossia: Grice e Numonio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numonio.  For the Numonii, I think the winner is not the unfortunate cavalry officer killed after Teutoburg, nor the ancestor who supposedly stormed a vallum. It is the first Gaius Numonius Vala, Horace's correspondent in Epistles I.15. The reason is simple:  the entire surviving relationship consists of one man asking another for information.  That is already conversational philosophy. Horace writes to Vala because he wants to know:  what the climate is like, what the water is like, what the inhabitants are like, whether the place is worth spending the winter in.  The letter is a study in testimony. Horace cannot inspect Velia himself. He must rely on Vala's report. The whole exchange concerns the Gricean question:  When is someone's answer good evidence?   Grice et Numonius Vala G.: Qualis est hiems apud Veliam? ("What is the winter like at Velia?") Vala: Mitis. ("Mild.") G.: Et aqua? ("And the water?") Vala: Bona. ("Good.") G.: Et incolae? ("And the inhabitants?") Vala: Ferendi. ("Tolerable.") +> that they are not especially delightful.  G.: Cur non dicis eos bonos esse? ("Why do you not say they are good?") Vala: Quia quaesivisti; non quia laudandi sunt. ("Because you asked; not because they deserve praise.") +> that Vala is attempting to be informative rather than complimentary.  Grice/Speranza analysis This is wonderfully Horatian because Vala is functioning as what Grice would call a reliable informant. The point is not that he produces implicatures by saying too little. Rather, the point is that Horace's entire enquiry presupposes the Cooperative Principle. When Horace asks:  Qualis est regio?  he assumes that Vala will answer:  truthfully, relevantly, sufficiently, without ornamental patriotic nonsense.  In short, Horace relies upon all four Gricean maxims before Grice has existed. But the Horatian Vala is better. Why? Because he gives Speranza something he always likes:  conversation before philosophy.  No tribunals, no imperial intrigue, no forged letters, no apotheosis. Just one Roman asking another:  "Should I spend the winter there?"  And trusting that the answer means exactly what it appears to mean. That trust, Speranza would say, is the quiet presupposition of every later theory of conversation. A dry closing formula might be:  Novius gave Rome a shadow from which to infer the hour. Numerius Atticus gave Rome a vision from which to infer a god. Numonius Vala gave Horace a report from which to infer whether the weather was worth enduring. Grice, being English, may ultimately have found the weather the most convincing topic of the three.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Numonio – Ossia: Grice e Numonio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Numonio.  My second choice would actually be the younger Gaius Numonius Vala, Varus' legate who escaped the infantry during the Teutoburg disaster and attempted to reach the Rhine with the cavalry before being overtaken and killed. That produces a fascinating vignette about military signalling, retreat, and whether one may infer "the battle is lost" from a commander's behaviour.