SEV

 

Catalogue Raisonné of J. L. Speranza’s Publications – H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Sev

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Severino – Ossia: Grice e Severino: la ragione conversazionale del velino -- oltre il linguaggio, oltre l’aporia di Parmenide. Note su La struttura originaria. Il Gruppo di Gioco di H. P. Grice Emanuele Severino (Brescia, Lombardia): Grice: “La ragione conversazionale del velino -- oltre la lingua, oltre l’aporia di Parmenide. Grice and Emanuele Severino represent two radically different yet illuminating ways of thinking about rationality in relation to language and meaning. Grice’s theory of reason‑governed conversational meaning is pragmatic, defeasible, and practice‑oriented: meaning arises within cooperative interaction, where speakers rely on shared norms of rational conduct so that hearers can infer intentions, cancel implicatures, and negotiate sense dynamically. Reason, for Grice, does not abolish ordinary language but inhabits it, working through understatement, irony, redundancy, and silence as flexible tools within conversation. Severino, by contrast, advances a Neo‑Eleatic critique that aims to pass entirely beyond language as ordinarily understood: rooted in Parmenides and Zeno of Elea, his philosophy rejects becoming as incoherent and treats the Western linguistic habit of speaking of coming‑to‑be and ceasing‑to‑be as a deep logical error. Where Grice sees non‑contradiction as a regulative norm operating tacitly within conversational exchange, Severino absolutizes it into an ontological law that renders every being eternal and every discourse on change internally aporetic. The contrast is sharp: Grice treats paradox as a local, context‑sensitive phenomenon that speakers exploit and resolve through rational conversational expectations, while Severino treats paradox as revelatory, a sign that ordinary discourse itself must be overcome in testimony to the destiny of Being. In this sense, Grice’s conversational reason remains hospitable to linguistic life, whereas Severino’s Eleatic reason asks philosophy to stand beyond conversation altogether, bearing witness to a truth that no amount of pragmatic implicature can ultimately domesticate. The Eleaticism of  S. is deeply rooted in the logical rigour of Zeno of Elea – VELINO , specifically in the use of paradox to defend a radical monism that rejects the possibility of "becoming".  Rooting Neo-Eleaticism in Zeno’s Paradox Zeno of Elea famously used reductio ad absurdum to show that motion and multiplicity lead to logical contradictions, thereby defending his master Parmenides' view that Being is one and unchanging. S. adopts this "Eleatic" stance by arguing that the Western belief in "becoming" — whereby things come from nothingness and return to it — is the ultimate logical "folly" or madness (Follia dell'Occidente). The Shared Aporia: Just as Zeno argues that an arrow cannot move because it must occupy a fixed space at every moment, S. argues that any "being" -- even a passing thought or a burnt log -- is eternal by necessity. To say a being was not or will not be is to identify Being with Nothingness, violating the fundamental principle of non-contradiction.  The Perennial Italian Interest in Elea The "Italian-ness" of this tradition is significant, as Elea (modern Velia) is located in Campania. This geographic and intellectual lineage manifests in a persistent focus among Italian thinkers on the "Truth of Being" over the "History of Being".  Role of the Philosopher: In this tradition, the philosopher is not a mere historian of ideas but a testifier to destiny (Testimoniando il destino). Their role is to reveal the "originary structure" of truth that remains hidden behind the illusions of time and language.  velino, velia, parmenide, zenone, scuola di velia. Zenone il velino, Parmenide il velino, divenire, GENTILE.  G.: Nineteen. S.: Nineteen what. G.: Nineteen years old, which is old enough in Italy to write on Heidegger and metaphysics, and too young in Oxford to be trusted with a decent claret. S.: And yet there he is, in 1948, discussing Heidegger as if metaphysics were an inheritance rather than an affliction. G.: Under Bontadini it was both. That is the point. One must begin with the master, because the young man’s audacity only looks audacious if one forgets the room in which he learned to breathe. S.: Bontadini, then. G.: Bontadini first, and before him the brother. The older brother is the real prologue. Without him, one has a boy interested in mathematics and music. With him, one has a boy introduced to philosophy as a serious traffic rather than a school subject. S.: You said the brother had been at the Scuola Normale. G.: Precisely. And therefore in contact with the proper gods of the period: Gentile, Armando Carlini, Luigi Russo, Calogero. That is not merely “having read a few philosophers.” That is entry into the high air. S.: And the brother dies. G.: Yes. On the French front in 1942, as a volunteer. Which is useful, in a dark way, because it gives us the exact age difference. The brother is nine years older, so if Emanuele is thirteen in 1942, Giuseppe is twenty-two. S.: Twenty-two, on the French front, and dead. Where exactly. G.: The visible sources do not give me the exact place of death, only the front. One can say safely: the French front, 1942, and that for the younger brother it becomes both family fact and philosophical legend. S.: “He remains being and not a has-been.” G.: Very good. A Severinian elegy already. One can see how the family wound becomes ontological temptation. If the brother is not to be lost, then loss itself must be exposed as a lie of appearance. S.: That is already very nearly too neat. G.: It is too neat, but philosophy lives by over-neat retrospections. The important thing is that the brother does not merely die. He leaves behind a route: Pisa, Gentile, philosophy as vocation, and then death as interruption. S.: Which the younger man turns into eternity. G.: Eventually, yes. But not at once. At once, he turns it into a thesis. S.: Heidegger e la metafisica. G.: The title sounds broad enough to be harmless, which is always suspicious. S.: Too broad for a thesis. G.: Exactly. A thesis title that broad either hides confusion or a very pointed intervention. In this case, the latter. S.: Then tell me the point. G.: Under Bontadini, the point is not “what does Heidegger say about metaphysics?” like a school essay. The point is whether Heidegger destroys metaphysics, or whether he radicalises it enough to make a renewed metaphysics possible. S.: So the thesis is already a polemic in the guise of a survey. G.: Precisely. The title pretends to be descriptive. The intention is strategic. Young Severino is not merely reading Heidegger. He is trying to decide whether Heidegger can be brought into the service of metaphysics rather than left as its undertaker. S.: Which is very Bontadini. G.: Entirely. Bontadini’s entire seriousness lies there: modernity has wounded metaphysics; perhaps it can also be forced to heal it. A good Catholic does not surrender ontology to Germany without asking for receipts. S.: You are making Bontadini sound like a customs officer. G.: Neo-scholasticism with an office stamp. He is not a parish priest in a cassock. He is a Catholic metaphysician trained to make modern philosophy answer for itself. S.: And Pavia. G.: Pavia is not “religious” in the confessional-university sense that Milan’s Cattolica later is. But Severino’s own track there passes through Borromeo and through Bontadini’s line, so the Catholic-metaphysical atmosphere remains perfectly palpable. S.: And the Jesuit school before that. G.: Yes, the Collegio Arici in Brescia. The boy is formed under Jesuit discipline, hears the elder brother’s tales of Gentile and the Normale, and arrives under Bontadini. That is a denser formation than “student reads Heidegger after the war.” S.: Still, 1948 sounds young. G.: Nineteen is young. But Italy after the war has a way of making nineteen sound older, especially when the teachers are metaphysicians and the family has supplied a martyr-brother. S.: Then where do you place Abbagnano and the northern existentials. G.: As a neighbouring weather system. Important, certainly, but not the one that owns Severino’s first climate. Abbagnano gives one an existentialism with civic clothes. Severino begins elsewhere: with being, contradiction, and the need to answer Bontadini before he answers anyone else. S.: Croce and Gentile then recede. G.: They recede institutionally, but not spiritually. Gentile is there by voice through the brother, and by the whole Italian habit of taking idealism seriously even while declaring it obsolete. Croce is more southern weather, more civil-historical style. Severino’s route is harder, colder, more ontological. S.: And Grice. G.: Ah yes, because you cannot keep him out of any room longer than three minutes. In 1948 Grice is still very much pre-Austinian in the sense that matters here. He is not yet the public custodian of ordinary language. But already the pressure is there. S.: Which pressure. G.: The pressure to ask whether a philosopher is merely inflating grammar into ontology. S.: And Severino would be guilty of that. G.: To a Gricean ear, yes, magnificently so. Because once you let essere do all the work, and then allow l’essere and gli esseri to march onstage as if they were one well-drilled family, you have already let Italian perform a metaphysical coup. S.: “Essere” as verb, then noun, then plural noun. G.: Exactly. To be, being, beings. The slide is philosophically delicious and logically dangerous. Grice would begin sharpening tools at once. S.: “Izz” and “hazz.” G.: Precisely. “Socrates izz rational; Socrates hazz white.” One splits the uses before the noun begins to govern the world. S.: Iss what. Hazz what. G.: You are doing Severino’s work for him by sounding obtuse. The point is that “is” is too promiscuous a verb to be trusted with ontology unsupervised. Grice’s little barbarisms are instruments of chastity. S.: Severino would hate that. G.: He would think it fiddling while the house burns. He wants the whole Western house condemned for believing in becoming. S.: Ah yes, the West. G.: Which, for him, is not Somerset or Gloucestershire, however much one is tempted to hear “West” and think of cider. It is the whole Graeco-Christian-modern line after Parmenides, all the way through technology. S.: “Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea.” G.: Gandhi has the joke. Severino has the indictment. And that is precisely why one must keep the terms separate. He means not the Wild West, but the post-Parmenidean West. S.: Then why “return to Parmenides” later, if Heidegger never left him. G.: Because Heidegger never leaves him in the wrong way. Heidegger takes Parmenides seriously, but still leaves room for history, event, unconcealment, difference. In Severino’s eyes that is still too much becoming. S.: So he wants a stricter Parmenides than Heidegger can tolerate. G.: Exactly. “Return” means: beyond Heidegger’s historical Parmenides to the anti-becoming Parmenides who renders all becoming absurd. S.: Which begins when. G.: In germ, very early. Explicitly, 1956, with the Aristotele essay. There the anti-becoming thesis is no longer merely atmospheric. It is said outright that if a being becomes, then before becoming it was not, and that is impossible. S.: And then 1958. G.: The Structure. The original structure, if you like. The thing becomes system. Then 1964 makes it public scandal with Ritornare a Parmenide. S.: So in 1948 he is not yet the public Eleatic. G.: No, he is the gifted metaphysical son in the house of Bontadini, trying to force Heidegger to answer the question whether metaphysics is dead. S.: And what does he find. G.: He finds a path he will later betray Bontadini with. Or if one wishes to be kinder, he radicalises the line until the line breaks. S.: “You seem to have become very suspicious of Heidegger.” G.: Blame Severino. Anyone who tries to recruit Heidegger into metaphysics forces one to read the verbs with suspicion. S.: Ah yes, the verbs. Let us do werden. G.: Gladly. Werden is one of Germany’s little metaphysical scandals. It means become, and also serves the passive, and future-like constructions. The same lexical body doing too many jobs. It is almost as if grammar were trying to warn one not to trust a single word with all that power. S.: And divenire. G.: Better in one respect, because the venire inside it remains visible: a coming-into-something. Italian exposes the movement. English become is less helpfully obscure, as English likes to be. German werden is shamelessly overworked. S.: Would Severino care. G.: Hardly. He is not a philosopher of the conjugations in the Oxford sense. He would say: whatever your language does, if it says or presupposes that beings come from nothing and return to nothing, it is mad. S.: Presupposes or entails. G.: There you go, wanting the implicature. Yes, this is where a Gricean grumbles. Severino often sounds as if ordinary language presupposes becoming in a heavy ontological sense, when a patient analyst might say: no, it only carries a defeasible implication, or trades on useful dramatic shorthand, or simply marks a before-and-after state without metaphysical bravado. S.: “Mourning becomes Electra.” G.: Precisely. A title that proves the English verb “become” is not always ontological. It can be costume, role, decorum, succession, dramatic transformation, even social propriety. S.: So one might reduce becoming to initial and final states, as the analysts do. G.: Exactly. Wood at t1t_1t1​, ash at t2t_2t2​. Relative identity, time-relative predication, state-transition. Wiggins later becomes very good at making these distinctions sound inevitable. Warnock asks after metaphysics in logic and the meaning behind existential quantification. Davidson and Reichenbach give you event-structure. Myro and Geach worry identity through time. All these are reductive strategies. S.: And Severino refuses them. G.: Entirely. Because for him reduction is already surrender. If you “analyse” becoming, you have not removed its poison; you have merely diluted it. S.: So he is an eliminationist. G.: In ontology, yes. Not in ordinary speech. He does not forbid Italians to say diventa cenere. He says the philosopher must know that no being has truly gone into nothing. S.: That sounds like reduction in disguise. G.: No. It is reinterpretation with ontological ferocity. The verb may survive in the marketplace; it has lost its title to truth in philosophy. S.: Which is why critics might complain he protests too much. G.: Indeed. If “beings” are already treated abstractly enough, of course they look eternal. The question is Cleopatra, not gli essenti. Cleopatra becomes ash, says history. Severino says: only in appearance. A Gricean says: perhaps the issue is just that historical grammar and ontology are not the same game. S.: Cleopatra is beautiful. G.: Historical present as quiet anti-Severinianism. Ordinary language keeps dead persons present without abolishing time. That is precisely the sort of thing he mistrusts, and precisely the sort of thing an Oxford philosopher would inspect before legislating. S.: Then is Severino simply mistranslating history into ontology. G.: To a Gricean, yes, or at least risking it magnificently. But to Severino, you are merely refusing to follow the principle of non-contradiction where it leads. S.: Which brings us to Zeno. G.: Naturally. Reductio by way of stubbornness. The Eleatic line is not mere poetry for him. It is the originary proof that movement and becoming, taken literally, collapse. S.: And did he do proper philology on Parmenides and Zeno. G.: Not in the way a classicist would admire. He is not Wiggins poring over Greek particles, nor one of those Italians who write lovingly about the gate of Elea. He uses philology enough to secure his “authentic Parmenides,” but his aim is not to reconstruct the man. It is to enlist the witness. S.: So Parmenides is not a text, but a station. G.: A station, a judge, and a blade. He returns to Parmenides in order to cut the whole tradition down. S.: And Bontadini would have thought what of that. G.: First delight, then alarm, then eventually public break. The son had taken the family silver and turned it into a weapon against the family. S.: Catholic enough. G.: Entirely. That is the beauty of Italy: the most devastating heresies are often generated from impeccable metaphysical training. S.: One almost hears Newman muttering about all this from Oriel. G.: Newman would at least admire the seriousness, though not the destination. Oxford, in 1948, does not yet quite know what to do with Heidegger. Italy knows too well. S.: And what of Grice’s BBC “Metaphysics” with Pears and Strawson. G.: There you have the contrast. In England, postwar metaphysics under ordinary-language pressures asks after Carnap, anti-metaphysical scruples, the survivability of old questions under new grammar. In northern Italy, the same period allows a nineteen-year-old to ask whether Heidegger can be made to serve metaphysics, and eventually whether the whole West is insane for speaking of becoming. S.: It does make Oxford look provincial. G.: Oxford is always provincial when it is at its cleverest. That is part of its charm. S.: Was Italy’s analytic society then born against Severino. G.: Not against him alone, no. But against the whole temptation of letting high ontology ride unchecked over logic, language, and science. Severino is merely one spectacular summit of the old mountain. S.: And his school. G.: Yes, he leaves a school. Or at least a line of disciples, continuators, respectful defectors, and men who spend half their lives explaining that they are not Severinians while keeping his books on the nearest shelf. S.: A proper Italian immortality, then. G.: Better than a posthumous pardon, certainly. S.: One last thing. If the brother dies at twenty-two in 1942, and Emanuele is thirteen, then 1948 is only six years later. G.: Exactly. Which is why the thesis is not a leisurely youthful exercise. It is an entry into philosophy under the sign of loss, mastership, and urgency. A nineteen-year-old under Bontadini writing on Heidegger in order to decide whether metaphysics can still be spoken after catastrophe. S.: That is rather better than “Heidegger e la metafisica” sounded at first. G.: Most good thesis titles are better than they sound, just as most Oxford lectures are worse. S.: And the final difference between Grice and Severino. G.: Grice thinks becoming requires analysis. Severino thinks becoming requires execution. S.: Execution in the metaphysical sense. G.: In Italy one always has to specify that too late.Grice: Caro Severino, mi perdoni: “Velia” mi suona quasi come un vicino di casa—e invece, per me che vengo da Vadum Boum, è più lontana di certi sillogismi che mi porto dietro in valigia. Severino: Vicino di casa? Velia è Elea: qui la distanza non si misura in miglia, ma in aporie. E se vieni da Vadum Boum, allora sei già allenato: anche lì, a forza di logica, si cammina senza muoversi. Grice: Appunto: Velia è così “vicina” al pensiero—e così “lontana” dalla mia varsity—che mi viene da dire che c’è davvero “molto di cui scrivere a casa” (cioè: c’è un sacco da raccontare). E poi, già che ci siamo: chiamarla “non‑contraddizione” non è un po’ ridondante? Se non e contra vanno nella stessa direzione, sembra quasi una “dizione” che si mette due volte il cappotto per paura del vento. Severino: La tua implicatura, Grice, è propriamente eleatica – per cui intendo: oltre ogni concepibile auto‑contraddizione! Hai fatto di Velia un paradosso geografico e di “non‑contraddizione” un esercizio di sobrietà linguistica: qui, in effetti, anche la ridondanza finisce per confessare l’Uno. Severino, Emanuele (1948). Heidegger a la metafisica. Sotto Bonatdini. Pavia.

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Severio – Ossia: Grice e Severio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Severio. The gens Severia was an obscure plebeian family at ancient Rome. No members of this gens appear in history, but many are known from inscriptions.  Origin The nomen Severius belongs to a class of gentilicia formed directly from cognomina, in this case the common Latin surname Severus, originally referring to someone whose manner or appearance would be described as "serious" or "stern". It was one of a large group of cognomina derived from the character of an individual.[1] Several of the earlier Severii are mentioned in inscriptions from Corfinium in Sabinum, with others from neighboring Sulmo and Alba Fucens, suggesting that the family was of Paelignian origin, or at least had settled in this part of Sabinum by the first century.  Praenomina The Severii used a wide variety of common praenomina, including Gaius, Lucius, Marcus, Titus, Decimus, and Quintus, without any distinct preference; other praenomina appear occasionally.  Members This list includes abbreviated praenomina. For an explanation of this practice, see filiation. Severia Severiana, the wife of Quintus Clodus Omuncio, with whom she was buried in a first-century tomb at Novaria in Cisalpine Gaul, dedicated by their daughter, Optata Clodia.[2] Severius, named in an inscription from Pompeii in Campania.[3] Severius Acceptus, a soldier in the Legio VIII Augusta, buried at Chalcedon in Bithynia and Pontus between AD 50 and 70. He was forty-six years old, and had been retired for six years. He left four hundred coins for his heir Dubitatius Attianus.[4] Quintus Severius Marcellus, the father of Quintus Severius Marcianus of Noviodunum in Germania Superior. Quintus Severius Q. f. Marcianus, decurion at Noviodunum, had also served as aedile, duumvir, and prefect of various orders, according to an inscription dating to the first or second century.[5] Severius Menander, a freedman named in an inscription from Rome, dating to the first half of the second century.[6] Marcus Severius Tacitus, a soldier in the century of Justus, stationed at Rome in AD 143.[7] Aulus Severius, a prefect of some sort at Alba Fucens in Sabinum during the second century.[8] Decimus Severius, buried at Corfinium in Sabinum during the second century.[9] Decimus Severius D. l. Epigonus, a freedman, and the husband of Decimia Gemella. They built a second-century tomb at Corfinium for their daughter, Severia Maximilla.[10] Severia Maximilla, the daughter of Decimus Severius Epigonus and Decimia Gemell, buried at Corfinium, aged six years, ten months.[10] Severia Rufina, a young woman buried at Collippo in Lusitania during the second century, aged fifteen, with a monument from her mother, Licinia Flacila.[11] Severia Aphrodite, buried at Venusia in Samnium, in a tomb dating to the middle of the second century, and dedicated by her husband, Receptus, a freedman of the emperor, with whom she had lived for thirty-seven years.[12] Severia Severa, buried at Corfinium in the middle of the second century, along with her sister, Avelia Prisca, in a tomb dedicated by their mother, Capria Quinta.[13] Gaius Severius Valens, decurion, quaestor, and duumvir at Viminacium in Moesia Superior, made an offering to Ceres in the middle or late second century.[14] Severius Severus, a flamen at Corfinium in the latter half of the second century.[15] Gaius Severius Emeritus, a centurion, made an offering to the local deities at Aquae Sulis in Britannia, dating between the late first and end of the third century.[16] Severia Lupula, made an offering to Jupiter Optimus Maximus at Mogontiacum in Germania Superior, along with her husband, whose name has not been preserved, in an inscription dating to the second century, or the first half of the third.[17] Severia Martia, buried at Orolaunum in Gallia Belgica, with a monument from her daughter, Tonnia Glabra, dating to the second or third century.[18] Titus Severius Modestus, made an offering to Borvo and Damona at Aquae Bormonis in Gallia Lugdunensis, according to an inscription from the second or third century.[19] Titus Severius Saturninus, dedicated a second- or third-century tomb at Ugernum in Gallia Narbonensis for his wife, Statilia Avita.[20] Severius Verus, buried at the present site of Übach-Palenberg, formerly part of Germania Inferior, with a monument from his wife, Friomathina Animula,[i] dating to the second or third century.[21] Severius, named in an inscription from Alba Julia in Dacia, dating to the latter half of the second century, or the first half of the third.[22] Severius, a cavalry soldier named in a sepulchral inscription from Mogontiacum, dating to the latter half of the second century, or the first half of the third.[23] Gaius Severius, named in an inscription from Alba Julia, dating from the latter half of the second century, or the first half of the third.[22] Severia, buried in a second- or third-century family sepulchre at Germisara in Dacia, aged sixty-seven.[24] Severia Apr[...], the wife of Marcus Valerius Maximus, a priest of Sol Invictus and Mithras, and a keen astrologer, who built a sepulchre for his family at Mediolanum in Cisalpine Gaul, dating to the third century, or the second half of the second.[25] Severius Lupus, made an offering to a local deity at Colonia in Germania Inferior, according to an inscription from the third century, or the latter part of the second.[26] Severia Madoce, along with Gaius Servius Gratus, one of the heirs of Sacconia Secundilla, a woman buried at Ostia in Latium during the third century, or the latter half of the second.[27] Severia Severa, dedicated a monument at Haedui in Gallia Lugdunensis, dating to the late second or early third century, to her husband, Pisonius Asclepiodotus, an unguentarius, or ointment merchant, and one of the Seviri Augustales at Lugdunum in Gallia Lugdunensis, with whom she had lived for thirty-five years.[28] Marcus Severius Severus, a soldier serving in the Legio III Italica at Carnuntum in Pannonia Superior in AD 212.[29] Severius Lupulus, buried at Borbetomagus in Germania Superior, aged thirty-five years, five months, along with his brother, Severius Florentinus, with a monument dedicated by their mother, dating to the first half of the third century.[30] Severius Florentinus, buried at Borbetomagus, aged twenty-two years, ten months, along with his brother, Severius Lupulus, with a monument from their mother, dating to the first half of the third century.[30] Titus Severius Primitivus, a freedman buried at Burdigala in Gallia Aquitania, aged thirty, with a monument dating to the first half of the third century, dedicated by Titus Severius Secundus, his patron and probably his former master.[31] Titus Severius Secundus, the patron, and likely former master of the freedman Titus Severius Primitivus, for whom he dedicated a funerary monument at Burdigala, dating to the first half of the third century.[31] Gaius Severius Pressus, one of a number of persons making offerings at Segisamo in Hispania Citerior in AD 239. He might be the same Severius Pressus buried at Auca, aged forty.[32][33] Severius Severianus, a soldier in the Legio III Italica at Brigantium in Raetia, made an offering to Mercury between AD 238 and 244.[34] Severius Mercator, a soldier buried at Rome during the third century.[35] Sextus Severius Salvator, praefectus castrorum at Uxellodunum in Britannia, made an offering to Sol Invictus, commemorated in a third century inscription.[36] Decimus Severius D. f. Severus, aedile and duumvir jure dicundo, buried at Sulmo in Sabinum during the third century, along with his wife, Decimia Proposis.[37] Severia Secundina, the wife of Aurelius Marius, a standard bearer in the Legio XIII Gemina, with whom she made an offering to Nemesis at the Roman fortress of Apulum in Dacia, dating to the mid-third century.[38] Severia, buried in a fifth-century tomb at Ticinum in Cisalpine Gaul.[39] Undated Severii Severia, buried at Aquileia in Venetia and Histria, in a tomb dedicated by Marcus Aurelius M[...].[40] Severia, buried at the present site of Saint-Gervais-sur-Roubion, formerly part of Gallia Narbonensis, along with her brother, Titus Severius Servandus, in a tomb dedicated by their mother, Patula.[41] Severia, buried at Lambaesis in Numidia, aged forty, with a monument from her husband, Rusticanus.[42] Severius, a potter whose mark was found on a piece of pottery from Londinium in Britannia.[43] Severius, a potter whose maker's mark was found on a piece of pottery from Bagacum in Gallia Belgica.[44] Severius, a potter whose mark was found on a piece of pottery between Lugdunum and Augusta in Gallia Narbonensis.[45] Lucius Severius, named in an inscription found at Harelbeke, formerly part of Gallia Belgica, should perhaps be read "Lucius Gavius Severus", as his name is preceded by that of Marcus Gavius Tertius Severus in the same inscription.[46] Tiberius Severius, mentioned in the sepulchral inscription of Julia Marcella, the wife of Lucius Severius Severianus, at Valentia in Gallia Narbonensis. Julia and Severianus may have been his parents.[47] Gaius Severius Albanus, a veteran soldier buried at Ancyra in Galatia, aged forty, with a monument from his friend, Aurelius Seneca.[48] Severius Carillus, built a tomb for Liccatulia at Divodurum in Gallia Belgica.[49] Severius Cobrunus, dedicated a tomb at Lugdunum for his mothers, Callistia Ma and Tertinia Primitiva.[50] Severia Ɔ. l. Faustina or Faustilla, a freedwoman buried at Rome, aged forty-five, along with Marcus Ennius Priscus, also aged forty-five, perhaps her husband.[51] Sextus Severius Firmus, named in an inscription from Nemausus in Gallia Narbonensis.[52] Severius Flavus, made an offering at Aquae Celenae in Hispania Citerior.[53] Severius Fronto, buried at Lucus Augusti in Hispania Citerior, aged fifty-five, in a tomb dedicated by his wife, Carisia Alona, buried alongside him, aged ninety.[54] Severia Fuscina, a woman buried at Lugdunum with a monument dedicated by Aelius Pollio, probably her husband.[55] Marcus Severius Fuscus, buried at Suessula in Campania, in a tomb dedicated by his wife, Severia Zosime.[56] Severia Ɔ. l. Isia, a freedwoman buried at Rome, together with Decimus Severius Primus, probably her husband.[57] Gaius Severius Julianus, dedicated a tomb at the present site of Châteauneuf-du-Rhône, formerly part of Gallia Narbonensis, to his mother, Suaduilia Julianenis.[58] Publius Severius Lucanus, made an offering to a local deity at Lousonna in Germania Superior.[59] Severia Marcia, dedicated a monument at Augusta Emerita in Lusitania to Severianus, probably her son, aged thirteen.[60] Severius Marcianus, dedicated a monument at Aventicum in Germania Superior to his sister, Severia Martiola.[61] Severia Martinula, the wife of Quintus Aquilius Lucius, a centurion in the Legio II Augusta, buried at Ancyra, in a tomb dedicated by his wife and their daughter, Aquilia Severina.[62] Severia Martiola, buried at Aventicum, with a monument from her brother, Severius Marcianus.[61] Marcus Severius Marcianus, buried at Nemausus, aged forty-seven, with a monument from his wife, Severia Parthenope.[63] Lucius Severius Martius, one of the Seviri Augustales at Aventicum, dedicated a tomb for his wife, Valeria Secca, aged sixty-five.[64] Severius Maternus, buried at the present site of Saint-Hippolyte-de-Caton, formerly part of Gallia Narbonensis, along with Titia Materna, probably his wife.[65] Lucius Severius N[...], the father of Lucius and Decimus Severius Severus, who dedicated a monument to their father at the present site of Palhers, formerly part of Gallia Aquitania.[66] Severia Parthenope, dedicated a tomb at Nemausus to her husband, Marcus Severius Marcianus.[63] Severia Philumena, a woman buried at Lugdunum, with a monument dedicated by her heirs, Betuvius Philumenus and Tetricius Ursio.[67] Severius Placidus, a soldier of the Legio VI Victrix, named in an inscription from Colonia, and another from Colonia Ulpia Trajana.[68] Lucius Severius Primitivus, buried at Arelate in Gallia Narbonensis, with a monument from his wife, Quintia Beronice.[69] Decimus Severius Ɔ. l. Primus, a freedman buried at Rome, together with Severia Isia, probably his wife.[57] Severia Sex. f. Quartina, buried at Nemausus, with a monument from her father, Sextus Severius Quartinus.[70] Sextus Severius Quartinus, dedicated a tomb at Nemausus for his daughter, Severia Quartina.[70] Severia Secundina, buried at Aquae Sextiae in Gallia Narbonensis, in a tomb dedicated by her husband, Lucius Valerius Eutychion.[71] Severius Seranus, made an offering to a local deity at Vicus Aquensis in Gallia Aquitania.[72] Titus Severius Servandus, buried at the present site of Saint-Gervais-sur-Roubion, along with his sister, Severia, in a tomb dedicated by their mother, Patula.[41] Severia Severa, the wife of Gaius Candidius Martinus, one of the Seviri Augustales, buried at Borbetomagus, in a tomb dedicated by his wife and their daughter, Martinia Dignilla.[73] Severia Severa, the wife of Claudius Regulus, and mother of Tiberius Claudius Maturinus Gerontius, a young nummularius, or money changer, buried at Lugdunum, with a monument dedicated by his parents.[74] Severius Severianus, made an offering to Jupiter Optimus Maximus at Rhenania Tabernae in Germania Superior.[75] Lucius Severius Severianus, dedicated a tomb at Valentia in Gallia Narbonensis to his wife, Julia Marcella. Tiberius Severius, mentioned in the same inscription, might be their son.[47] Severia Severina, mentioned in the sepulchral inscription of Januarius, the slave of Porcia, at Nemausus.[76] Severia Severina, buried at Nemausus, along with her father-in-law, Decimus Passonus Paternus, in a tomb built by her husband, Sextus Passonus Paternus.[77] Decimus Severius L. f. Severus, a son of Lucius Severius N[...], for whom he dedicated a monument in Gallia Aquitania, along with his brother, Lucius Severius Severus.[66] Lucius Severius L. f. Severus, a son of Lucius Severius N[...], for whom he dedicated a monument in Gallia Aquitania, along with his brother, Decimus Severius Severus.[66] Severia C. f. Valerina, buried at Lugdunum with a monument dedicated by her son, Gaius Memmius Severianus.[78] Severia Verula, buried at Genava in Gallia Narbonensis, along with her mother-in-law, Julia Marcellina, in a tomb built by her husband, Julius August[...].[79] Quintus Severius Verus, one of the aediles at Giufi in Africa Proconsularis.[80] Marcus Severius M. f. Viator, had been a flamen at Rome and Augusta, and a quattuorvir and pontifex of the Roman colony of Reiorum Apollinares in Gallia Narbonensis. He built a tomb at Ernaginum for himself and his wife, Kareia Patercla.[81] Severia Vitalis, dedicated a tomb at Dea Augusta Vocontiorum in Gallia Narbonensis, for her husband, Marcus Numisius Primus.[82] Quintus Severius Vitalis, named in a sepulchral inscription from Colonia.[83] Severia Zosime, dedicated a tomb at Suessula for her husband, Marcus Severius Fuscus.[56] See also List of Roman gentes Ulpia Severina Footnotes  Her name, evidently a Latin diminutive of Friomatha, is Germanic; evidently this was a mixed marriage in a frontier province. Animula, a diminutive of the Latin Anima, means "little soul". References  Chase, pp. 110, 111.  CIL V, 6612.  AE 2000, 328.  AE 1934, 125.  AE 1978, 567.  CIL VI, 30983.  CIL VI, 2379.  AE 2013, 399.  CIL IX, 3209.  CIL IX, 7334.  CIL II, 350.  AE 1975, 235.  CIL IX, 3171.  CIL III, 8102.  CIL IX, 7242.  CIL VII, 45.  CIL XIII, 6728a.  CIL XIII, 4011.  CIL XIII, 2806.  AE 1995, 1049.  AE 1945, 6.  CIL III, 7749.  CIL XIII, 7057.  CIL III, 1402a.  CIL V, 5893.  AE 1968, 351.  CIL XIV, 1564.  CIL XIII, 2602.  CIL III, 4452.  CIL XIII, 6250.  CIL XIII, 852.  CIL II, 5812.  AE 1984, 570.  CIL III, 5768.  CIL VI, 32662.  CIL VII, 889.  CIL IX, 3083.  CIL III, 1124.  AE 1992, 826.  Brusin, Inscriptiones Aquileiae, i. 876.  CIL XII, 2734.  CIL VIII, 4025.  CIL VII, 1336, 1045.  CIL XIII, 10006, 086.  AE 1998, 910.  ILB, 146.  CIL XII, 1766.  AE 1981, 785.  CIL XIII, 11386.  CIL XIII, 2084.  CIL VI, 17166, CIL VI, 38305.  CAG, xxx. 1, p. 509.  CIRG, ii. 79.  CIL II, 2592.  CIL XIII, 2270.  CIL X, 3770.  CIL VI, 18784, CIL VI, 25003.  CIL XII, 1741.  CIL XIII, 5032.  Epigrafía Romana de Augusta Emerita, 401.  CIL XIII, 5112.  CIL III, 261.  CIL XII, 3913.  CIL XIII, 5111.  CIL XII, 2889.  CIL XIII, 1571.  CIL XIII, 2271.  CIL XIII, 12155, 9, CIL XIII, 12160, 26.  CIL XII, 878.  CIL XII, 3914.  CIL XII, 572.  CIL XIII, 391.  CIL XIII, 6243.  CIL XIII, 1986.  Ubi Erat Lupa Databank, 26718, EDCS-68900024.  CIL XII, 3621.  CIL XII, 3786.  CIL XIII, 2272.  ILN, v. 3, 879.  CIL VIII, 860.  CIL XII, 983.  CIL XII, 1645.  CIL XIII, 8504. Bibliography 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, pp. 103–184 (1897). La Carte Archéologique de la Gaule (Archaeological Map of Gaul, abbreviated CAG), Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1931–present). Luis García Iglesias, Epigrafía Romana de Augusta Emerita (Roman Epigraphy of Augusta Emerita), Madrid (1973). Inscriptions Latines de Narbonnaise (Latin Inscriptions from Narbonensis, abbreviated ILN), Paris (1985–2013). Albert Deman, Marie-Thaeraese Raepsaet-Charlier, Les inscriptions latines de Belgique (The Latin Inscriptions of Belgium, abbreviated ILB), Brussels (1985). Gerardo Pereira Menaut, Genma Baños Rodríguez, Corpus de Inscricións Romanas de Galicia (The Body of Roman Inscriptions of Galicia, abbreviated CIRG), Santiago (1991, 1994). Giovanni Battista Brusin, Inscriptiones Aquileiae (Inscriptions of Aquileia, abbreviated InscrAqu), Udine (1991–1993). Category: Roman gentes And for THIS gens? Thanks

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Severio – Ossia: Grice e Severio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Severio. For the Severii, I would pass over the more obvious Gaius Septicius Clarus-type figures (who belong to another gens anyway) and choose Severius Acceptus, the veteran of Legio VIII Augusta buried at Chalcedon. Why? Because one tiny detail in his inscription is philosophically irresistible:  he leaves four hundred coins to his heir, Dubitatius Attianus.  That is almost a Gricean scene waiting to happen. Grice e Severio Accepto: Quid Heredi Relinquo? SEVERIVS ACCEPTVS. Quadringentos nummos heredi relinquo. (I leave four hundred coins to my heir.) +> My concern for the future survives my death. SCEPTICVS. Nummi tantum sunt. (They are only coins.) +> The bequest is merely economic. SEVERIVS. Tunc cur in lapide scribuntur? (Then why are they written on stone?) +> Public recording suggests a meaning beyond mere transfer. SCEPTICVS. Ergo quid significat legatum? (Then what does the legacy signify?) SEVERIVS. Me meminisse oportuisse. (That I ought to be remembered.) +> The inheritance is also a communicative act. GRICE. Donum pecuniae et signum curae idem esse possunt. (A gift of money and a sign of concern may be the same thing.) +> Material transfer and communicative intention coexist.  The Gricean attraction here is that a legacy has two levels: What is done  400 coins are transferred.  What is meant  trust, gratitude, recognition, continuity.  The inscription makes this explicit. If the goal were solely the transfer of assets, the transfer could occur privately. The stone exists because an audience is intended. But Acceptus is the better miniature because of the name itself. Acceptus means something like "accepted," "received," "welcome." One might almost hear: SEVERIVS ACCEPTVS. Acceptus vixi. (I lived accepted.) and then leave a legacy as the final conversational move. Dry Speranzian formula  The Severii are a family of "stern people" by name. Severius Acceptus softens the title. He leaves four hundred coins, but the inscription records more than a payment. Like many epitaphs, it converts property into a final utterance: "remember that I cared enough to leave this."

 

Speranza, J. L. (n. d.). ‘H. P. Grice e J. L. Speranza: La Conversazione – I Verbali: Severio – Ossia: Grice e Severio -- Grex griceiana – verbalia: Severio. A close second choice would be Marcus Severius Viator, the flamen, pontifex, and municipal magistrate whose cognomen is literally Viator ("traveller" or "messenger"). One could build an elegant vignette around: VIATOR. Nuntium fero. (I carry a message.) GRICE. Cuius? (Whose?) because every messenger raises the classic Gricean problem of whose meaning is being conveyed: the sender's or the messenger's.