H. P. GRICE E J. L. SPERANZA: LA CONVERSAZIONE -- I VERBALI: PARISIO

 G.: Sir has set Horace again. M.: Not “again,” Grice. Always. “Aut prodesse volunt aut delectare poetae.” S.: “Poets wish either to benefit or to delight.” G.: Or to do both, which is the implicature Sir prefers. M.: Quite so. Horace rarely states the conjunction; he leaves you to supply it. S.: Then the lesson is not merely Latin, but inference. G.: Yes, Sir is training us to notice what is meant beyond what is said. M.: If you like. Though I should be content if you noticed what is said. S.: Why Horace, though, at Clifton? M.: Because Horace is safe. He forms the mind without inflaming it. “Est modus in rebus.” S.: “There is a measure in things.” G.: That is practically a curriculum in three words. M.: And a gentleman in four. You will learn proportion before enthusiasm. S.: It sounds like moral instruction disguised as metre. G.: Or metre disguised as moral instruction. M.: Translate first, Grice. G.: “There is a limit, there are fixed bounds beyond which and short of which right cannot exist.” M.: Good. Now the point. S.: Moderation. G.: More than moderation. The implicature is that excess is not merely imprudent but unintelligible as right. M.: You are already reading too much. G.: Sir has taught us to. S.: Parisio would approve. M.: Parisio would annotate you into submission. He would tell you where to admire and where to pause. G.: He would put Horace on top and himself beneath. M.: As any decent commentator should. S.: Then why not Aristotle. M.: Because Horace teaches taste. Aristotle teaches system. You boys need taste first. G.: And taste carries implicature more easily than system. M.: You insist on that word. G.: Because Horace trades in it. “Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem.” S.: “Things admitted through the ear stir the mind less.” G.: Than those presented to the eyes. M.: Continue. S.: “Quam quae sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus.” G.: The implicature being that vivid presentation persuades more effectively than mere assertion. M.: Which is why you must not merely translate, but feel the line. S.: This is beginning to sound like rhetoric. G.: It is rhetoric, but disguised as advice to poets. M.: Precisely. Horace instructs by indirection. S.: So we are to become poets. M.: No. You are to become men who can read poets without embarrassment. G.: And perhaps speak without saying everything. M.: Heaven forbid that you should say everything. S.: Then another line, Sir. M.: “Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio.” S.: “I strive to be brief, I become obscure.” G.: A warning against excessive economy. M.: Yes. Brevity implicates clarity only up to a point. S.: So the implicature fails when overcompressed. G.: Or becomes ambiguous. M.: Good. Now apply it to yourselves. S.: If we say too little, Sir cannot examine us. G.: If we say too much, Sir will. M.: You are learning. S.: Why would this form a country gentleman. M.: Because a gentleman must know when not to speak, and when to speak so as to be understood. G.: Horace supplies the principles. S.: Without ever quite stating them. G.: Which is why Sir insists on translation. M.: Translation is obedience before interpretation. G.: Parisio again. M.: Yes. Text first, commentary second. S.: And yet you comment while we translate. M.: Only to prevent you from commenting before you have translated. G.: A useful discipline. S.: Another line, Sir. M.: “Ut pictura poesis.” S.: “As is painting, so is poetry.” G.: The implicature is that poetry is to be judged by its effect, as a picture is. M.: And that different distances yield different judgments. S.: That is not in the Latin. G.: It follows. M.: It follows, but do not forget that it follows. S.: So we are trained to follow. G.: To supply what Horace leaves unsaid. M.: And to know that you are supplying it. S.: Parisio would mark the margin. G.: And tell us which supply is authorised. M.: Whereas I prefer you to discover that there is a supply to be made. S.: Then the education is partly tacit. G.: Entirely. We are being taught how to infer. M.: You are being taught how to read. S.: And reading is inference. G.: Reason-governed inference. M.: That phrase will get you nowhere in an examination. S.: Nor, I suspect, in a country house. G.: It may get one a scholarship. M.: It may, if you remember your quantities. S.: Then Horace leads to Corpus. G.: Indirectly. M.: Everything here is indirect. S.: Another example. M.: “Nec deus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus.” S.: “Let no god intervene unless a knot worthy of such a rescuer arises.” G.: The implicature is a prohibition of cheap solutions. M.: Yes. Do not solve your problems by miracle. S.: Or by examiner’s mercy. G.: Or by rhetorical flourish. M.: Especially not by rhetorical flourish. S.: Yet Horace is all flourish. G.: Controlled flourish. M.: Governed flourish. S.: Then the gentleman is one whose flourishes are governed. G.: And whose silences are meaningful. M.: You will both do. S.: Parisio would have us note the authorities. G.: Acron, Porphyrio, and the rest. M.: And thereby spare us the effort of thinking. S.: You prefer the effort. M.: I prefer that you know there is effort. G.: Then the lesson is not merely Horace. M.: It is how to be instructed by Horace. S.: And how to be instructed without noticing that one is being instructed. G.: That is the finest implicature of all. M.: Enough. Parse “prodesse.” S.: Present active infinitive. G.: With moral overtones. M.: With grammatical ones first. S.: Sir resists implicature. G.: Only until we have earned it. M.: Precisely. S.: Then Horace prepares us for something else. G.: For reading what is not written. M.: For not writing what need not be written. S.: For speaking like a gentleman. G.: For meaning more than one says. M.: Provided one first says something worth meaning.