
Contents
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I. Performatives and Power I. Performatives and Power
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II. Fides, Foedus, and the Lucretian Promise II. Fides, Foedus, and the Lucretian Promise
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(i) Mutual Separation: Distinguishing the Senses and the Material World (i) Mutual Separation: Distinguishing the Senses and the Material World
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(ii) Atoms and Agents: The Politics of Promising (ii) Atoms and Agents: The Politics of Promising
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(a) Humans, Atoms; Atoms, Humans: Agency and the Failure of Analogy (a) Humans, Atoms; Atoms, Humans: Agency and the Failure of Analogy
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(b) Foedera: Compacts, Divine and Human (b) Foedera: Compacts, Divine and Human
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(1) Foedus and Fetial Ritual (1) Foedus and Fetial Ritual
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(2) Foedera Naturae (2) Foedera Naturae
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III. Conclusion III. Conclusion
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2 Lucretian Promises: Fides, Foedus, and the Politics of Nature
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Published:November 2014
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Abstract
This chapter begins by arguing for the centrality of performative language to understanding De rerum natura. Among other things, this discussion connects performativity to Lucretius’ acts of linguistic creation and moments where he is figured as poeta creator. The chapter then focuses upon a specific performative act, the promise, examining portions of Lucretius text that trade heavily in the language of promising. Drawing largely upon Roman lexicographical sources, the chapter ultimately contends that, at least in certain structural ways, we should view Lucretius as a fetial priest, that is, as a maker of treaties and agreements, in particular those treaties, the so-called foedera naturae, that structure the natural world.
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