Lucretian Promises

University Press Scholarship Online

Oxford Scholarship Online

The Language of Atoms: Performativity and Politics in

Lucretius' De rerum natura
W. H. Shearin

Print publication date: 2015

Print ISBN-13: 9780190202422
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2014
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190202422.001.0001

Lucretian Promises

Fides, Foedus, and the Politics of Nature

W. H. Shearin

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190202422.003.0002

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.

Keywords: Hugh Sykes Davies, promises, Shoshana Felman, sense perception, boundaries, foedera
naturae, fetiales (Roman priests), fides, vates (Roman poet-seer)

Page 1 of 2

PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2015.
All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a
monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Dalhousie
University; date: 23 June 2015
Lucretian Promises

Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access

the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely
search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and
chapter.

Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your
librarian.

To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer
there, please contact us .

Access brought to you by: Dalhousie University

Page 2 of 2

PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2015.
All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a
monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Dalhousie
University; date: 23 June 2015