The Politeness of Achilles: Off-record Conversation Strategies in Homer and the Meaning

This article examines social interaction in Homer in the light of modern conversation analysis, especially Grice's theory of conversational implicature. Some notoriously problematic utterances are explained in terms of their 'off-record' significance. One particular off-record conversation strategy is characterized by Homer as kertomia, and this is discussed in detail. The article focusses on social problems at the end of Achilles' meeting with Priam in Iliad XXIV, and in particular on the much-discussed word §pikertoμ°vn (24.649). Homer's dialogue is often very subtle. A famous example is the white lie with which Odysseus defends Nausicaa in Odyssey VII. He pretends that he refused an offer by her to accompany him to her father's palace (Od. 7.298–307), although she had actually told him to make his own way there (Od. 6.255–315). Odysseus' tact is not signalled explicitly, and it has been denied that such nuances are to be found in Homer at all.1 One possible response to such scepticism is the accumulation and analysis of examples. Analysis can be done in a fairly informal way, appealing to such readily intelligible concepts as delicacy and tact. There is, however, something to be gained from a more systematic approach which exploits the resources of modern conversation analysis. This may seem laborious when applied to relatively simple examples, but can be useful in analysing more complex conversation strategies. Sociolinguists find dialogue in literary works a useful source of evidence even for populations where experimental data are available. Literary dialogue has the advantage of being completely transparent in terms of context. All relevant factors are ∗ I am grateful for comments on earlier versions of this article to Donald Lateiner, Hayden Pelliccia, William Slater, and two anonymous JHS referees. 1 See the discussion by J. Griffin, Homer on Life and Death (Oxford 1980) 50–80, esp. 61–2.