Abstract

Gellius’ Noctes Atticae reveal not only the entertaining and social character of the ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία, but also its moral function, and, more generally, its usefulness to a specific socio-cultural group. Unlike purely normative grammar, logic has a part in this model of honesta eruditio. The dialectical forms of argumentation and the study of propositional logic can be useful tools for the articulation of ethical problems, but the most important aspect is the definition of isolated terms. Gellius is persuaded that all the forms attested by a literary authority are legitimate and is perfectly aware that learned usage is not uniform. Thus he is not particularly concerned by the discussions of morphological correctness, but rather is interested in semantic precision. To this end, he combines the study of the Latin vocabulary with the philosophy of language, in order to achieve a better understanding of that national treasure, as well as its long history and its heritage.