Verità e menzogna: alcuni casi tragici tra sentenza e formularità

Abstract

Greek tragedy thematizes in different ways the two significant topics of
truth and lie; apart from the frequent deceits of the gods against mortals, the human characters of Athenian dramas lie and withhold some information but sometimes theytell ‘all the truth’, while listening characters usually accept what is said as ‘true’ (evenif it isn’t). This paper does not record all the cases in which the themes of truth and lieare displayed; instead, it aims at detecting some repeated and recurring formal patterns we call ‘formulaic’ («to say all», «to tell a lie», «to say the truth»). We also analyse Eur. Phoe. 469 in order to re-examine the starting point of a well-known proverbial utterance (Veritatis simplex oratio est), and to trace a brief history of it. In the end, we consider some sententious phrases connecting the truth to the idea of the time bringing everything to light.