63 Colloquial and Li.. - Ganino.com

Greeting and farewell expressions 125
TheparallelofGreek, which on account of its use in toasts was
sometimes written on drinking vessels in collocations such as
, 15 suggests that example (95) was inscribed on the pot with similar
motives.
This future imperative (imperative ii) form is probably not a mere variant
of the present imperative salve. In general such imperative forms are typical
of legal texts (especially laws and wills) and other directive expressions
containing ‘rules of conduct’ (Risselada 1993: 128). Because this type of
imperative neutralises the distinction between second and third person, it
may be a kind of subjectless or impersonal form (Rosén 1999: 115). Future
imperatives also occur in conversational texts and there have a different
use, designating orders out of the control of the speaker (Risselada 1993:
122 ff.; Rosén 1999: 114 ff.) and thus coming close to being an expression of
wishing. This is clearly the use of the greeting salveto: the speaker has no
power over the addressee’s health or well-being, and thus the expression is
essentially a wish rather than an order.
The use of the future imperative salveto in greetings is clearly not an
artificial invention of Plautus: it long predated him and belongs not only
to Latin but also to at least one other Italic language. Likewise the juxtaposition
of present and future imperatives in greetings, seen in Plautus in
examples (85) and(86) above, belongs to archaic Faliscan as well as Latin
and therefore must be a feature of actual conversational language rather
than Plautus’ invention.
ThereissomeevidenceinPlautusforausageofsalveto different from
that of salve. The future imperative is more common as the reply to a
greeting than as the initial element (cf. example (85) above), but it can also
be used to initiate greetings, as in example (86) above and:
(96) adgrediar. O bone vir, | salveto, et tu, bona liberta. (Pl. Per. 788–9)
I’ll up to them! Aha, my good sir, greetings! And to you, my good
freedwoman!
A particularly interesting use of the form is:
(97) tu erus es: tu servom quaere. tu salveto: tu vale. (Pl. Men. 1076)
It’s you who are my master. You, seek another slave! Good day to you,
sir.
As Havet (1898: 287) notes, here ‘salveto n’est pas un bonjour ordinaire’.
With this greeting the slave Messenio recognises his new master, and with
15 References in Colonna 1980; further documentation in Guarducci 1995: iii.491 ff.