Nunc age . . . expediam: A Didactic Introductory Construction in Virgil’s Poetry

The present paper analyses a didactic three-part construction (henceforth D3C), composed of nunc, age and a first person singular commissive and metacommunicative verbum dicendi. The D3C is present three times in Virgil’s poetry: once in the Georgics and twice in the Aeneid. This study aims to consider each element from a linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic point of view, paying special attention to context and genre. Moreover, the D3C and its variants are studied in a comparative perspective along the literary and non-literary testimonia both latina and graeca of Antiquity, in order to identify possible literary models.