There is a variety of motives for expressing oneself insincerely, and not all lies are antisocial. If politeness is understood as a ‘social lubricant’, sincerity may tend to take second priority (in order) to maintain good social relations, 5 something that was already noted by Goffman (1959). In both cases, these characters are known for their disingenuousness in the ‘working’ sphere, to the extent that their very sustenance might be said to depend on hypocrisy and feigned amiability. 3 This study seeks to further explore this issue by examining the comedies of Plautus, specifically, two stock characters from his works, namely the courtesan and the parasite, who make use of certain politeness strategies for manipulative purposes, aiming to control others for their own benefit. 2 However, the concept of over-politeness-that is inappropriate, excessive, and/or insistent use of politeness strategies-along with the problem of sincerity in politeness practices, has not been sufficiently explored in Latin, with the exception of Hall’s notable approach to latent hypocrisy in certain polite fictions in Cicero’s letters.
1 The analysis of impoliteness has also been addressed, although to a lesser degree.
In recent years, significant advances have been made in our understanding of linguistic politeness phenomena in Classical languages, especially in Latin. 1 Introduction: In/sincerity and Politeness
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