The Roman Legionary Who Fell On His Sword

--- by J. L. Speranza
for the Grice Club.

Grice ("Actions and Events", Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 67, 1986 -- published pre-humously) considers:

Martha fell into a trance
-----
Therefore: Martha fell.

as an odd thing to offer by way of a valid argument.

He also plays with other idioms concerning 'fall' -- his point seems to be that the implicaturist has to bring in some apparatus to save univocality, or something.

He considers:

'fall on one's sword'.

Grice considers the scenario, not of Martha, but a Roman solider:

"One Roman soldier fell on his sword."

What happened:

"He lost his legion, and could not face the
disgrace, which, to his mind, attended
his responsibility for the deaths of
so many people."

---

But another Roman soldier also fell on his sword.

The scenario involving this other Roman soldier is slightly different. Grice expands on it:

What happened?

Well, "he lost his legion, because he fell
on his sword, tripping on it in the dark and
as a result knocking himself out, so that when
he regained consciousness, the legion had
moved on and he was unable to find it." (p. 12)

---- You HAVE to agree that this vintage Grice is much richer than the usual example quoted time and again, "He was caught on the grip of a vice"! (British spelling -- not 'vyse').