| The role of pity in everyday Greek life is examined through anecdotal evidence culled from Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and the ten Attic orators. A close reading of narratives in which one person is said to pity or aid another reveals a subtle rhetoric of moral obligation and points to specific acts of compassion that ordinary Athenians were expected to perform but for which they seldom or never get credit.; Part One covers several aspects of pity. Chapter I, a lexical study of the two Greek words for pity, shows that orators preferred eleos and historians oiktos although there is no appreciable semantic difference between them. Chapter II examines the nature of pity as an emotion with an overview of anecdotes showing how Athenians described their emotional responses. Narrative tropes common to these descriptions are used to infer pity in passages that do not name it. Chapter III explores a central paradox: in ancient Athens, pity was not a virtue, but acts of compassion were expected and admired. The writer argues that within the realm of civic discourse represented by these two genres, the feeling of pity mattered less than reasoned empathy and action.; Part Two, on acts of compassion, offers a close reading of several anecdotes. These corroborate the interpretations offered in Part One and also initiate discussion on some recondite facets of Athenian society: the long-distance transport of sick and wounded soldiers, and home nursing. Chapter IV analyzes the departure scene in the Athenian retreat from Syracuse, found in Thucydides' Peloponnesian War. (Thuc. 7.75.2--5). Chapter V examines a story from Xenophon's Anabasis in which a muleteer assigned to carry a half-dead soldier, whom Xenophon is trying to save, tries to bury him instead (Xen. Anab. 5.8.8--11). Chapter VI considers a little-discussed episode from the Aegineticus that describes the home nursing of a man during his protracted final illness (Isoc. 19.24--9). All three anecdotes reveal that Athenians, whether or not they felt active pity, were held to a high standard of helping friends or comrades even in hopeless cases. |
