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Introduction 1. The English words “pity” and “compassion” are commonly used to translate the Greek words oiktos and eleos. “Compassion” has more positive connotations , but it is less satisfactory than “pity” for two reasons. First, Christian compassion ranks as a virtue, whereas Greek oiktos and eleos on the whole did not. Second, “compassion” in the strict sense requires that the compassionate person share the emotional state of the sufferer; but oiktos and eleos are sometimes felt for individuals who are blissfully unaware of their impending misfortune. 2. Famous because captivatingly told by Herodotus (1.29–33); impossible because the dates of Solon (traveled abroad c. 593–583) and Croesus (ruled Lydia c. 560–546) do not coincide. 3. Cf. Andoc. 4.23, though the latter speech is probably a Hellenistic forgery: “When you view these sorts of things in tragedies, you deem them terrible (deina nomizete), but when you see them happening in Athens, you think nothing of them (ouden phrontizete).” Translations throughout the book are my own, unless otherwise indicated. 4. At 4.54 Isocrates cites the two standard examples: aid to Adrastus and to the sons of Heracles. Cf. Lys. 2.14, Xen. Hell. 6.5.45, and Ar. Peace 138. 5. The theme emerges most prominently in the Demosthenic corpus, where a number of speeches remind Athenians of their humanitarian reputation, as in For the Rhodians (15.22): “For I wouldn’t want you, who have a reputation for always rescuing the unfortunate, to appear in this affair worse men than the Argives.” Cf. Dem. 10.3, 16.14, 18.203, 20.109, 21.48, and 24.51. 6. Admired by Ober (1989, 4) for characterizing the ethos of democratic Athens, and commented on by Garland, who says that the “[Athenians] themselves seem to have believed that they were uncommonly compassionate” (1995, 38). Cf. Pericles in the Funeral Oration, where he lays special emphasis on laws written for the protection of the wronged (Thuc. 2.37). For a full discussion of pity in Athenian civic ideology, see Tzanetou 2005. 7. Not, as it would seem, in the old Athenian agora, since Pausanias 1.17.1–2 must refer to the commercial market, the Roman agora (Vanderpool 1974; pace H. Thompson 1952; cf. Zuntz 1953). Notes 8. Aristotle, in Book 2 of the Rhetoric, assumes this, and extant speeches bear him out: dozens of passages raise the issue of whether, from the standpoint of justice, a given person deserves to be pitied. See Solmsen 1938; Konstan 2001, 27–48; Sternberg 2005, 40–43. 9. See, for example, recent books by social psychologist Candace Clark (1997); anthropologist Catherine Lutz (1988); philosopher Elliott Sober and biologist David Sloan Wilson (1998); and philosopher Martha Nussbaum (2001). 10. The intrinsic shortcomings of case studies are well known: given their limited data, they cannot support quantitative generalizations . Nevertheless, they often surpass other methodologies in elucidating qualitative values, meanings, and questions. Sociologist Robert K. Yin (1994, 3) explains that “the distinctive need for case studies arises out of the desire to understand complex social phenomena. In brief, the case study allows an investigation to retain the holistic and meaningful characteristics of real-life events.” 11. For a concise treatment of the inherent difficulties in interpreting these texts, see Christ 1998, 4–6; and for methodological principles to be applied in weighing their factual content, see Harris 1995. 12. Here I rely on the path-breaking scholarship of Victor Ehrenberg (1951), who half a century ago turned to Aristophanic comedy for sociological insights into ancient Athens. I do not seek to retrace the steps of Ehrenberg, or of Dover, but use only those passages from comedy that bear directly upon my case studies. 13. This useful image of concentric circles was first introduced by Hierocles, a Stoic philosopher, to illustrate ethical precepts of other-concern in Roman society during the reign of Hadrian, c.e. 117–138 (Den Boer 1979, 63). Relevant passages are preserved in the early fifth-century c.e. writings of Stobaeus. 14. Goff (1995, 1–37) usefully surveys the new historicism. See Hall 1997 for the sociology of tragedy; and Griffin 1998 for a provocative statement on the social function of tragedy. 15. See, e.g., Frijda 1986, and the very accessible explanations in Damasio 1994. 16. Considered by Walter Burkert in his 1955 dissertation, and by the present author in her 1998 dissertation. See also Sternberg 2005, a collection of essays. 17. The virtues catalogued by Xenophon (Ages...

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