No Regrets: Remorse in Classical Antiquity

284 Pages·2013·1.27 MB·English

by  Laurel Fulkerson

NO REGRETS
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No Regrets
Remorse in Classical Antiquity
LAUREL FULKERSON
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Acknowledgements
Beingbothperipateticandgarrulousbynature,Ihavetalkedagreat
deal with a great many people about this project. Most have been
encouraging, many extremely helpful. Those who are disappointed
not to find their names mentioned below are warmly encouraged to
blame the lateness of the hour, the profusion of the drink, or other
externalfactors,asseemsappropriate,ratherthaningratitude.
First, for permission to reproduce or reframe things published
elsewhere, I thank the following journals: Proceedings of the Cam-
bridge Philological Society, Ramus, Latomus, and Illinois Classical
Studies.Innearlyeverycase,theversionsinthisbookaresomewhat
different, though generally only in order to fit into the book’s argu-
ment.Articleversionsarealsogenerallymoredetailedexpositionsof
theargumentscontainedherein.Iwishheretorecordmyobligations
tothenumerousanonymousreadersforthevariousarticlesspawned
by this project, most particularly those which never became articles
becausethereadersunknowinglyconvincedmethatcertainchapters
didnotmakemuchsenseoutoftheircontext(or,inonecase,simply
did not make much sense tout court). OUP’s readers also deserve
specialthanks,forheadingmebackintherightdirection.AndHilary
O’Shea has handled this project from start to finish with the finesse
andprofessionalismforwhichsheisjustlyfamous.
Ihavebeenfortunatetoreceivemuchinstitutionalsupport.Ithank
theFloridaStateUniversityforaCOFRSgrantin2009,asabbaticalin
2007–8,aDevelopingScholarAwardin2008–9,andforprovidingme
with such exemplary colleagues, the National Endowment for the
Humanities for a Summer Stipend in 2004, and the University of
Cincinnati for a Tytus Fellowship in 2006; while I was there, Getzel
Cohenwasaparticularjoy.IthanktootheFellowsandStaffatExeter
College,Oxford,especiallyGregoryHutchinson,firstforofferingmea
VisitingFellowshipfor2007–8andthenformakingmystaysopleas-
ant. I am also grateful to St Anne’s College, Oxford, for a Plumer
Fellowship for Trinity 2010, which allowed me to finish the book in
idyllic surroundings, the St Anne’s College Classical Society for an
extremely stimulating discussion during that term, and Matthew
Leigh,whomadeboththingspossible.MyfurtherOxonianobligations
viii Acknowledgements
arenumerous,soIhereacknowledgeonlytheverymostpressing:for
theirhospitalityandkindnessduringmynumerousvisits,IthankScott
Scullion and Vasiliki Giannopoulou, Chris Pelling, Bob and Elly
Cowan, Rosie Wyles, and Peta Fowler. The Lower Reading Room
staff at the Old Bodleian Library in Oxford deserve more than my
thanks,but,asthisisallIhavetoofferinreturnforthemanyhourswe
havespenttogether(idyllicforme;forthemIcannotsay),Igratefully
doso.Externalsupportdoesnotcomewithoutaposseofletter-writers,
soIwishtothankAlessandroBarchiesi,DouglasCairns,JohnCorri-
gan,DavidKonstan,ChrisPelling,DanielPullen,andGarethWilliams
forpraisingmetoothersinatime-honoured,SecondSophisticfashion,
i.e.beyondwhatthestricttruthmightallow.
I am grateful too to invited audiences for the opportunity to
presentvariousideas:DavidsonCollege(2006),LiverpoolUniversity
(2007), Exeter College, Oxford (2007), St Anne’s College, Oxford
(2008 and 2010), Durham University (2009), the Sub-Faculty Sem-
inar at Oxford (Trinity 2010), Yale University (2011), Concordia
College (2011), and Florida State University’s Langford Conference
(2012).
Those who are experts in individual areas treated in what follows
will undoubtedly find fault with my sins of bibliographical commis-
sion and omission; as I am well versed in the scholarship of only a
very fewof theauthors and time-periods heretreated, Ihave almost
certainly missed things I ought to have read. I have attempted to
remedy thisdeficiency bybadgering those whoareexpert in various
areas, but I am confident that what has resulted is by no means
complete, not least because once people got wind of my devious
scheme of taking advantage of their knowledge, phone calls and
emailsbegantogoignored.Indeed,ofthenumerousandfrightening
pitfalls inherent in writing a book of this sort, none has been more
simultaneously daunting and pleasurable than tackling, one after
another, dozens of subjects, in no one of which I am an expert. For
the inevitable misunderstandings and oversimplifications that come
from this, I am painfully aware that I have nobody to blame but
myself.Still, there has been some lightin mydarkness, and my own
ignorance has enabled me to discover anew the generosity of col-
leagues and friends. For advice and bibliography onHomer, I thank
DouglasCairns;onGreektragedy,AllenRomanoandLeonGolden;
on Greek and Roman historians and historiography, Jim Sickinger
and John Marincola; on Plato in particular, and the philosophical
Acknowledgements ix
project in general, Svetla Slaveva-Griffin; on Greek and Roman
comedy, Kenneth Reckford; on Plutarch, Chris Pelling; on Julian
(who did not make the cut, but still deserves mention), the remark-
ablylearnedDavidLevenson;andonCicero,andforawidevarietyof
bibliographic assistance, Gregory Hutchinson. I am grateful to Jan
Hollandforteachingmeenoughtoploughthroughthebibliography
oncriminaloffendersinarespectable fashion, andtoJoeBiancofor
doing the same in the psychoanalytic literature. There are almost
certainly omissions in this list in particular; I have been the regular
recipient of extremely useful advice, which I have only later, upon
hearing it again from someone else (indeed, sometimes even a third
time!), been able to realize the soundness of. Bob Kaster generously
allowed me to look at his unpublished manuscript on paenitentia
(now available to all as part of Kaster 2005), and David Konstan
providedaccesstoseveralarticlesandhisbookonancientforgiveness
before their publication (the latter now Konstan 2010). Armand
D’Angoursimilarlyoffereduphismanuscript ontheAtheniansand
the new, which came at a particularly fruitful time (now D’Angour
2011), Douglas Cairns was generous with forthcoming work on
Homer (Cairns 2011 and Allan and Cairns 2011), and Stephen
Hinds provided an early draft of his commentary on Tristia 1.3
which was very useful in thinking through that poem. Finally, con-
versations at key moments with Bob Kaster, David Konstan, Flore
Kimmel, and Paula Marincola, helped me to realize what this book
wastryingtobeabout.
Pieces of this book have been read by various people at different
stages; none of the following should be blamed for the result, espe-
ciallywhen,asoften,theygavemebetteradvicethanItook:Douglas
Cairns, Tim Duff, Leon Golden, David Konstan, David Levenson,
EleniManolaraki, JohnMarincola, ChrisPelling,Kenneth Reckford,
JimSickinger,JeffTatum,andGarethWilliams.
Finally, a host of more personal obligations: I am grateful to Paul
Marty, whose idea this was in the first place (I hope he’s sorry!).
Frances Cairncross, Rector at Exeter College, provided the title.
IthankDavidKonstanforawidevarietyofkindofficesandencour-
agement,andespeciallyforconvincingmethatabigbookisabigevil.
In fact, all readers of this book should feel themselves indebted to
David for his heroic efforts in slimming this volume down from a
behemoth thirty-three intended chapters to its current, modest
length. Aline Kalbian has been an exemplary writing partner, and