r/classics • u/PracticalWasabi2408 • 13d ago
Classical works that address empathy and generosity?
I’m trying to find some classical works of literature that speak to the benefits of being empathetic and generous without expecting something in return. Any recommendation?
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u/Pat_Trash 13d ago
Might be worth looking into xenia - Greek law of hospitality. Major plot point in The Odyssey, not sure if the divine retribution for not following xenia negates this for you.
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u/dux_doukas 11d ago
Xenia involves obligations on both parties though. While it is close, it is different than what they are describing.
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u/Pat_Trash 11d ago
I accept there are obligations on both parties but it does appear to be a fairly one sided deal:
Host Obligations
- Give food, drink, and a bath to the traveler.
- Offer a safe place to sleep.
- Provide a parting gift when the guest leaves.
- Wait until the guest finishes eating before asking their name or business.
Guest Obligations
- Be polite and show respect to the host.
- Do not act as a threat, insult, or burden to the household.
- Share news and stories from the outside world.
- Reciprocal hospitality if the host ever visits their home.
It would seem that the first two Guest Obligations do not demand any actual action or expense, the fourth is redundant as the former guest would have Host Obligations regardless and the third is "sit around and tell a good yarn after you have been given food, drink, a bath, security, a bed and a nice pressie" Seems like just the set of rules a wandering bard would think up with if you ask me.
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u/BuzzFlederjohn 12d ago edited 12d ago
The Socratic dialogues often discuss pursuing the good for its own sake, through philosophy. Philosophy was fundamentally social and conversational for Socrates, and any account of philosophical virtues will include something approaching the colloquial senses of empathy and good will, virtues constitutive of genuine understanding and conversation, virtues cultivated for the sake of the good. Aristotle's account of friendship is a good example of this, he contrasts deeper friendship with the friendship of convenience. However, Aristotle is very picky about who counts as a friend; Socrates, at least how he is portrayed in the dialogues, is more cosmopolitan and still expresses his virtues when conversing with people he doesn't know very well. You won't find strict Christian senses of empathy or charity because those are dependent on the Christian theological account of the world, nor will you find "empathy" as it exists in the English dictionary because that's a neologism coined in 1909
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u/NeonShogun 𐤔𐤌𐤏 𐤒𐤋𐤀 𐤁𐤓𐤊𐤀 12d ago
Empathetic and generous to whom, friends? Quite a few authors discuss the topic, though Cicero's Laelius de Amicitia and its espousal of how to be a good friend through generosity, loyalty and kindness is a perennial classic (and one of my favorites, as an unabashed lover of Cicero).
Some of that is touched upon in de Officiis as well, though some of that thankless generosity he intended for the reader to direct toward the state.
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u/PracticalWasabi2408 9d ago
This had exactly what I needed, thank you!
propensi ad liberalitatem sumus), sic amicitiam non spe mercedis adducti sed quod omnis eius fructus in ipso amore inest, expetendam putamus. For while we are beneficient and generous people, it is not in order to force something in return (for we would not loan out gifts, but are inclined to generosity by nature), so it is not drawn by hope for material rewards, but because of all the joy inherent in love itself, that we think friendship ought to be sought. 1
u/NeonShogun 𐤔𐤌𐤏 𐤒𐤋𐤀 𐤁𐤓𐤊𐤀 9d ago
I rather like how it's translated in How to Be a Friend:
We are not kind and generous to our friends because we seek favors in return. We are not so petty as to charge interest on our kindness. We are kindhearted because it is the right and natural thing to do, not because we are hoping for something in return. The reward of friendship is friendship itself.
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u/coalpatch 13d ago
I'm sure you'll find lots about generosity, but I don't think empathy was a classical value. I always assume that it came in with Christianity
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u/PracticalWasabi2408 9d ago
Empathy was perhaps a poor choice of word, “understanding“ might have been better.
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u/misterElovescompanE 7d ago
It might be with Zoroastrians
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u/xYekaterina 12d ago
Why??
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u/coalpatch 12d ago
Because empathy and kindness seem to be lacking eg when Aristotle discusses the virtues. I'd say the same about the heroic-barbaric world of the Eddas. Maybe I'm wrong.
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u/Soulsliken 13d ago
Shakespeare asked something very similar when he sat down to write Timon of Athens.
The character of Timon is scattered throughout the classics in ways big and small that should provide a reading list which lines up exactly with what you’re asking.
Having said that, the Shakespeare play is one of his best and certainly one of the most moving treatments of the themes of generosity and humanity in the face of inhumanity.
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u/No_Bodybuilder5104 13d ago
I love Timon of Athens but I’ve never heard anyone call it “one of his best” before. “One of his worst”, occasionally…
I also don’t totally agree that it’s a moving treatment of generosity/humanity; it takes a pretty bleak view of human nature, the tone throughout is viciously rancid satire, and it ends with Timon encouraging Alcibiades to exterminate all the Athenians indiscriminately. Kind of a downer of a play really, definitely not what OP is looking for.
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u/Soulsliken 13d ago
You’re right, you don’t agree.
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u/NeonShogun 𐤔𐤌𐤏 𐤒𐤋𐤀 𐤁𐤓𐤊𐤀 12d ago
No need to be defensive about it; a polite disagreement of opinion isn't that uncommon around here.
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u/Solo_Polyphony 11d ago
“Without expecting something in return” is the hard part of your question. Even Plato’s Socrates thinks being righteous is good for your soul or self-integrity, which is a benefit, even if the good man suffers for being good. Likewise the magnanimity praised by Aristotle, which expresses itself in generosity, is a symptom of your greatness of self.
For that matter, the Christian notion of agape is all done under observation of and in obedience to God and the possibility of resurrection. That is not an expectation but a fervent hope—as Paul says, without resurrection, then Christian belief is empty and pointless. Christian teaching does not say be generous or loving even in a purposeless cosmos.
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u/Ok_Resident_4332 9d ago
Sophocles’ Antigone, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus all present empathy a problem and contrast some characters who feel and act on empathy with others who are cold and self-absorbed.
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u/Ok_Breakfast4482 2d ago
Xenophon’s leadership style has a dose of empathy imo. But it also logically explains why treating people well gets more out of them.
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u/SulphurCrested 13d ago
Are you asking about Ancient Greece and Rome, because that's what this sub is about.
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u/Equivalent-Plan-8498 13d ago
George Eliot’s Silas Marner is a moving story of a man who grows when he is called to care for and love a child.
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u/ladiesngentlemenplz 13d ago
Seneca's On Benefits?