In this dissertation I investigate how emotions work in Polybius’ Histories, his account in Greek of Rome’s rise to supremacy. My argument that moral and rational principles often underlie emotions in the Histories challenges both the Classical dichotomy between emotion and reason and commonplace assumptions that emotions were inherently negative. Moreover, emotion is essential in Polybius’ project of history and for his historiographical theory: Emotions play a crucial role in causation, critically connect moral principle to action in human behavior, and contribute to the educative value of history. Emotion for Polybius is educative for his readership in two ways. Emotions in the historical narrative teach the audience to observe and judge the characters’ reactions to emotions as correct or incorrect. Not only does Polybius present the emotions of his characters, but he also uses history to inculcate a sense of correct, normative emotion in his audience.
In Chapter 1, I identify important features of emotion drawn from the modern social sciences, providing a critical vocabulary through which I analyze key passages from the Histories, such as Philip V’s first sack of Thermum. From an analysis of emotional features, it becomes clear that Polybius judges characters above all by the import, appropriateness, direction, and proportionality of their emotion. In Chapter 2, I analyze how Polybius’ emotional vocabulary compares with that of Aristotle’s Rhetoric and David Konstan’s recent analysis in The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks. In Chapter 3, I investigate emotions at work in changes of a state’s governing regime. In Polybius’ theory of the cycle of constitutions, the people’s collective emotional reactions repeatedly spark change from a worse state form to a better one until the end of the cycle. Similarly, in the downfall of Agathocles, the usurping prime minister of Egypt, the people’s emotions both reaffirm positive communal values and (perhaps paradoxically) lead to extreme violence in overthrowing Agathocles’ regime. My analysis in Chapter 4 turns to the prominent role emotions play in causing war between states: how do emotions motivate wars, especially in the paradigm case of the Second Punic War? I look at the justifiability of anger as a cause of war and its implications for Polybius’ theory of history. In the conclusion, after I recap and summarize my findings, I briefly address how the historian tries to inculcate in his readers the appropriate emotional response to certain situations, examining in particular Polybius’ remarks about pity in the Achaean War of 146 BC. For Polybius, emotions play an important role in human decision-making, justifying and prompting individuals’ actions, explaining why states change from worse to better, linking the outbreak of wars to past events, and guiding the readers to develop a correct sense of emotional behavior.
