chapter eighteen

DOES PRIDE GO BEFORE A FALL? ON ARROGANT PRIDE*

Lisa Irene Hau

A feeling of superiority to other human beings is generally discouraged in modern Western society. Not so in ancient Greece. From epic through tragedy to oratory and historiography, the Greeks generally show them- selves quite happy to blow their own trumpet,1 and pride is not generally a sentiment to be criticized in great achievers.2 When such pride tips over into arrogance and hubristic disregard for others, however, it becomes a neg- ative trait, associated with tyrants and punishable by Athenian law.3 The line between self-con dent pride and hurtful arrogance can be very  ne, but is very rarely explored by ancient authors. This paper will argue that Xenophon was more interested in, and troubled by, this ambiguity in Greek thought than most other ancient writers, and that his stance on the issue both ties in closely with the overall moral-didactic purpose of his writing and points towards his Hellenistic successors in the historiographical genre. We shall explore Xenophon’s use of words from the root phron- denoting a proud state of mind, often with corollaries of arrogance, overcon dence and, in a military context, contempt for the enemy. More speci cally, we shall investigate his use of the nouns phron¯ema and kataphron¯esis, the

* I would like to thank  rst and foremost Christopher Tuplin, Graham Oliver, and Fiona Hobden for organizing an extremely enjoyable conference where discussion rather than pre- sentation held pride of place. Thanks are also due to the many participants in the conference who asked questions of the conference version of this paper and ofered suggestions for its improvement. The comments of Melina Tamiolaki, Gabriel Danzig, Bruce LaForse, and Louis-André Dorion were particularly helpful. 1 See e.g. Hom. Il. 254–273, Thuc. 2.60.5–7, Eur. IA 919–974, Dem. 18.108–110. Cf. Dover 1974: 234–235. 2 See e.g. Arist. Eth. Nic. 1124a–b, to be discussed below. 3 See e.g. Dem. 21 passim. Compare Fisher 1992: 36–85. 592 lisa irene hau kataphronein, the adverb kataphronik¯os, and the phrase mega phronein,4 all of which are frequent across his corpus.5

Phron-Words Used in a Purely Negative Sense

Let us begin with phron¯ema. This word, in Xenophon, can most often best be translated ‘insolent pride’.6 Such pride very often leads to negative results, as in Spartan Constitution 15.8 where Lycurgus wants to avoid phron¯ema in the Spartan kings because this will lead to envy in the people, and Hellenica 7.1.23 and 7.1.32 where  rst the Arcadians and then other Greek peoples become inspired with phron¯ema under the inuence of Lycomedes of Mantinea, a phron¯ema which leads them to engage the Spartans and be defeated soundly in the ‘Tearless Battle’. Even in Hellenica 5.2.18, where the phron¯ema of the Olynthians is described by Cligenes of Acanthus in a speech, and 5.3.8, where it seems to be warranted by the Olynthians’ recent defeat of Spartans under Teleutias, this state of mind eventually (5.3.26) leads to disaster when they are reduced to starvation by a Spartan siege and end up having to capitulate.

4 The concept of self-con dent arrogance can be expressed by several semantically distinct groups of words, in Xenophon and in Greek more generally. Some are which express the action of thinking oneself better than someone else, such as ὑπεροράω, literally ‘to overlook’, which is used only rarely by Xenophon, but when used always denotes a negative type of behaviour (Hell. 7.3.6, 7.3.7, Mem. 1.2.9, 1.4.10, Symp. 8.3, 8.22; Ages. 8.4.). Another is καταγιγνώσκω, to ‘think down on’, which is only used twice by Xenophon in this sense and otherwise means ‘accuse/bring to trial’ or simply ‘realise/believe something bad’. Another group of verbs express the state of overcon dent arrogance with more focus on its cause than on the person or persons towards whom it is directed. These verbs have meanings such as ‘lift up’, ‘puf up’, and ‘blow up’ and regularly denote a state of arrogance and overcon dence when used in the or passive participle. They are verbs such as ἀναφυσάοµαι and µετεωρίζοµαι. However, ἀναφυσάοµαι is used only twice by Xenophon, and though he uses µετεωρίζοµαι and its cognate adjective µετέωρος (both very common in Hellenistic historiography in their metaphysical sense) frequently, they always carry their literal, physical sense of being lifted of the ground. Rather than all of these expressions, common in Greek literature, Xenophon favours the phron-words, which denote a state of mind. 5 I do not include the Apology as none of the phron- words appear in it. The words that are usually interpreted as commenting on Socrates’ arrogance in court are the verb megal¯egorein and its noun megal¯egoria. More precisely, however, as has been shown by Dorion 2005, megal¯egorein and megal¯egoria mean ‘boast’ and ‘boastfulness’, something which is usually negative in Xenophon, but can be warranted at critical moments if the achievements of which the speaker boasts are true (see n. 26, below). 6 See Hell. 5.2.18, 5.3.8, 7.1.23, 7.1.32, 7.1.44, Mem. 3.5.4, Cyr. 1.46.4, Lac. 3.2.2, 15.8.4.