Kihoon Kim (김기훈) Pietas in proSexto Roscio of Cicero and Confucian 孝 (xiao)

1The case of proSexto Roscio¹

Cicero’searlyspeech proSexto Roscio is awell-known sourceinwhich acertain conception of Roman humanitas is contained.² The case was about parricidium. In early80BCE, Cicero, a26-year-old youngster at the time, took the case, and successfullydefended Sextus Roscius the younger,who had been accused of kill- ing his own father Sextus Roscius the elder,arich Italian in the municipium of Ameria. Cicerowon and Sextus Roscius wasacquitted. This criminal case, how- ever,also has political implications, because besidethe prosecutor lurked an in- fluential figure named L. Cornelius Chrysogonus. He had been aGreek slave under L. CorneliusSulla, who had marched with his armyinto Rome and ob- tained hegemonyin82BCE.Atthat time of the trial of Roscius, Chrysogonus was arguablyalibertus of some, perhaps substantial, influence. AccordingtoCicerointhis speech, Sextus Roscius the elder was killed in Rome some months after 1st June 81 BCE. Thisdateseems to be the deadline of Sulla’s tabula proscriptionis,upuntil which the proscription could have been valid. The death of Roscius the father was communicated to relativessoon- er than to his immediate family.Following his death, he was proscribed. His pos- sessions wereauctioned,bought by Chrysogonus at agiveawayprice, and some werebrought to the Roscii. Thus, Roscius the son was disinherited before the fu- neral ceremonywas over,and forced to take refuge in Rome, since he wastarget- ed to be killed by the Roscii who felt themselvestobeindanger after the decem- viri’svisit to Sulla’scamp. Among this delegation from Ameria, through which the local leaders attempted to seek amnesty for Rosciusthe elder from Sulla, T. Roscius Capitowas the chief member, but its request,ameetingwith Sulla, was blocked by Chrysogonus. After Roscius the younger had escaped to Rome, the delegation members accused him of parricide, enforcingthe lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis and employing Erucius as the prosecutor.Such is asum-

 This paperwas originallypresentedatthe International Conference “Confucius and Cicero: Old ideas for aNew World – New Ideas for an Old World” 6th September,2017atTurin Univer- sity,Italy. The author is sincerely grateful to the organizers of the conference,and to the audi- encemembers.  Cf. Ahn (2009); Storch (2006).

OpenAccess. ©2019 Kihoon Kim, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110616804-010 156 Kihoon Kim mary of the circumstances in which Roscius was accused, basedonCicero’sar- gument.³ The political reforms of the dictator Sulla seemed to have been accomplished and the Romanconstitution normalized by the revivalofregular lawsuits such as the Roscius case in the early80s BCE. Nonetheless, therewas probablynoone who would take the case and defend him against the charge while the cruel traces of civil war and the terror of Sullan rule werestill haunting the Roman people. Moreover,the situation might have been even more unfavorabletothe accused since the prosecutor Erucius was believed to be supported by Chrysogo- nus and the Sullan party.Still anovice,and not yetholding anymagistracy,Cic- ero took on the case, and by defending his client successfullyrose to prominence as abrave patronus. Thiscase is also well-known as his first causa publica. The main issue in pro SextoRoscio is parricide, the ultimatecrime of filial impiety. Although the other,noless important,aspect of this speech is Cicero’sjudgment about the political situation of the period described above, the focus of this paper will be limited mainlytopart of the argumentatio,especially§§37–72, in which the theme of pietas⁴ is more directlyaddressed.

2Reading pietas in proSextoRoscio

The issue in the caseonwhich Ciceroconcentrates, and the constitutio coniectur- alis,iswhether Roscius killed his father or not.This appears in the first part of the argumentatio. In §§ 35– 36 Cicerodivides his speech and says that there are three thingswhich obstruct the chargedman, crimen adversariorum et audaciaet potentia. Among these, his responsibility consists in rejecting the charge that the accuser Erucius has brought forward. On the other hand, to resist the other two, he says,isamatter for the Roman people to entrusttothe jury,but this he will also deal with himself in the latter part of his speech (§§ 83 – 123; §§ 124–142), which is especiallyconcernedwith the political dimension of the case. The word parricidium is used in the speech 9times, and most examples occur in §§ 37–72. Confrontingthe question of an parricidiumcommiserit,Cicero answers in the negative by arguing ex persona (§ 39), ex causa (§§ 40 –54) and ex facto ipso (§§ 73 – 79). These strategic elements mayhavebeen aresponse to the argument by which Erucius would try to convince the jury.Atthe very beginning

 Cf. §§ 15–29, narratio of proSexto Roscio.  All the words which are concerned with pius or pietas,are in §§ 37–72: pietas (§ 37); pii (§ 66); impie, impiis (§ 67); impios (§ 69). Pietas in pro Sexto Roscio of Ciceroand Confucian 孝 (xiao) 157 of his argument,Ciceroasks with assurance arhetorical question about the wick- edness of the charge:

§37: Sextus Roscius stands accused of the murder of his father.Immortal gods,what an out- rageouslycriminal act,the type of act that seems to comprise within it every crime that ex- ists! The philosophers rightlypoint out that filial duty (pietas)can be violated by amere look. What punishment, then, could be devised which would be severe enough for a man whohad murdered his own parent ― aperson he was bound by every law, human and divine, to defend with his life if necessary?⁵

In the cited passage, the word pietas attracts attention. Though it is not the direct theme of the argument or of the speech, Ciceroseems to consider the charge as referencing an impious crime. It is interesting that he prefers to emphasize or even exaggerate rather than to minimizethe criminality of the charge itself. This attitude of Cicero’sabout parricideisshown consistentlyinthe argument. Accordingtohim, parricide is acruel, unnatural, even incredible crime. On this point,his choice of topos,the crime’sinconceivability,isstrategic and effective,⁶ because, as he will state more concretelyin§§70–72, parricideand the punish- ment for it werewell-known not onlytothe jury,but also to the audience of Roman people. Answering the question qui homo? (§ 39), Cicerotries to show that the char- acter of Rosciusisquite different from what the prosecutor would have claimed. In short, since Roscius has been removed from luxuria and cupiditas, and be- cause his life has been characterized by duty,such aman could not have com- mitted one of the cruelest crimes. Likewise, Cicerokeeps insistingthat there was no sufficient cause or motive for Roscius to kill his father.Inother words, Ro- scius had neither anyinner impietas,nor anyabnormal external impetus urging him on. Whereas the prosecutor had claimedthat Roscius was so deviant that he might dare to kill his father,the strategyofCicero’sargument,appealing to com- mon sense, focused on the claim thatsuch aheinous crime would have require sufficientmotivation. Thus, Ciceroassumes adual refutation: on the one hand, the anomalous natureofparricidehas to be emphasized; on the other, Rosciusis portrayed as an ordinary,orindeed arather pious son. In the course of this argu- ment,the earlyperspective of Ciceroand the Romans on filial piety appears to be reflected in aroundabout way.

 All the English translations of pro Sexto Roscio in this paperare citedfromBerry (2000).  Cf. Lentano (2015) 144. The theme of parricide in the declamatio might have had some educa- tional rolewithin Cicero’sconception of filial piety. 158 Kihoon Kim

§63: Formen’stender feelings arestrong,the ties of blood arepowerful ones,and nature herself protestsagainst suspicions of this kind. It is without doubt unnatural and mon- strous that abeingofhuman shape and form should so far surpass the wild animals in savagery as to have deprivedofthe light of day, in the most shockingway possible, the very people to whomheowesthe fact that he toocan enjoy this light.Evenwild animals live at peacewith each other,thanks to the ties of birth and upbringing, and thanks to na- ture herself.

Frequently, Cicerocharacterizes parricide as acrime against human nature. As in the cited passage, the words which he usestodescribe parricide in the speech are mainlydescribed as,e.g., extraordinary,ominous, and unnatural: parricide is nefarium (§§ 37;62; 65 ff.), scelus/scelestum (§§ 37;64; 66;67ff.), novum (§§ 1; 44,82, 124,126,153), portentum (§§ 38, 63), prodigium (§ 38), monstrum (§ 63). In short, parricide is an inhumane crime and so it is inconceivable thatthe na- ture of anyhuman being could be the cause of such acrime, unless he or she wereless thanawild animal. So, the very nature of anyone who severed the blood-relationship by committingparricide is monstrous and out of order, since the filial bond is basedonthe relationship between children and parents which even wild animalsbynaturerecognize. Therefore, unless some unnatural cause intervenes, such arelationship should be unbreakable. On this point, pie- tas is akind of or apart of humanitas or human nature,⁷ in contrast to immanitas (§ 63). If the relationship could be called pietas,especiallyonthe side of the chil- dren, it is interesting that,asseen in §37, Ciceroalso seems to supposethat pie- tas can be undermined quite easilyand often (voltu saepe laeditur pietas). In other words, not onlyare human beingsendowed by nature with pietas ergapa- rentes,itisalso something that deserves to be maintained. If pietas in its earlier form is part of the human condition based on biological causationand depend- ency,itlaterbecomesfilial ‘duty’,deriving from acontinued relationship bound by every divine and human law(§37). This social and legal dimension of pietas would appear to be related to patria potestas. The prosecutor Erucius might have pointed out that the son’sviolation of pietas incurred his father’shatredand the enmity aroused impietas in his resentful son, finallyleading to parricidium. So, a son’sduty of pietas ergaparentes is tied up with his father’snaturalresponsibil- ities of paterna pietas⁸,for example to give birth, to bringup, to educateand punish, and to pass on afortune. This filial piety is, therefore, adutiful virtue

 Ahn (2009) 124.  Cf. animus patrius in liberos in §46. And also in §§ 43,53itissuggestedindirectlywhat the father’sroleand responsibility is. Pietas in proSexto Roscio of Ciceroand Confucian 孝 (xiao) 159 derivedfrom ius/iustitia as recognizedamong human beings;⁹ accordingtoCic- ero,¹⁰ not onlyisitderivedfrom nature, but it alsoimplies asocially extended rangeofapplication. Apart of Cicero’srefutation ex causa against Erucius (§§ 40 –54) is especially focused on arguingthat the motivesfor the murder which the accusertried to proveare groundless,orrather that some more strongcauses are required, be- cause no one with common sense would dare to commit such an unnatural crime. AccordingtoCicero, arelatively light neglect of pietas is amorefrequent situation thananextreme one, but the point thathetries to make obvious is that if Roscius the son did not have anytrivial motive for violating pietas,then afor- tiori he should have had no reason for killing his father.SoRoscius’ life is char- acterized as rather dutiful, obedient,ordinary,and traditionalinCicero’sargu- ment. On the other hand, in adigression about parricideand its punishment (§§ 61– 72),other features of pietas are shown indirectlybyCicero. This phase of the speech looks more impassioned than the others, and the apparent reason whythe digression is prolongedisdue to the pathetic means of persuasion used. However,this probablyhappens because Cicerohas scarcelyused anynon-tech- nical evidence except the decree of the decemviri of Ameria (§25), and this lack of evidence might have drivenhim to extend the length of the digression. In an at- tempt to avoid leaving apedantic impression, he adapts some themes familiar to the audience from tragedyand history.The gist of Cicero’sargument is that cer- tain abnormal signs should obviouslyattend whomever offends pietas,such as madness,violence or fear.

§66: The poets tell of sons whokilled their mothers to avengetheir fathers.Althoughthey aresaid to have killed them in response to the commands and oracles of the immortal gods, youhaveread how the Furies hound them even so, and never let them rest,because they wereunable to fulfil their duty towards their fathers without committing acrime. And that is how it reallyis, gentlemen. The blood of afather or amother has great power,itisagreat bond, and it possesses great sanctity (magnam religionem). The stain it produces, however small, cannot onlynever be washed out,but seeps right into the mind, so that the utmost violenceand insanity ensue.

The Furies, which Cicerointerprets in §67asapsychological symptom, are un- avoidable even by thosewho would violate pietas on account of divine causes. In other words, when anycrime is committed, even from pious motivation, it cannot be considered apious act in itself. Conflict between pious actions brings about

 Cf. Partitiones oratoriae 78.  Cf. De inventione 2.66.161. 160 Kihoon Kim an impious vice.Atleast in this moment,Ciceroappears not to permit the inno- cenceofakind of pia impietas.¹¹ Moreover,nobreach of pietas, however small, ought to be overlooked, Cicerosays, since it might give rise to violent insanity. This claim, which Ciceroascribes in §37tocertain philosophers, makes pietas even more compulsory.Ason has adifficultbut unavoidable duty towardshis father,but violationofthis duty can happen easily, and the stain created by a non-pious action is never washed out entirely. Nevertheless, the other important aspect of pietas is that the blood relationship has strongpower to sanction or prohibit unnatural impietas. In this context, religio¹² would seem to be an innate forceimpelling children to keep their human nature, and as asanction or pro- hibition to keep one’s pietas intact.Because this religio is similar to akind of commandment givenbydi parentes¹³ to human nature, pietas would also seem to involveaninseparable relationship with the gods. Therefore, pietas ergaparentes should be built on religio,which is pietas ergadeos. But in a quite different way, Cicerotries to distinguish it clearlyfrom religio in his early works and rhetorical treatises.¹⁴ Ciceroseems to distinguish pietas from religio by definition, at least theoret- ically. On the one hand, filial piety,inthe narrower sense of pietas,expands its denotation and encompasses abroader range – one’sown relatives, citizens, country.This extension of meaningiscomparable to the anthropological pro- gression of human society.¹⁵ Aman who had been simply ason of his familybe- came ason of an extended family, then ason of acountry.Thus, Cicero’sdefini- tion of pietas reflects the diachronic extension of meaning from ergaparentes to ergapatriam. At the same time, the meaning seems to be related to the develop- ment of the concept of humanitas.¹⁶ Although the question to what extent the particularity of Roman society had influenced the idea of pietas, or how great the influenceofHellenistic philosophywas on it,isdifficult to answer,at least by the 2nd century BCE this extended idea of pietas might have been

 Cf. Hinard(2006) n. 4on§66.  The OLD suggests this religio as an example of the subsection 7a: “aquality (attached to a person, place, object,action, etc.) evoking aweorreverence,sanctity”.But it seems also reason- able to adapt 1a, which Dyck (2010) and Berry (2000) preferred: “asupernatural feelingofcon- straint,usu. havingthe force of aprohibition or impediment”.  Cf. Dyck (2010) on §37.  Forexample, Partitiones oratoriae,78; De inventione,II.161.  In contrast, impietas is acharacteristic of the Iron Age, according to Ovid (cf. Metamorphoses 1.148 – 149: filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos;/victa iacet pietas …).  Wagenvoort (1980) 3–6. Pietas in pro Sexto Roscio of Ciceroand Confucian 孝 (xiao) 161 well-established. And the idea of pietas as akind of civic virtue is alreadyshown in afamous verse of Lucilius.

commoda praeterea patriae sibi prima putare deinde parentum,tertia iam postremaque nostra. (Lucilius:Marx vv.1337– 1338)

But pietas in the forum,asseen above, was neither restricted to the social do- main, nor was its religious meaning yetexcluded. ActuallyinCicero’slater works, pietas often means piety towards the gods and is synonymous with reli- gio.¹⁷ Although the differences in the genre and topics of each work should be taken into account,itisstill important that Ciceroconsistentlycorrelates the idea of pietas with iustitia or aequitas. Of course, the changeofterminology from earlier usagetothat denoting pietas ergadeos can be interpreted as the re- sult of Cicero’sretreat to philosophy, either because of his weakened political status or because of his privategrief following his daughter’sdeath.¹⁸ Likewise, in the late Romanrepublic and the earlyprincipate, the concept of pietas is ad- justed to this current in the literary works of, for example, Virgil and Livy.More- over,especiallyAugustus, who always tried to position himself in the guise of res publicarestituta,could conceive of pietas as respect and duty for fathersgener- ally. He still permittedthe established republican government,the council of the patres and seniores,tocontinue by denying anyprivilegebeyond what was al- lowed by tradition. He became apious son of parentes and patria by having savedthe Roman people from the danger of civil disorder.Atthe sametime, he became an example of the most pious son of agod by avenginghis father’s murder and by deifyinghim. Thus, Augustus’ policyseems to have mergedthe dual aspect of pietas/religio into one. This would be the starting point of imperial pietas,¹⁹ which, in the near future, would come into conflict with Christian pie- tas,understood as the devotion to onlyone god. So, to sum up, pietas is bornout of condition of dependency imposed on sons by nature. It is also avirtue which Romans have aduty to maintain towards their parents, especiallytowardsthe pater familias,arising from the condition of apatriarchal society.The blood relationship and the socially defined role impose obligations on fathersand sons. In this way, pietas would appear to be atypical

 Forexample, De naturadeorum 1.116,2.153; De finibus bonorum et malorum 5.65; Topica 90.  Wagenvoort (1980) 8–10.  Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.200 –205: … sic,cum manus impia saevit / … /nec tibi grata minus pietas,Auguste, tuorum est /quam fuit illa Iovi. 162 Kihoon Kim norm of patriarchal society.Onthe other hand,the undifferentiated feature of pietas and religio,asseen in the case of pro Sexto Roscio,arguably received an extension of meaning by which later Romanemperors shed light on the as- pect of imperial hierarchyofpietas. Pietas between son and father turned into pietas between human son and divine father.Moreover,the deifiedemperors weretobedeferred to both as fathers and as gods. Although Cicerosometimes tried to distinguish the concept of pietas from religio, pietas maintained alatent ambiguity of meaning,capable of rangingfrom the necessary human nature givenbydivine origin to the dutiful virtue towardsone’sparents and to the gods. And with the changeofthe object or rangeofapplication of pietas,the so- cial roles of aman with pietas will have altered gradually, as ason, acitizen, a subject, until the meaningofpiety came to mean being faithful before God in Western civilization.

3Translating pietas into xiao (孝)

Pietas,asone of the primary concepts of the Western world, is ostensiblyfamil- iar to East Asians,oratleast to thosewho are accustomed to Confucian tradi- tion. Because, as we have seen, the narrower sense of pietas,namely filial piety,issimilar to xiao (孝), which traditionalConfucianism has always empha- sized. It still remains valid in some sense today, even though modernity has changed so manythingsinthe dailylife of East Asians.Especiallyinthe lan- guageofeach nation, as akind of common culturalproperty,Chinese characters (漢子)appear to maintain the idea of Confucianism. By reviewingeachtransla- tion apart of pro Sexto Roscio,discussed above, the way(s) of understanding Cic- ero’sidea of pietas in East Asia mayprovide aclue to understanding and draw- ing comparisons between two different civilizations. First of all, the word pietas,which appears prominentlyin§37 (voltu saepe laeditur pietas)ofpro Sexto Roscio,has very similar translations in East Asian versions:

종종 표정 하나만으로도 불효(不孝)가 되는 마당에 Just alook often causes filial impiety: Kim et al. (2015) 百恶不孝为先 Filial impiety becomes the first of ahundredevils:Wang (2008)

親に対する孝心は, しばしば子が恋な目つきをするだけで台無しになる The filial heart towards parents is often ruined by the son with just alovelyglance: Taken- aka (2001) Pietas in pro Sexto Roscio of Ciceroand Confucian 孝 (xiao) 163

In some modern Western translations, this pietas is translated into similar ex- pressions, “filial duty” (Berry 2000) or “piétéfiliale” (Hinard 2006). Because the word-for-wordtranslation ‘piety’ or ‘piété’ might produce misunderstanding of its meaning, the translators seem to choose expressions carefully. Likewise, the non-classical term pietas causessome confusion with areligious meaning, especiallyregarding Christian piety.The latter usually receivesthe corresponding translation 虔敬 (qianjing)²⁰ or 敬 (jing), which means reverenceordeferenceto- ward asuperior being.Onthe other hand, as seen above, pietas as filial piety enjoys asimilar translation 孝 (xiao)inevery translation given. Among these, however,particularlynoticeable is Wang’stranslation, which seems to be acon- trary proposition to the well-known idiom “Filial piety becomes the first of a hundred goods” (百善孝为先), the significance of which willbediscussed later. Another example comes from §66(quod ne pii quidem sine scelereessepo- tuerunt):

그들은 범죄를 저지르지 않고서는 부친에게 효도(孝道)를 다할 수 없었기에 sincethey could not to fulfil the duty of filial piety towards their fathers: Kim et al. (2015)

因为他们不犯罪就无法完城他们要对父亲承担的义务 because unless committing acrime, they could not discharge the duty towards their fa- thers:Wang (2008)

彼らが罪を犯すことなしには, 子とてしの義務を果たすせなかったからだ without committing acrime, they could not fulfil their duty as sons;Takenaka (2001)

The translations in the Chinese and Japanese versions are similar to Berry’scon- sistent choice of word, “duty”.²¹ On the other hand, xiao still occupies apartof the word, which alsoincorporates dao (道) as acomponent of the Korean trans- lation.Although it is necessary to examine every nuance of expression in each nation’slanguage, it appears that the idea of pius/pietas in pro SextoRoscio is understood as the son’sduty towards his father,and the concept of xiao also seems to implythis nuance. In other words, xiao incorporates yi (righteousness, 義/义)and thus duty (yiwu, 義務/义务)follows afterit. And next,in§69, quod in impios singulare supplicium invenerunt has trans- lationsasfollows:

특히 패륜자(悖倫者)들에게 유례없이 가혹한 처벌을 고안해 낸 사실에서 especiallyfromthe fact that they devised an unparalleled harsh punishment for the filial- immoral: Kim et al. (2015)

 By achangingthe order of the characters, 敬虔 is usuallythe standardorthography in Korea and Japan.  By contrast,Hinard(2006) maintains the expression “piété filiale”. 164 Kihoon Kim

为惩罚不义之人, 他们发明了非常奇怪的惩罚办法 for the punishment of undutiful people they devised avery monstrous means of punish- ment: Wang (2008)

神をも恐れぬ者たち対して独特な罰を案出したことで By that means they devised aunique punishmentfor those who are not afraid of God: Takenaka (2001)

Berry translated the phrase in impios as “for sons who violated their filial duty”. His choice of words appears to avoid anyunnecessary misunderstanding that ‘piety’ would otherwise bring about in the modern reader’smind. Thistendency is alsoobserved in the Chinese translation, but therebecause the translator re- ferred to the LCL text in which the English translation reads “undutiful” for im- pios in §69, as is also the case with ‘duty’ for pii in §66. Of course, we might say that yi (義)and xiao (孝)share an inseparable relation, as do pietas and iustitia. On the other hand, it seems alittle odd that the Japanese translator reads the meaning of impii as ‘thosewho are not afraid of god’.With regard to this, since as we sawthat Ciceroalso seems to incorporate religio or pietas givenby the gods into the idea of filial piety, impii might not be entirelyoff base.But since, in the text following §§ 71– 72, the punishment to which Ciceroisreferring is the so-called poena cullei,amoreexactmeaningofimpios might be “those who have committed parricide”.²² On this point, “the filial-immoral”²³ in the Ko- rean translation seems strongerthan other renderings, but it appears to reflect in context the enormity of the crime. If so, such an evaluation of the characteristics of parricideissimilar to that discussed above, which Ciceroalso tried to empha- size. In fact,aviolator who breached the precepts of xiao would have been pun- ished with severe penalties in atraditional Confuciansociety.Such thingsare also recorded in the Xiaojing (孝經. TheClassicofFilial Piety).²⁴ The Xiaojing,which deals with filial piety in principle and in concrete pre- cepts,has been read by thousands in East Asia since ancient timeswhen Confu- cianism became established as aleading ideologyofgovernance, culture, and education. The words aboveweretranslated into Chinese characters, which mostlycame from this traditionalbackground and are still used in ordinary

 Translatinginto “pour les impies”,Hinard(2006) points out the difficulty of translatingthe word impii into French. But he comments that the word signals those whoviolated the sacred value of Roman family, namely pietas: Hinard(2006) n.2 on §69.  패륜 (悖倫)inKorean means astate of morallydeprivedhuman whoisusuallytreatedasa lesser beingthan an animal and excluded from society,just as the Latin homo sacer. In chapter 15 of the Xiaojing,bei (悖)means ‘to violate’ or ‘to pervert’.  Xiaojing,ch. 11 has the title “The Five Punishments”.Itemphasizes that thereisnograver crime than buxiao (不孝), namely “the violation of xiao” or impietas. Pietas in pro Sexto Roscio of Ciceroand Confucian 孝 (xiao) 165 life these days,although some ideas of traditionalConfucianism are regarded as old-fashioned and sometimes even obsolete. But xiao still remains in the lan- guageand in the mentality of East Asians in their different ways of thinking,ac- cording to their own cultural heritages. To examine and compare such subtle dif- ferences is beyond the scope of this paper.Nevertheless, if xiao represents the common wayoftranslatingand understanding Western ideas such as pietas, and if this correspondence is meaningful, then the following preliminary ac- count of the Xiaojing might justifymore specific studies to broaden and deepen understanding between East and West by providingnew perspectivesfrom one to another.

4Reading xiao and translating it into pietas

The Xiaojing is adialogue between Confucius (551–479BCE) and his disciple Zeng Shen (曾參,505–436BCE), also known as Master Zeng or Zengzi (曾子), who was famous for his xiao. This work seems to have been written by the Con- fucian followers of Master Zeng and established as acompletetext in the later Warring States period between the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE.²⁵ It consists of 18 shortchapters and the volume containing the modern English translation to- gether with the original Chinese text is about 10 pages long.²⁶ In the first chapter, Confucius teaches the importance of xiao as boththe fundamental principle of ren (humaneness, 仁)and the sourceofjiao (education, 敎). Then, through a question and answer with MasterZeng,heunfolds the concrete precepts of xiao, which should be observed by each rank of the Confucianimperial hierar- chy, from the emperortothe common people. In short,the Xiaojing explicates Confuciansocial-role ethics on the basis of xiao,orfilial piety.²⁷ AccordingtoConfucius, the emperor should love(ai, 愛)and respect (jing, 敬)his own parents,whereby the exemplary xiao of the son of Heaven(天子) is then able to educatethe common people (ch. 2).This duty of loveand respect (愛敬)towards one’sparents will alsobeemphasized at the end of the Xiaojing, which deals with mourning for deceased parents.

When parents arealive they areserved with loveand respect; when they are deceased they areserved with grief and sorrow.This is the basic duty to be dischargedbythe living, the

 Cf. Ames/Rosemont (2009) 18–19.  So in the edition of Ames/Rosemont (2009)  ‘Filial piety’ has been conventionallyused as the translation of xiao. 166 Kihoon Kim

fulfillingofthe appropriateobligations (yi, 義)between the livingand the dead, and the consummation of filial servicewhich children owe their parents.²⁸

On the one hand, the duty of xiao is justified as both aheavenlyprinciple and as righteousness (yi, 義)onearth (ch. 7), and the relationship between father and son, which is givenbynature,becomes by analogythe dutiful righteousness ex- ercised between sovereign and subject(ch. 9). Thus, xiao is the proper way(dao, 道)given by nature to children when they are born into the world. So, Confucian tradition from ancienttimeshas taught followers to preserveone’sown person unharmed, even one’shair and skin, which are givenbyparents along with life. This idea derivesfrom the discipline of the Xiaojing,inwhich it is suggested as the beginning of xiao (ch. 1). In this way, the Confucian xiao is based on the blood relationship between children and parents,comparable to the notion of filial piety discussed above. So pietas ergaparentes imposes on children anec- essary and basic duty in the same waythat Confucian xiao requires uncondition- al loveand respect for parents.Inother words, xiao and pietas both arise from the condition of children’snatural reliance upon their sourceoflife, namely their parents.Following birth, children are at first dependentontheir parents.From this relation of dependency,dutiful virtuessuch as love, respect,and obedience are expected and demanded from children while they are under the protection and upbringingofparents.Inthis way, xiao and pietas are both based on a kind of naturalism, wherenature itself is asourceand acause of human con- duct.And this retrospective to origins proceedstotoasuperiororfundamental causes, for example, ancestors, gods, or heaven(天)itself. There can be away in which xiao and pietas both virtuallyimply religio in pietas, 敬 in 孝. While initiallybasedonthis naturalistic justification, the duties of xiao or pietas appear to develop in social ways.Asmentioned above, pietas in the nar- rower sense and patria potestas have aform of mutuality.InRoman society a kind of dependence could not be dissolveduntil the son himself became an in- dependent pater familias,and afather had responsibilities for his son, for exam- ple, to bring him up, educatehim, gethim married. And giventhe well-known role thatfathersusually playedinthe education of theirsons in Cicero’s times, Roman pietas from the fathers, namely paterna pietas,should have been asourceofeducation in the sameway that the educational importance of xiao is emphasized in the Xiaojing. In fact, pietas or xiao is an intergeneration- al duty which has to be passed down by extension to one’sson(s), vassal(s) or subject(s). Thus, both in ancient Rome and in traditional Confuciansocieties,

 Xiaojing ch. 18. The translation of citedpassageisfromAmes/Rosemont (2009). Pietas in pro Sexto Roscio of Ciceroand Confucian 孝 (xiao) 167 the elders or seniors, the high rankers of order,are deferred to and respectedby the younger and/or the lowerclass. On this point, xiao or pietas functioned as central ideas which sanctified asocial system basedonapatriarchal ideology. The Confuciangovernmental ideal in the Xiaojing expects even the ruler-em- peror to assume xiao in his ruling policy,just as it occurs in the family(ch. 8). This metaphorical expression of family appears to signify the role of the emperor as ason of parents,the son of Heaven, and the father of the people and the state. The dual identity of both son and father impliessome overlapping or ambiva- lence, but it is similar to the symbolical representations of ruling roles which weregiven to the laterRomanrulers of the imperial court.The state, as an ex- tended family, is prescribed in the Xiaojing to be governedinaccordancewith the principle of xiao. Although xiao itself is not the absolute goal of such an ideal Confucian society,itissuggested as the proper rule and the principal code of human conduct that guarantees that if all the members of society attend to their dutiesincompliancewith xiao,such astate could be seen as peaceful (he, 和)(ch. 8). On this point, xiao is the basis from which the other important principles of Confuciansocial ethics develop, for example ren (仁), yi (義), li (禮) and zhi (智).²⁹ Furthermore, to fulfil one’s pietas of filial duty,orxiao,issomething as- signed to men whose aims are personal aggrandizement in androcentric societ- ies. On one sideofthe social ethics of xiao,there are the dutiesregarding obe- dience to the elderorruling class and the fulfillment of one’sroles givenbythe order of hierarchy. On the other hand, it is necessary for aman to take care of the younger generation and the lower classand to lead them such thathewould function as afather and an authority in an extended family, abroader society, and astate. Likewise, in this way, Roman humanitas might be said to embrace pietas as avirtue of manliness by which a vir bonus could be characterized by his actions towardshis parents, his citizens, and his country.Thus, such social ethics arising from filial piety would provide an efficient program to socialize and accommodate someone into the established order.But the educational func- tion of filial piety in the family, which seems to be applicable to more extended social relations,isrestricted to maintaining and reproducingthe order of patri- archal hierarchy. In contrast,the Stoic ethics of οἰκείωσις seem to be more flex- ible, implying rather open cosmopolitan role ethics. Thus it might have had some influenceonthe formation of Roman humanitas and the development of the idea of pietas.

 Ames/Rosemont (2009) 22–23.See also, Analects (論語, Lunyu)I.2: “孝悌也者, 其爲仁之本 與!”.(Filial and fraternal piety,they are the foundation of the humaneness(ren, 仁)!) 168 Kihoon Kim

The Confucian xiao was transformed into asystematic ethics of conduct at a relatively earlyperiod because Confucianism was adopted as the philosophyand ideologyofgovernance of the empire. The imperial constitution, which was sup- ported and justified by Confucianism, begantodemandthat its administrators be well-matched to its ideal. Thusalmost all of the state’soffices weremanaged by Confucianscholar-officials, who became the main ruling elite of the empire. The Xiaojing was the main sourcefrom which such apolitical elite could learn xiao at ayoung age. Xiao was abasic duty to learn from childhood, and it was the first step to following the rules laid down by society.Inthis regard, xiao,filial piety,like Roman pietas,isnot onlyahuman duty givenbynature, but also aduty imposed by the social system. Also, it is well illustrated as the so-called zhengming (正名,the rectification of names) in the Analects 12.11:

DukeJingofQiasked Confucius about good governance. Confucius answered: “The ruler becomes ruler,the minister minister,the father father,and the son son”.³⁰

Thus the violation of pietas, or buxiao (不孝), maybeconsidered disobedience and disloyalty to the conservative order of society.³¹ With this point in mind, an undertone maybeunderstood in the wordchoice of the translators for Cice- ro’sexpressions relating to pietas. It is difficult to answer which translation is most acceptable. And this difficulty is not onlyfor East Asian translations and studies of Cicero. Forexample, anew recent translation of the Xiaojing has made afresh attempt,choosing the phrase “family reverence” instead of the con- ventional “filial piety” for xiao. The translators suggest some reasons for this,but it is doubtful whether their choice will be welcome.³² Another interesting exam- ple is the Latintranslation of the Xiaojing from the 18th century.Perhaps Fran- çois Noël wanted to avoid the misunderstanding thatcould arise from using the word pietas for xiao;hetranslated the end of the Xiaojing which is cited above, like this:

 “齊景公 問政於孔子. 孔子對曰: 君君臣臣父父子子”.  But it is interesting that the possibility of disobedience is partlyguaranteed for the sons in the Xiaojing,ch. 15. Jian (諫)issimilar to libertas or παρρησία,and it can be called pia impietas in some sense. On the other hand, it is worth consideringthe famous example of the Confucian dilemma between pietas and iustitia (Analects,XIII.18), which has often been compared with the case of Plato’s Euthyphro. In short,the issue in both cases is whetherthe son should accuse the father of the criminaloffence.  The emphasis on the roleethics of Confucianism seems to make them consider xiao ‘in’ the family. Fortheir justification of this provocative attempt,see Ames/Rosemont (2009) 1–3, 87– 90. Pietas in pro Sexto Roscio of Ciceroand Confucian 孝 (xiao) 169

denique si vivis Parentibus amoreethonore, mortuis luctu et maeroreinserviatur,videtur vi- ventis filii munus omnino adimpletumesse, mortisque ac vitae aequitas exacte servata. atque is est filialis ergaParentes observantiae ultimus finis.

Although it maynot be claimed that the equivalence between xiao and pietas is simplydemonstratedand that they are interchangeable terms, nevertheless ade- tailed comparison of the two will provide more helpful guidance for understand- ing,translating,and communicating with new perspectives. In order to achieve this, more comparative studies will be needed in the future.Atfirst glancethere mayappeartobenodirect equivalence, yetsome comparisons mayprovide the possibilityofstudying further the relationship between the twoconcepts. Inci- dentally, the Confucianideal portrait of the pious son is described virtuallyin the character xiao itself. 孝 is the compositecharacter of lao (老, senex)and zi (子,filius). And the shape of the more complex 孝 ostensiblyshows the image of ason holding onto the shoulder his old father.This imagerecalls the famous sculptureofG.L.Bernini, “Aeneas, Anchises, and Ascanius” (1618–19), which holds forth amodel of the pious man of Rome. Someone standing before the stat- ue might reasonablythink of Aeneas as ahero of Confucian xiao.