Description
This ground-breaking study conveys the thrill and moral power of the ancient Roman story-world and its ancestral tales of bloody heroism. Its account of 'exemplary ethics' explores how and what Romans learnt from these moral exempla, arguing that they disseminated widely not only core values such as courage and loyalty, but also key ethical debates and controversies which are still relevant for us today. Exemplary ethics encouraged controversial thinking, creative imitation, and a critical perspective on moral issues, and it plays an important role in Western philosophical thought. The model of exemplary ethics developed here is based on a comprehensive survey of Latin literature, and its innovative approach also synthesizes methodologies from disciplines such as contemporary philosophy, educational theory, and cultural memory studies. It offers a new and robust framework for the study of Roman exempla that will also be valuable for the study of moral exempla in other settings.
Table of Contents
Introduction; 1. Roman values and the archetypal exemplum; 2. The special capacity of exemplary stories; 3. Exploitation, participation and the social function exempla; 4. The experience of learning from exempla; 5. Multiplicity, breadth, diversity and situational sensitivity in exemplary ethics; 6. Working consensus around Roman exempla; 7. Indeterminacy of exempla: interpretation, motivation and improvisation; 8. Sites of exemplarity: referentiality, memory, orality; 9. The dynamics of cultural memory: forgetting, rupture, contestation; 10. Changing sites of exemplarity: two case studies; 11. Diachronic overview of the exemplary terrain; 12. Controversial thinking through exempla; 13. Philosophical and literary adventures in the exemplary terrain; Conclusion.
