Abstract

The introduction describes the need for research examining the positive emotions in antiquity, a topic that has received surprisingly little scholarly attention, since scholars have focused almost exclusively on negative emotions. The chapters contained in the volume, which are summarized here, take up emotions such as hope, joy, goodwill, and mercy in a variety of authors and genres ranging from Homer to Augustine, while a final piece explores the reception of Seneca’s views about clementia in Mozart’s final opera, La Clemenza di Tito. The introduction also describes the important work on the emotions by David Konstan, the dedicatee of the volume.