Making Sense: Envy in Libanius' Declamation 30

Abstract: Declamation, a genre famous for its sometimes extravagant fictions, has lately been approached as a vehicle for declaimers to reflect on realities familiar to them and their audiences. Reading Libanius' rarely discussed Declamation 30 in just such a self-reflective key, I argue that it explores the mindset of the phthoneros , the "envious man," as a way to make sense of risks posed by unscrupulous rivals. To shed light on this sense-making, I analyze High- and Late-Imperial emotion scripts foregrounding envy's power to catalyze the formation of dysfunctional networks within and around competitive situations.