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3 - Ajax

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2010

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Summary

He who accepts benefits, and denies a return of them when needed, inflicts a real hurt, by disappointing one of the most natural and reasonable of expectations, and one which he must at least tacitly have encouraged, otherwise the benefits would seldom have been conferred. The important rank, among human evils and wrongs, of the disappointment of expectation, is shown in the fact that it constitutes the principal criminality of two such highly immoral acts as a breach of friendship and a breach of promise. Few hurts which human beings can sustain are greater, and none wound more, than when that on which they habitually and with full assurance relied, fails them in the hour of need; and few wrongs are greater than this mere withholding of good; none excite more resentment, either in the person suffering, or in a sympathising spectator.

J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism

Ajax and his enemies

The opening lines of Ajax are spoken by the goddess Athena, who addresses her favourite, Odysseus, as an adherent of Harm Enemies: he is tracking down an enemy as usual, in a manner worthy of his traditionally tricky persona (1–8). She is the dearest of gods to him, and they enjoy a solidarity inherited from the Odyssey (14–19). He places himself in her hands, as he has always done in the past (34f.). But despite the bond between them, a conflict of values emerges.

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Helping Friends and Harming Enemies
A Study in Sophocles and Greek Ethics
, pp. 60 - 105
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1989

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  • Ajax
  • Mary Whitlock Blundell
  • Book: Helping Friends and Harming Enemies
  • Online publication: 14 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511586170.005
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  • Ajax
  • Mary Whitlock Blundell
  • Book: Helping Friends and Harming Enemies
  • Online publication: 14 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511586170.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Ajax
  • Mary Whitlock Blundell
  • Book: Helping Friends and Harming Enemies
  • Online publication: 14 January 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511586170.005
Available formats
×