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{"id":8233,"date":"2012-12-10T07:39:53","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T07:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=1968"},"modified":"2012-12-10T07:39:53","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T07:39:53","slug":"tragic-benefaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2012\/12\/tragic-benefaction\/","title":{"rendered":"Tragic Benefaction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<\/head>

<\/p>

This means psychic if not social slavery. Beneficiaries in the Roman world are almost by definition social and economic and political inferiors to their benefactors. Beneficiaries wouldn\u2019t have to ask and receive benefactions unless they had needs they couldn\u2019t fulfill. How can a connectionless, resourceless, powerless client ever hope to outstrip his patron? <\/p>\n

Like most everything else in the ancient world, benefaction is front-loaded. The first shall be first, and the last shall be last. Things are purest at the source, always polluted and impure downstream. Benefaction, like so much else, has a tragic trajectory. (For more, see Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, & Hope In Western Literature <\/a> $\"\"$ .) <\/p>\n

But what if someone says instead \u201cThe first shall be last and the last first\u201d? What if someone reserves the best wine for the end? Won\u2019t that be as much as to say \u201cthe last gift will surpass the first\u201d? <\/p>\n

And won\u2019t that be a message of liberation? <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"