ABSTRACT
Collective emotions pervade Polybius’ famous political theories of the cycle of constitutions and mixed constitution, where they importantly connect with morality and rationality. Bennett Helm’s theory of emotional communities of respect provides a useful frame for analyzing these collective emotions of the people. Helm theorized that communities share emotions which reinforce and validate their values. These dynamics of communal emotion feature both in Polybius’ theory (in contrast to Plato’s and Aristotle’s constitutional theories) and within his historical narrative of the downfall of Agathocles, the prime minister of Ptolemaic Egypt. Both passages illuminate the rationality and morality which emotions can embody and the significant and positive political role of the people in internal state change and social movements. Through these analyses, this chapter draws attention to emotion’s complex relationships with morality, rationality, violence, and political identity.
