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hospitality, and, yes, tolerance: all “encompass” sanctions against those who do
not materially recognize the material obligations that they impose.
in short, the idea that a benign rhetoric could mask enormous and some-
times brutal power has always been part of the Roman experience. Romans un-
derstand the performance of unctuous politeness, whether from mafiosi or poli-
ticians or even the clergy, without any literal-minded illusions. The performance
of politeness
as
a threat is a reality, and a dangerous one at that. Romans know
this and comment on it frequently and with a mixture of concern and amuse-
ment. such manifestations of encompassment are not uniquely Roman. Rather,
what perhaps makes Rome unusual is the explicitness with which the potential
terror behind the jocular smile is repeatedly acknowledged.
i am attempting here to place the relationship between social structure and
historical experience in a broader theoretical context. social structures are al-
ways historical products, but again the Roman case is made notable by the ex-
plicit recognition of this diachronic depth, particularly the frequent invocation
of how Romans had to adapt to the harshness of Vatican rule over two millennia.
The cultural determinism that we should reject as an analytical tool is, rather, an
ethnographically interesting and important phenomenon; it is an integral part of
the nexus of attitudes i am seeking to decipher here. This determinism has social
significance; it may, for example, be somewhat defensive, since Roman accom-
modation is often viewed by outsiders as pusillanimous hypocrisy.
it certainly does not conform to the larger regional pattern. accommoda-
tion in this sense contrasts sharply with the usual agonistic image of southern
european society, as does the pride Romans take in the aggressive behavior of
their women and the public way in which these women allegedly used to shame
their husbands by staging elaborate and very public screaming matches. Rome
both belies the classic stereotype of “mediterranean society” (in which women
were expected to be demure) and, at the same time, ironically offers an explana-
tion that reproduces a key feature of that stereotype: strategic denial of collective
blame, here in the form of seeing the lingering effects of harsh ecclesiastical rule
in the alleged tendency to seek accommodation at almost any cost.
it is not, i suggest, too far-fetched to view “accommodation” as a variant
of the stereotypically italian penchant for
l'arte dell'arrangiarsi
(the art of get-
ting things fixed up). but it is a variant that pays particularly close attention to
performance. as such, it is a proactive and rhetorical defense of immediate fa-
milial interests, and in this sense perhaps also approaches the familistic values
attributed—with variable degrees of sophistication and credibility—to other
mediterranean societies. but its rhetoric and practice are distinctive. Romans
neither endorse nor, apparently, enjoy the swaggering and confrontational stance
that supposedly typifies mediterranean society, and that certainly characterizes
many of the local societies of the region. Continual and opportunistic adapta-
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