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 Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice

Series Editor
Stephen Eric Bronner, Department of Political Science, Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
The series introduces new authors, unorthodox themes, critical interpre-
tations of the classics and salient works by older and more established
thinkers. A new generation of academics is becoming engaged with
immanent critique, interdisciplinary work, actual political problems, and
more broadly the link between theory and practice. Each in this series
will, after his or her fashion, explore the ways in which political theory
can enrich our understanding of the arts and social sciences. Criminal
justice, psychology, sociology, theater and a host of other disciplines
come into play for a critical political theory. The series also opens new
avenues by engaging alternative traditions, animal rights, Islamic politics,
mass movements, sovereignty, and the institutional problems of power.
Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice thus fills an important
niche. Innovatively blending tradition and experimentation, this intellec-
tual enterprise with a political intent hopes to help reinvigorate what is
fast becoming a petrified field of study and to perhaps provide a bit of
inspiration for future scholars and activists.
 Fabio Macioce

The Politics
of Vulnerable Groups
Implications for Philosophy, Law, and Political
Theory
Fabio Macioce
Department of Law, Economics,
Politics and Modern Languages
LUMSA University
Rome, Italy

ISSN 2731-6580 ISSN 2731-6599 (electronic)

Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice
ISBN 978-3-031-07546-9 ISBN 978-3-031-07547-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07547-6

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
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names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
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The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and informa-
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 Acknowledgments

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all those who have

contributed to the development of my research on this topic with their
comments, pre-readings, and criticisms. They include, in no particular
order, Laura Palazzani, Thomas Casadei, Alberto Andronico, Tommaso
Greco, Stefano Biancu, and Francesco D’Agostino. It goes without saying
that I alone am responsible for what is written in the text and the
reflections it contains.
Of course, special thanks to Madison Allums, Naveen Dass, and all the
editorial staff at Palgrave, for taking me through this experience.
My wife Caterina deserves a special thanks: although she is not at all
interested in the content of this research, she contributes through her
daily dialogue, even on issues of legal and philosophical relevance, to a
better fine-tuning of it. But above all, she makes me understand with
words, gestures, concrete actions, and a daily ability to listen, what the
really important things in life are.
I would also like to thank, last but not least, Anna, Pietro, Francesco,
and Marco, for their ability to give my life meaning, to make confusion
and bring joy, to amaze.

v
 Contents

1 Introduction 1
2 Vulnerability: What Are We Talking About? 7
Introduction 7
Vulnerability and the Liberal Paradigm 11
Autonomy and Vulnerability: The Relational Perspective 14
Vulnerability as a Universal and Particular Condition 16
Vulnerability and the Political Dimension: Meaning
and Role of Vulnerable Groups 20
References 26
3 The Vulnerable Groups and Their Legal Value 31
Introduction 31
The Development of the Notion of Group Vulnerability
in International Law 33
Group Vulnerability in the Jurisprudence of the European
Court of Human Rights 40
Group Vulnerability in EU Law 46
Group Vulnerability and Bioethics 50
References 57
4 Towards a Theory of Group Vulnerability 61
Introduction 61
The Challenges of the Concept of the Vulnerable Group 63
Developing the Notion of Group Vulnerability 67

vii
viii CONTENTS

Identity-Based Group Vulnerability 68

Positional Group Vulnerability 72
The Consequences of Group Vulnerability, Between the Rights
of Individuals and the Rights of Groups 76
Conclusions 85
References 87
5 Group Vulnerability and Parallel Dimensions 93
Introduction 93
Vulnerable Groups and Collective Victimhood 94
Vulnerable Groups and Minorities 100
Vulnerable Groups and Discrimination 107
References 116
6 Group Vulnerability and Power 121
Introduction 121
Vulnerability, Power, and Oppression 123
Group Vulnerability and Resistance 132
Group Vulnerability and Resource Distribution 139
References 145
7 Vulnerability in a Positional Sense: The Case of Clinical
Trials 151
Introduction 151
Positional Vulnerability and Consensus 153
Group Vulnerability and Pandemic 157
Treatments, Trials and Informed Consent: The Case
of Vulnerable Groups 161
Conclusions 169
References 170
8 Identity-Based Group Vulnerability: The Case
of “Irregular” Migrants 175
Introduction 175
Irregularity Conditions and Vulnerability Factors 177
Group Vulnerability, Agency, and Resistance Practices 183
Conclusions 188
References 189

Index 195
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

In recent years, I have been involved in several research projects in the

field of bioethics. One, in particular, funded by the European Commis-
sion, concerned the study of informed consent in clinical trials, with a
specific focus on vaccines. Among the objectives of the research, which
involved scholars from several European countries and different disci-
plines, was to assess all stakeholders’ needs in relation to Informed
Consent. More in detail, we should identify gaps and barriers in the
process of informed consent, and develop tailored strategies for informed
consent processes, thereby creating and validating guidelines to improve
citizens’ participation in research.
What struck me at the beginning of this research was the fact that one
of the explicit objectives of the European Commission was to overcome
the factors that hinder the participation of women, children, and other
‘vulnerable groups’ such as ethnic minorities in clinical trials. I knew, of
course, that the category of vulnerable groups had long been used in
numerous legal instruments in the field of bioethics, but it had never
occurred to me to deal with it specifically. In what sense were women,
or minors, to be considered a vulnerable group? If the research aimed to
develop strategies to facilitate information processes that take into account
age or gender factors, in what sense were we to do so?

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2022
F. Macioce, The Politics of Vulnerable Groups,
Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07547-6_1
2 F. MACIOCE

That research, in a way, was an opportunity to focus on a problem that,

as far as I knew, had not been adequately analysed. A problem that could
be expressed by paraphrasing the famous Metastasio words (taken up,
but modified, by Da Ponte in Così fan Tutte): “È la fede degli amanti /
Come l’araba fenice: / Che vi sia, ciascun lo dice / Dove sia, nessun lo
sa” (The faith of lovers / is like the Arabian phoenix / That it exists,
everyone says / But where, no one knows). Similarly, everyone mentions
vulnerable groups, but no one precisely knows what they are, and where
to find them.
On the one hand, the issue of vulnerability has increasingly become
an essential part of the philosophical, legal, and political debate. There
is a large number of texts devoted to this topic, and they are drawn up
from very different research perspectives: there are texts in which vulner-
ability is discussed in reference to the climate and to earthquakes, as well
as texts that analyse vulnerability in the context of clinical trials. There
are researches that analyses vulnerability from a legal, economic, soci-
ological, political, anthropological, geographical point of view (without
considering, as mentioned, the perspectives internal to physical sciences).
In short, when one speaks of a vulnerability turn in the social sciences,
one can do so with good reason.
On the other, the topic of vulnerable groups is, if I may say so,
somewhat ambiguous. In some cases, and from specific perspectives, the
category of vulnerable groups is uncritically accepted, as if it were an
obvious and unproblematic assumption: in the literature relating to the
analysis of climate phenomena, or in the medical and epidemiological
literature, for example, the category of vulnerable groups is not only
widely used (to indicate entire populations, human groups, or specific
clusters of subjects), but not problematized. It is considered somewhat
self-evident that there are groups of populations that are particularly
vulnerable to certain factors, and this notion is assumed as not needing
further explanation. The same thing happens in other areas, more or less,
with the important difference that the unclear definition of the concept,
and its unpredictable application, are perceived more clearly as a critical
feature: for example, in the legal literature, and in the area of international
law, the works devoted to the analysis of the notion of group vulnerability,
and the discussion of its origins and areas of application, also highlight the
vagueness (or excessive breadth) of this concept and the different inter-
pretations that arise from Courts’ case law. Such analyses, however, do
not offer a real alternative, nor do they provide or attempt to provide
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

more stringent definitions, or to delimit the applicability of this notion:

in other words, the pars destruens —in which the lack of precision of the
international documents referring to group vulnerability is criticised—is
not followed by an equally precise pars construens, i.e. by an attempt
to clarify what vulnerable groups are, and in what sense and to what
extent this notion can be used. Finally, if we look at the philosophical
literature, the possibility of accurately and sensibly using the category of
group vulnerability seems to be completely discredited. Vulnerability, in
philosophical scholarship, is mostly understood as individual vulnerability,
and the attempts to identify vulnerable groups, and to describe common
or collective conditions of vulnerability, are discredited as essentialist and
stereotypical: on the one hand, the very possibility of identifying groups
is seen as fallacious, because it is based on unacceptable essentialist claims;
on the other hand, any description of a group of people as vulnerable is
criticised as having the effect of labelling the subjects who are part of it,
and as making them even more vulnerable and exposed to discrimination.
The research conducted in these pages, therefore, moves within this
horizon, to analyse this conceptual ambiguity, and try to reduce it. The
aim of the research, therefore, is to describe—with specific regard to the
legal and political context—the recurrent and, above all, undertheorized
use of the notion of vulnerable groups, without, however, criticising its
plausibility. On the contrary, the aim is to show in what terms, and
to what extent, the category of vulnerable groups is both theoretically
possible, and politically and legally necessary. In this sense, the critique of
the extensive and indiscriminate use of the notion of vulnerable groups
will not lead to a rejection of it, or a reduction of group vulnerability into
individual vulnerability: rather, it will lead to a more precise definition of
the boundaries of group vulnerability, and an analysis of the consequences
of the proposed definition(s).
In this attempt, however, I will not propose even a provisional list of
vulnerable groups. It is not my intention in these pages to make a more
or less comprehensive list of vulnerable groups, nor do I think there is
any point in doing so—as a consequence of the proposed definitions that
will be discussed in the text. What this volume can offer the reader is,
in a more modest way, a proposal for a definition of vulnerable groups,
thereby clarifying in what sense, and with what limits, such a category
can be used, and what consequences such a definition may have—in
terms of agency, of the possibility of action, of capacity to lay claims and
needs. This is the reason why I will not offer a list of vulnerable groups:
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4 F. MACIOCE

what is more, there are far too many lists in international documents,
and I did not feel the need to add another one, which would also be
without any force or cogency. This is also the reason why, except for a few
cases, I do not even enter into the analysis of specific situations of group
vulnerability: except for the two final chapters, in which I will analyse
two cases (one for each of the two types of vulnerable groups I identify,
according to the definitions that will be provided in the research), I do
not discuss whether this or that group is really vulnerable, in what sense
it is vulnerable, and with what consequences.
The book discusses the issue of group vulnerability as follows: the first
chapter provides a brief overview of the studies on the concept of vulner-
ability, and on the theories that—in legal and political philosophy—have
used this concept as a point of observation on reality. The second chapter
is dedicated to the legal concept of group vulnerability, but still in a purely
descriptive way: in this chapter I describe the main uses of the category
of group vulnerability in international law, and in the jurisprudence of
the European Court of Human Rights, and I analyse the extensive and
often incongruous use of this category. The third chapter is instead dedi-
cated to the definition of group vulnerability, which is considered not
only theoretically plausible, at least when interpreted in a non-essentialist
way, but also politically useful, even if susceptible to being misunderstood
and applied in a victimising way: in this chapter, therefore, two defini-
tions of group vulnerability will be offered, i.e. two different ways of
understanding group vulnerability, depending on the circumstances and
characteristics of the group itself. In the fourth chapter, the concept of
group vulnerability is put in relation with the categories and concepts
of minority and discrimination, and with the processes of victimisation
that can affect groups as well as individuals; this is both to highlight the
differences and highlight the distance between the category of vulnerable
groups, and the three dimensions indicated, and to highlight the concep-
tual autonomy of each dimension and the different protection needs.
The fifth chapter analyses the complex and often ambiguous relationship
between group vulnerability and power: in particular, it discusses both the
theme of oppression, and the forms through which power is exercised
towards vulnerable groups, and the positive aspect of the relationship
between group vulnerability and power, that is, the forms through which
group vulnerability manifests itself as a place of resistance to oppression,
and as a context in which claims and positive actions emerge. Finally, in
the two concluding chapters, two cases are presented, each related to one
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

of the two forms of group vulnerability identified and described in the

text: the case of clinical trials, concerning group vulnerability in a posi-
tional sense, and the case of migrants in conditions of irregularity, with
reference to the identity-based group vulnerability.
Small parts of the third section have been previously published in
Macioce, Fabio. “Group Vulnerability, Asymmetrical Balance, and Multi-
cultural Recognition”. Ratio Juris 31.4 (2018): 469–484. Parts of
the seventh section have been previously published in Macioce, Fabio.
“Informed Consent and Group Vulnerability in the Context of the
Pandemic”. BioLaw Journal-Rivista di BioDiritto 2S (2021): 17–33.
Parts of the eighth section have been previously published in Macioce,
Fabio. “Undocumented Migrants, Vulnerability and Strategies of Inclu-
sion: A Philosophical Perspective”. Constellations 25.1 (2018): 87–100.
 CHAPTER 2

Vulnerability: What Are We Talking About?

Introduction
Over the last decades, the notion of vulnerability1 has become progres-
sively more relevant in philosophical debate, in the language of the social
sciences, as well as in legal texts, guidelines, and documents concerning
national and international policies. Vulnerability is invoked to justify
preventive measures, additional justification burdens, enhanced forms of
protection for specific assets (e.g. territories, artistic heritage…), or rights.
The concept of vulnerability is used to designate categories of persons or
single individuals on the basis of both their assumed physical fragility and
their equally lacking autonomy or presumed incapacity to express free
consent. At the same time, the concept of vulnerability is used to identify
situations of particular exposure to risk due to economic, environmental,
social, and legal factors, in a process of accumulation of social handi-
caps (Ferrarese 2016, 151). The reasons for such a theoretical success

1 Throughout the text I will use the notion of vulnerability—unless a different meaning
or use is expressly indicated—to indicate a state of high exposure to certain risks and
uncertainties, in combination with a reduced ability to protect or defend oneself against
those risks and uncertainties and cope with their negative consequences. Such a definition
is consistent with that provided by the United Nations Department of Economic and
Social Affairs, United Nations Report on the World Social Situation: Social Vulnerability:
Sources and Challenges (UN, New York, 2003).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 7

Switzerland AG 2022
F. Macioce, The Politics of Vulnerable Groups,
Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07547-6_2
8 F. MACIOCE

are manifold: among the many, some point out both the growing insecu-
rity and political instability of the last two decades, and the changes—the
increasing precariousness—in the labour market, as well as the financial
instability of the markets, and the emergence of an “affective turn” in
social theories (Cole 2016).
Unfortunately, the concept of vulnerability is as much discussed and
used, as it is scarcely systematised. While there are many moral, political,
and social theories that use this concept, and that interpret it in different
ways and from different perspectives, very few works provide a defini-
tion of the concept and a framework of its uses in different fields and
sectors (Mackenzie et al. 2014). However, it is possible to point out that
this concept has been developed over the last few decades in three main
perspectives (Mackenzie et al. 2014, 2): within analyses of dependency
and theories of the ethics of care; in bioethical debates; in an ontological
perspective, within reflections on the human condition and corporeality.
Additionally, we may mention analyses that take vulnerability as a stand-
point for problems of distributive justice, although this approach seems
to be transversal to the three previous ones, at least in most cases.
In the first perspective, for example, we may consider the anal-
yses of Eva Kittay (1995, 2019), MacIntyre (1999), and Nussbaum
(2001, 2009), in which the dimension of vulnerability as dependence
is interpreted as a fundamental paradigm for the elaboration of an
ethical–political perspective, as well as the theory of Robert Goodin
(1986), in which the category of vulnerability as dependence on others
(in a Lévinas-like perspective) is taken as the basis for the moral imper-
ative, and the justification for social interventions. In this vein, some
scholars underlined the importance of specific instances of vulnerability
as a primary reference for public policies and interventions oriented to
social justice (Tronto 2013). If the human vulnerability is understood
as arising in large part from social factors and the environment, care
interventions necessarily entail making claims on social institutions and
“all capable others”, because the intervention of narrow caregivers is not
enough (Engster 2019, 112). For instance, a public duty in terms of
“caring with” is necessary to mitigate workers’ vulnerabilities (to harms,
joblessness, underpay, exposure to dangerous work conditions, among
other things), being narrow care networks unable to do so (Engster
2019; Engster and Hamington 2015; Tronto 2013, 23).
The concept of vulnerability is also present in several international
documents and legal instruments (the second chapter is devoted to this
 2 VULNERABILITY: WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? 9

topic) concerning biomedical interventions, as well as in a large number of

studies in the field of bioethics. Within this field, both scholars and legis-
lators highlighted specific areas or contexts of vulnerability in bioethics,
thereby developing specific burdens of protection towards certain groups
in clinical trials: for instance, vulnerability has been interpreted—with
regard to informed consent procedures—as a condition of increased expo-
sure to risks deriving from clinical, cognitive, relational, social, economic,
or structural reasons (Kipnis 2001). At the same time, in bioethics, a
certain excessive use of the notion of vulnerability has begun to be crit-
icised, especially when it is used to label—at least in documents and
guidelines—whole populations or groups of individuals. The dangers of
such a “labelling approach” have thus begun to be emphasised, since it is
liable to obscure the needs of single individuals in a given context (Hurst
2008; Luna 2009), and since it is so extensive as to be meaningless, as well
as stereotyping and discriminating (Rogers et al. 2012; Rogers 2014, 76).
Finally, in the third perspective, many scholars focused on the bodily
dimension, thus contributing to shifting the discussion into an ontological
perspective. Starting from Butler’s analyses, the investigation into vulner-
ability became the interpretation of the human condition as such, and
led to distinguishing universal human vulnerability as a form of expo-
sure to hurt and suffering (precariousness), from conditions of pathogenic
vulnerability, i.e. socially induced vulnerability (precarity) (Butler 2016,
25). Similarly, vulnerability has been discussed within the horizon of the
ethics of care, underlining the importance of specific instances of vulnera-
bility as a primary reference for public policies and interventions oriented
to social justice. It is also with reference to these analyses, that Fineman
(2008, 1; 2010, 251) and Turner (2006) discussed the concept of vulner-
ability in political and social theory, to both explore anti-discriminatory
policies, in response to conditions of inequality or disadvantage, and focus
on forms of structural injustice hidden behind the liberal model and its
myth of a perfectly autonomous and rational individual. Since vulnera-
bility is an anthropological feature, it cannot be ignored and marginalised
in the private sphere: rather, it is the basic reason human beings create
political institutions and claim state intervention (Fineman 2013).
It is worth noting that despite the diversity of approaches and the
plurality of meanings of the term, some topics seem recurrent within the
theories of vulnerability. To be more precise, three main axes of research
can be identified within vulnerability theories. These are not themes that
are developed by every theory of vulnerability; rather, they are research
10 F. MACIOCE

issues that are particularly significant in these theories, even from different
perspectives.
A first topic which is extensively discussed by theories of vulnerability is
the dialectic with liberal thought: not necessarily in the sense of rejecting
such a tradition, but at least in the sense of highlighting that some of its
salient characteristics are inadequate to fully grasp the human condition.
Theories of vulnerability, also with arguments developed within feminist
approaches, focus on typical liberal assumptions, such as the emphasis
on the individual and on his (the masculine pronoun is not accidental)
autonomy, as well as the crushing of this autonomy on the rational dimen-
sion, that is, on the ability to exercise a kind of sovereignty over one’s own
life and choices. Theories of vulnerability challenge this horizon, empha-
sising in contrast the value of human relationality and the constitutive
dependence of the human being. The second topic that is developed by
many theories of vulnerability is the alternative between an interpreta-
tion of vulnerability as an ontological characteristic, and therefore as a
universal trait, and the emphasis on situated vulnerability, or more gener-
ally on the specific circumstances that produce conditions of vulnerability
for individuals or groups. On the one hand, therefore, the idea of a
universal vulnerability contradicts the liberal myth of autonomy and inde-
pendence as the marks of the human condition; on the other hand, the
focus on circumstances of vulnerability makes it possible to highlight the
dynamics of power, oppression, and exclusion that determine conditions
of vulnerability, and ground claims in terms of recognition, redistribu-
tion, or balancing of power. As a consequence, the third thematic area
is the investigation of the social, political, and institutional structures
that shape, and respond to, subjective vulnerability. Central to this, is
the analysis of the political dimension of vulnerability, in opposition to
a rigid separation between public and private which is typical of many
liberal accounts, as well as discussion on the factors that can determine
the specific vulnerability of each individual. The theme of vulnerability
is intertwined here with that of resilience, but both are understood in
their public or social dimension, i.e. with reference to the question of
the resources (be they personal, material, institutional) that society makes
available to each person.
These axes of the research on vulnerability will be discussed in the
following paragraphs. However, it should be pointed out that, transversal
to them, a fourth perspective can be identified, which is represented by
 2 VULNERABILITY: WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? 11

the increasing relevance of a relational understanding of the human condi-

tion: here both the concept of autonomy and that of vulnerability are
understood in a relational perspective, in order to highlight the extent
to which both are “shaped” by the system of social, political, and insti-
tutional relations. Lessening the anti-liberal reading of vulnerability, this
approach shows how the promotion of autonomy (even though under-
stood in a relational sense) is necessary for the fulfilment of political and
legal obligations resulting from the vulnerability of individuals or groups,
and that it should not be interpreted as an alternative to the condi-
tion of vulnerability itself (Nedelsky 1989; Mackenzie and Stoljar 2000;
Anderson 2003; Christman 2004; Anderson and Honneth 2005).
Finally, it should be emphasised that even if this impressive flourishing
of studies and analyses is probably the source (or one source) of the ambi-
guity of the concept of vulnerability, it retains a strong critical value from
both a political and a theoretical point of view, being a crucial standpoint
for challenging discriminatory policies and practices. On the one hand,
depending on the perspective one follows, vulnerability may be linked
(in different ways and for different purposes) to the bodily, emotional,
psychological, and affective spheres, it may be understood as a condi-
tion that is either universal or particular and it may be considered as an
element that is both intrinsic to the human condition as well as contingent
and dependent on specific circumstances. On the other hand, as Fineman
correctly argues, the ambiguity of the concept of vulnerability enables
to explore the complex relationships inherent but sometimes hidden in
the term, using this concept as a heuristic device (Fineman 2008, 9).
Therefore, vulnerability remains a conceptual basis for political agency,
that is, for opposing systems that produce marginalisation and oppres-
sion. In other words, the ambiguity and broad applicability of the concept
allow it to be used to construct critical perspectives in the legal or political
sphere, so as to raise new questions and elaborate new solutions to social
and political challenges.

Vulnerability and the Liberal Paradigm

The reflection on vulnerability has been developed along with criti-
cisms—arising from different perspectives—of the liberal paradigm of
the autonomous, independent, rational, and productive subject (Kittay
1997; Fineman 2004; Fineman and Grear 2013). Such criticisms have
been developed by perspectives that can be traced back to feminist or
12 F. MACIOCE

communitarian thought, highlighting how the liberal conception is not

able to take the condition of constitutive dependence of the human
being into account, nor the relational and progressive character of the
construction of the self. Even if there are significant differences between
these approaches, they all underline the inadequacy of the liberal account
of justice, precisely because it is unable to take the bodily dimension,
the relational dimension, and the social and political aspects of human
experience fully into account.
Liberalism itself, of course, is far from being homogeneous. Therefore,
criticisms which are relevant here should not be understood as referred
to liberalism per se, as a theoretical model, rather as concerning specific
traits of liberalism, linked in particular to its underlying anthropology and
to liberal accounts of justice which are consequent to such anthropology
(Nussbaum 1997, 5).2 At the same time, it is true that, within liberal
theories, the intuition of the fundamental equality (in terms of dignity)
of every human being, regardless of their status and role in society, arises
directly from the capacity of human beings to elaborate life plans and
choices in accordance with one’s own subjective values and goals (Nuss-
baum 1997, 4). If justice in political contexts can only be realised in
a reciprocal limitation of individual freedom and collective interest, at
the core of the liberal tradition there is the guarantee of the interests
and choices of independent and autonomous citizens, whose voices give
legitimacy to the structures of power that implement justice in a given
context.
Criticism of the liberal model, in other words, has centred on this
conception of the person as fully autonomous, self-determining, and
independent. From communitarian and identity politics perspectives, for
instance, the excessive individualism of such a vision has been stressed,
i.e. the idea that the subject and his/her identity can be defined before,
and independently of, collective aims, values, memberships, and identities
(Sandel 1981; Kymlicka 1989). From feminist perspectives (MacKinnon
1987; Abbey 2014), it has been pointed out that the premise of this

2 Nussbaum rightly points out that the focus on vulnerability does not imply, per se,
the rejection of the liberal approach: she argues that (p. 5) “liberalism needs to change
to respond adequately to those insights: but it will be changed in ways that make it
more deeply consistent with its own most foundational ideas”. In this sense, according to
Nussbaum, some basic liberal assumptions are essential to guarantee substantial justice for
women: among these, in particular, the centrality of the idea of equal citizenship.
 2 VULNERABILITY: WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? 13

independence is the (unpaid) care labour performed by women, and that

therefore such a perfectly independent (or falsely independent) subject is
essentially a male one, whose independence is gained at the expense of
that of women (Okin 1989, 138)3 ; that the liberal account of justice
is excessively formal, and therefore inadequate to manage and modify
systemic injustices that depend on mechanism of power and culture
(Young 1990, 114); and that it is generally hyper-rationalistic, and there-
fore tends to devalue the significance of emotions and caring in public life,
thus contributing to placing the question of vulnerability in the private
sphere (Jaggar 1989; Lloyd 1993). The idea—especially in the so-called
feminism of difference and in critical theories—is that the liberal model
has taken a disembodied subject as its reference: therefore, it is unable
to appreciate relationships of care, as well as the constitutive condition
of dependence of the human being, and it is more generally blind to the
relational character of human existence, arising from patriarchal premises
that actually allow these aspects (Tronto 1993, 120) not to be seen,
and not to be considered. On the contrary, liberalism confines them to
the private sphere and delegates them (in a logic of exploitation) to the
unpaid work of women (Gilligan 1982; Pateman 1988). Finally, disability
theories have emphasised how the condition of universal dependence
should be discussed in conjunction with the specific forms of depen-
dence experienced by people with disabilities, and highlighted that the
(liberal) objective of protecting and enhancing individual independence
should be replaced with that of managing universal and specific depen-
dence (Kittay 2019), and with a new understanding of legal capacity
and autonomy (Bernardini 2018). In short, these critiques have under-
lined that a different and more complex subject should be placed at the
centre of the polis, whose specific trait (inclusive of, but not reducible to,

3 “The division of labor within marriage (except in rare cases) makes wives far more
likely than husbands to be exploited both within the marital relationship and in the world
of work outside the home. To a great extent and in numerous ways, contemporary women
in our society are made vulnerable by marriage itself. They are first set up for vulnerability
during their developing years by their personal (and socially reinforced) expectations that
they will be the primary caretakers of children, and that in fulfilling this role they will
need to try to attract and to keep the economic support of a man, to whose work life
they will be expected to give priority. They are rendered vulnerable by (…) the fact that
the world of wage work, including the professions, is still largely structured around the
assumption that “workers” have wives at home” (pp. 138–39).
14 F. MACIOCE

dependence: Fineman 2008, 11)4 is precisely that of vulnerability: such

a trait, if understood as an inherent feature of human experience, cannot
be hidden (even if it is confined to the private sphere), and deconstructs
the distinction between autonomous and non-autonomous subjects.

Autonomy and Vulnerability:

The Relational Perspective
It is precisely around the concept of autonomy that the reflection
developed by the theories of vulnerability has manifested the “rela-
tional” approach I mentioned earlier. Within this relational perspective,
autonomy ceases to be understood as a subjective predicate (a quality of
individual subjects, so that one can say that someone is either autonomous
or not), and becomes an ontological trait whose exercise can be facili-
tated or inhibited by the networks of relationships of each person. All,
or almost all, in this sense, may be autonomous, even if some need the
support of others to exercise their autonomy, and even if some need it
more extensively than others. In this sense, autonomy depends on the
guarantee of subjective freedom, as well as on the availability of resources
and supportive relational networks, given that these elements do not
determine individual choices, but they support them and make them
possible: construed in such a way, autonomy becomes a dimension that is
compatible with vulnerability and dependence, rather than an alternative
to them.
Therefore, autonomy is linked to the availability of material resources,
as well as to the institutional and regulatory framework that make its
exercise possible. Firstly, it refers to social rights, i.e. to goods and mate-
rial resources (such as education, health, adequate economic conditions,
opportunities to participate in the cultural and religious life of one’s
community, etc.) that are the social conditions of autonomy (Rawls 1971;
Raz 1986; Young 1986; Oshana 1998; Sen 1999). Secondly, autonomy
requires the subject to be placed in a relational context suitable for its
exercise, and more precisely in a context characterised by positive rela-
tions of recognition: autonomy is a capacity that flourishes within social

4 “Dependency is episodic and shifts in degree on an individual level for most of us,
mainstream political and social theorists can and often do conveniently ignore it. In their
hands, dependency, if acknowledged at all, is merely a stage that the liberal subject has
long ago transcended or left behind and is, therefore, of no pressing theoretical interest”.
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 Unfold before our ravished sight,
And still the magic influence grows
And time moves backward in its flight.
There lies the ancient Argive plain
Where chiefs in angry council met,
When Paris took the Spartan frail,
The insult they did n’er forget.

Then fled in haste with her to Troy,

And Nemesis the pair pursued,
For calling all their braves to arms
Greece vengeance vowed to Priam’s brood.
And n’er will a magician weave
Their tales of prowess and of skill
As Homer—none so deft as he
Could thus the imagination thrill.

Lo! Delphi, where in darkness sat

The sacred priestess, while in wrath
’Mid clouds of incense serpent wound
The Oracle would issue forth.
Oh! Athena, the “violet crowned,”
Thy crystal founts and cypress groves,
Where Daphne and Minerva walked,
Leave but memory of their loves.

AURELLE.
 I would frame a lyric sweet
To ma belle Aurelle;
Tresses rippling to her feet,
Laughing lips as well.
She hath hands as lilies pure,
Head of beauty’s mould,
Eyes like great brown pools so clear,
Sparkling depths enfold.
On a grassy knoll she stands,
Clasping wattle bloom—
Golden flower of Austral’s lands,
With its rich perfume.
Roses grace her cheeks so fair,
And she knoweth well
That she doth my heart ensnare—
Ma belle Aurelle.
And she singeth like a bird
At heaven’s gate,
When its swelling notes are stirred
By its mate.
And I know that Cupid’s dart—
Sharp, yet slender—
Some fine day will pierce her heart,
Oh, so tender.
But this stately maid of mine
Loveth none as me:
For her summers are but nine—
Aurelle mine, you see!

THE TALE OF THE GREAT WHITE PLAINS.

Day by day and night by night,
Till the great white plains in sight—
Speeds the “Terra Nova” on;
Britain’s laurels must be won,
So they press to reach their goal:
Point they to the Southern Pole.
What a tale thou dost unfold,
Far surpassing deeds of old.
Shades of Spartan heroes these
Mightier see in southern seas,
Mountain pillars gleaming white
In the lone Antarctic night.
Dazzling peaks, all tempest riven;
Shrouded ghosts, which gaze at heaven:
There, majestic, grand and free,
Towering o’er that frigid sea,
Terror, Erebus, look down
From their smouldering fiery throne.
Sunken eyes and cheeks so pale,
Still the stout hearts do not quail,
Though they pay a heavy toll
Yet, at length, they reach the Pole.
Lo! The Union Jack unfurled,
Britain’s finger leads the world.
Glory gained, they may not stay,
There is danger in delay.
Back o’er that wide trackless plain,
Mighty Scott with all his train
Passed, while death the white steed rode
Side by side the way they trode,
Through the blizzard’s freezing blast.
Will he claim his prey at last?
Buoyed with thoughts of northern skies
Oft’ their drooping spirits rise.
Where fond loved ones’ hopes and fears
Mingle with their prayers and tears—
So they struggle weakly on
So they struggle weakly on,
Strength and courage almost gone.
On, until with grief they find
Evans they must leave behind.
Ah! The other hut in view,
Will they see the blizzard through?
Yes! The camp at last they reach
Cold exhaustion numbing speech,
And brave Oates! Oh! Gallant heart,
Nobly doth he take his part
In this awful tragedy
Of the icy polar sea.
Facing death ’mid ice and snow
See the loyal comrade go;
Knowing nought his life could save
Sought he thus a lonely grave.
Silently we draw the veil
And his mournful end bewail.

Months elapse—what is their fate?

Wilson, Bowers, alas! Too late:
With their chief at length they find
In their sleeping bags enshrined,
Fresh as when their parting breath
Froze within the embrace of death.
Saintly looking in their sleep,
Only angels o’er them weep;
There in royal robes of snow
Lie our glorious heroes now.

And the message Scott would send:

“Guard our loved ones to the end.”
Britain’s, Austral’s hearts will be
With their dead in that white sea,
And their children, not in vain,
Oft will read the tale again,
And immortal memory shelve
Nineteen hundred years and twelve.
Not unmarked the way they trod
Not unmarked the way they trod,
For it led them up to God.
Lo! A cairn above them stands
Raised by gentle, loving hands
And a cross upon the spot
In that grand Antarctic grott,
While for aye they will remain
Martyrs of the Great White Plain.

AN AUSTRALIAN HYMN.
God of earth’s nations, Thee we sing—
Loud may Australia’s Anthem ring;
Look down in mercy from Thy throne
And with great empires make her one.

Lord, not supreme alone in health,

Or might, is she a Commonwealth,
But by the grace which Thou hast given
To spread her seed beneath the Heaven.

Grant that her sons, her citadel,

May ever hold impregnable;
Swift to defend and slow to hate—
The enemy within her gate.

Fair waves her pennon on the breeze,

Long may she reign in southern seas;
Oh, may Thy power and glory wait
Upon her mighty ship of state.

Oh, may her empire builders be

Faithful to base her dynasty
On Truth, with Liberty for shield,
And Battle-axe of Justice wield.

Yea, Thine the glory, Lord, may she

Fulfil her glorious destiny;
And Austral’s Anthem ever pour
Thy praise till time shall be no more.

GOD’S GIFT.
The pure pale blossoms of God’s gift, the flowers,
Breathe immortality.
They tell us of sweet, heavenly, dreamless hours
All through eternity.
They tell us of dear Mother Earth who press’d
So soft and deep
Their tiny seeds within her tender breast
As children sleep.
They tell us, these white souls of flowers, sent
To beautify
Our minds, of human souls, an emblem meant,
Which never die.
And when our bodies, like dear flowers, must
At length decay,
The seeds we sow will bloom, when we from dust
Have passed away.
Then let our lives be pure as these pale blooms
With fragrance blent,
That deeds, like flowers, shall be upon our tombs
A monument.

BECAUSE OF THEE.
Because of thee, the earth is fair to see,
The dawn more radiant for it breathes of thee,
It gloweth deeper in the eastern skies
As dawneth love within thy beauteous eyes.

Because of thee, my heart a song doth sing,

Its cadence in mine ear doth ever ring
So dulcet sweet, and though thou art not near
I feel, and know in spirit, thou can’st hear.

Because of thee, weak words may not convey

The holy calm which comes at close of day;
When sunsets flame like seas of beaten gold
Ere night her spangled draperies hath unrolled.

Because of thee, upon the balmy air,

Pæans from every plumaged worshipper
Thrill all my soul, dear love, and seem to me
Each liquid note a message sent from thee.

Because of thee, the flowers more odorous still,

With subtle fragrance, waken at my will
Sweet memories of the perfume-laden dew
Of the old garden, redolent of you.

Because of thee, this longing heart of mine

Hath none but thee to dwell within its shrine,
Its sacred taper thou, a glorious light,
My lode-star like a splendid vision bright.

Because of thee, the stars seem all enwrought

With beauty which enriches every thought;
The moon, a golden chariot in which we
May circle space for all eternity.

Because of thee, as o’er life’s mighty deep,

We glide together, soft shall be thy sleep;
His hand will guide our barque to yonder shore
 His hand will guide our barque to yonder shore
To live, Oh, love—true life for evermore.

THE LEGEND OF OSYTH’S WOOD.

[To W. Richer.]
How well I remember the tranquil hours
We spent in the haunted wood;
How fair was the glade and the primrose flowers
Where the ruined abbey stood,
For there, near the lake where water springs—
It gushed in a crystal stream—
From the mouth of a dragon with carven wings
And eyes of a fearful gleam.
And there was the grotto, with walls inlet
With shells from the shining sands,
And the floor with mosaic scenes was set,
All relics from Eastern lands.
We played, and we idly wondered who
In the centuries past and gone
Had chiselled the antique shape so true
Of this monster in sculptured stone.
And the legend weird of this ancient pile
We many a time had heard,
And oft in the dusk we would list, the while
The leaves by the wind were stirred.
For ages and ages ago ’twas said
A prince of the Saxon blood
With the Lady Osyth one day was wed
By a priest of the holy rood.
He bade adieu at the altar there,
But alas, for the vows they made,
A rival prince took his bride so fair
By force to the forest shade.
She was rescued, assuming the sacred veil,
And a nun she had scarce been made,
When up to the abbey, in coat of mail,
Rode the prince with a gleaming blade.
And with sword held high he espied the face
Of his wife in a window near,
A moment more, in his fast embrace
Swooned the lady in deadly fear.
And fast on his palfrey they rode away
And fast on his palfrey they rode away
These twain through the woodland deep,
And saw not the rival till brought to bay
Near the “Fatal Lover’s Leap.”
And the enemy’s knights came and bore them on
And round to the moonlit lake
And jeered: “So perish each wicked one
Who is false to the vows they make.”
The prince they bound to his steed and led
The lady whose every limb
Trembled, while faltering prayers she said
And her glorious eyes grew dim.
Then they bade her stand by the dragon’s side
When with swift and sudden blow
The rapier fell, and her life’s red tide
Welled o’er to the stream below.
And the legend runs that the headless form
Of the maiden quickly bent
And lifted her head beneath her arm
While a shriek the wild echoes rent.
And the prince enraged, when he knew her fate,
Unbuckled his heavy mail,
And, stabbing himself as his steed he sate,
He died with a mournful wail.
And the story goes that the lady’s shade
Still walks, and her voice is heard,
When the moon is old in the haunted glade—
Like the cry of a wounded bird—
And the headless image in marble chased
Of this saint in the chancel old
Still stands, though time hath its lines effaced
And despoiled it of beauty’s mould.
And oft as I think of the woodland fair
And the legend, I fain would be
Once more near the dragon which standeth where
St. Osyth lived, just by the sea.
MOUNT GAMBIER, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
In lone magnificence and stately pride,
Majestic in thy ruin and decay,
Thou, whose unfathomed crater yawned wide
When Pluto’s furies in thy depths held sway;
And forked lightning on black clouds astride,
And igneous rocks, their glowing masses hurled
While streams of lava in a ceaseless tide
Flowed o’er thy base upon a darkened world.
What hast thou felt in cycles long untold?
What hast thou heard within thine eyrie there,
That scalding tears of rage hath down thee rolled
Scarring thine image and thy bosom bare?
What hath the glorious sun-god looked upon,
Searching thy heart with brilliant-zoned light?
What hath the silver-veiled Fingari, lone
Viewed from her vantage in the solemn night?
Thou must have breathed when regal Pompeii, placed
On proud Italia’s olive-mantled shore
Was by Vesuvius’ wrath engulfed and rased,
And eighteen centuries was covered o’er.
If thou but had a tongue, mayhap thou would
Tell us when fair Lemuria disappeared,
Or how the dusky tribes, with rites of blood,
In bora rings their writhing victims speared.
Thou antique dial: scarce thou feeleth, though
Thy faint spasmodic tremblings still are felt,
And o’er thy sunken cranium waters flow,
The rocky amphitheatre thy belt.
Now, foliage green adorns thy noble form—
Lo! Mansions fair are nestling there serene
Around thy neck, and in the gathering gloom
At eve we picture what thou once hath been.
And Oh! Thou mighty Gambier, not in vain
Thou teacheth like a sad and silent sage
The wisdom and the pleasure we may gain
While pondering on thy splendour and thine age.
 Prose Fragments

SCENTS AND THE PAST.

A STRONG CONNECTING LINK.

It sometimes happens that some uncommon perfume will carry us back

to the days of our girlhood, when our mothers would devoutly disclose to
the light of day all sorts of odd things, such as old letters smelling of musk,
or ribbons and pieces of old lace yellow with age, cast off baby clothes,
which once on a time, covered our tiny persons, little pinafores or caps and
booties, perhaps toys which once belonged to a sister or brother, long since
gone on the other side.
Again, such a perfume may remind us of a time when the whole family
were gathered around the festive board, laughing, bright with repartee, the
room redolent of fragrance from the tastefully arranged flowers, long since
forgotten. Somehow a scent brings back a flood of memories; the scene; the
very arch glance of a pair of eyes, or the grave sweet look of a face, as
though it were yesterday.
Some perfumes become a precious memory lying dormant, which one
can conjure up at will. Others are suddenly resurrected.
Lavender! What luxury to lie between sheets odorous of lavender. And
the old-fashioned potpourri of late years, having a revival of favour, chiefly
consisting of orris roots, violets and rose leaves—with sweet thoughts
centred and clinging around them. The roses!
Goddess of beauty, at thy magic breath
My spirit turneth from the gate of death,
And in thy deep red heart would find repose.
And dreams of Arcady—thou queenly rose!
 And, talking of roses, what a lot of them are now being worn on the hats.
Never in the history or vagaries of fashion have flowers held such pride of
place as at present. And, although they are artificial, they revive thoughts of
perfume. Some of the models make us think of Watteau shepherdesses as
the right sort of beauties to wear them; but some of our Queensland girls
have faces pretty and artistic enough to grace anything with advantage.
I heard a very pretty compliment paid to Queensland women as a whole
the other day by an English gentleman. He remarked (I hope my readers
will not become too vain after hearing this) that they are the neatest and
nicest dressed girls he had seen anywhere, and were an example—with the
exception of some over-dressed ones—to many English women. But to
return to our own “moutons.”
How the smell of very old furniture will make one’s memory retrace its
steps. The past stands out sadly or joyously, and sometimes it is so subtle
and suggestive as to convey one back to a confused memory, like a thread
of a pre-existence, which most of us have experienced. It is very vague and
uncertain. Yet there it is.
Yes! scents are strong connecting links between the past and present, and
we have a sense of gratitude, for it gives us something very pleasant to
think about—and sometimes has the charm of making our existence free
from feelings of ennui.

MALTA.

JUST A GLIMPSE.

It had been a very rough passage through the Bay of Biscay, and it was
an immense relief to run into calm water, so, hugging the coast of southern
Spain, we could distinctly see the shore, with trees standing out in bold
relief against the sky. So (I shall never as long as I live forget the beauty of
the scene) we approached the great, brown rock of Gibraltar, with its
hundred eyes of hate, bristling with guns, and with the now fashionable
watering place of Algiers on our left, we passed through the great “Pillars of
Hercules,” the extremities of Europe and Africa almost meeting into the
Mediterranean. The passage appears much narrower than it really is, sea
distance being deceptive. We steamed along in the pinken glow of dawn,
the change being very pleasant, and the air gradually becoming warmer,
until within a few miles of Malta (which island, as you know, is off the
southern coast of Sicily), when it suddenly became quite hot. And, how
shall I describe the impression, under perfect weather conditions? The white
rock, so imposing and important politically, as well as commercially. A
jewelled island, set in a sapphire sea. A green vista of terraces of white
houses, with green shutters and awnings of scarlet and white, flapping in
the breeze. Pedestrians we could see in the distance with the ubiquitous
umbrellas and hats, green lined to keep off the glare of the sun. Presently
we anchored, and, hey presto! we were almost immediately surrounded by
vendors of all sorts of things in the shape of coral earrings, bracelets, and
brooches, good and bad Florida water, perfumes, real Maltese lace and bad
imitation. We inspected their wares, and amid a babel of French and Italian
(we being in a hurry), we purchased some good lace and eau de Cologne.
Then, we decided we would go ashore, which three of us did, and we
passed the casinos and shipping offices, and wended our way up those
famous streets of stairs described by Lord Byron, and we no longer
wondered, when we thought of his poor deformed foot, how difficult he
must have found the ascent. Each house rose imperially above its neighbour
up those flights, and, peeping from some of the doors, were dark-eyed
Madonna-looking Spanish beauties, their classic heads draped gracefully
with mantillas. But the dominating smell, which spoilt it all, was that of
garlic. It assailed our nostrils; it seemed to be everywhere, and we were told
that, in some form or another, it was found at every meal. At last we gained
the top, after much stifled laughter, and made for the barracks and the fort,
after which we visited the armoury, and imagined we had known the brave
knights themselves, after the kind information tendered by our guide in
mixed Anglo-Saxon, French and Italian.
We then went to the Cathedral of St. John, saw the Alexandrian Gate,
and the places set apart for worshippers of different sects, after which we
joined in a service in the central portion. Later on towards sunset, we hired
a fiacre with a Pegasus-like winged steed attached, and the way that sorry
horse flew along was marvellous. No whip was needed, and to say he was
as thin as a herring would be a libel on the herring. Anyhow, we arrived
safely at Valetta, the Government residence, and visited the famous orange
gardens. We returned to the ship, dined on board, and then in the evening
went toiling up again to the Royal Opera House. The scene was very
brilliant. An Italian Company was performing, and the artistes were loaded
with floral tributes. The next day we were off again, and steamed to Cape
Malea—but “that’s another story.”

SMYRNA.
It was a glorious morning when we arrived off Malea, and we steamed
near enough to distinguish the plateau on the rock where the celebrated old
hermit—who isolated himself in that lonely spot for so many years—had
always, on the approach of a vessel, advanced waving a flag.
The promontory passed, we were out of the Mediterranean, and we
slowly passed the maze of islands—the Cyclades—past Milo and Delos,
famed in song and story, Andros and Nicaria, and soon were making our
way into the Ægean Sea towards the volcanic island of Chios or Cos. This
island is off the Gulf of Smyrna, and has frequently been devastated by
seismic agencies.
It was a thrilling experience passing through the Gulf, and there, in the
light of evening, lay that ancient city—one of the seven Churches of Asia—
with its background of everlasting hills, beneath a turquoise sky, carrying
one’s mind back down the centuries, when St. Paul himself preached there,
and delivered the message to the churches.
Smyrna is the key of Asia Minor, and Anatolia is as large as France.
After our luggage had been inspected, we, after some altercation with the
drivers of various vehicles, were driven to our hotel, and, after divesting
ourselves of our travelling attire, we descended to the table-d’-hôte, where
dinner was served à la Russe. We noted the many little dishes filled, one for
each guest, with black and green olives, and fresh beady-looking black
caviare, the roe of the sturgeon, indigenous to the Black Sea.
It was a truly cosmopolitan company which sat down to dine—so many
nationalities being represented—for Smyrna to-day is a very large and
important city of the near east.
The caravans leave here for the desert with all sorts of merchandise, and
they bring ivory, spices, and precious stones in return. The culture of silk is
carried on to an enormous extent, and the figs are of an immense size. We
watched, the day after our arrival, the loading of the camels for the desert.
Some looked well, others as though they would not reach the end of the
journey. Smyrna is the rendezvous of every eastern merchant. The
Armenians being good linguists, they conduct the bulk of the business for
the Turks, and are tutors in wealthy households.
The Angora goats and the Asiatic sheep—with tremendous tails,
weighing ten and fifteen pounds—flourish here in great numbers. We drove
to the Church of St. John some miles away. The scenery was truly
magnificent, and we felt that Turkey possessed the garden of the gods. We
passed pretty villas, buried in a wealth of magnolia trees, but the cypress
trees predominate, and the mulberry is very plentiful. We visited the church,
but were very much disappointed, the pictures being very tawdry and
common.
We also visited the ruins at Ephesus, to which we went by a slow train.
Frequent earthquakes have laid everything in magnificent ruin—remains of
ampitheatres, temples, aqueducts, are all levelled to the ground. Most of the
houses are built of wood which give in seismic shocks, but the facades are
of marble.
The Hamals are wonderfully strong, short but active men, and carry
immense loads upon their backs, the veins in their legs looking like ropes.
These are all Armenians and are trained from infancy.
We visited the Bazaar and the Turkish quarter, but were glad to escape
the dust and the quaint species of humanity.

It may not be uninteresting reading now that the papers are filled with
news of the war between the allies and Turkey, if I recall one of the
pleasantest and most exciting days I ever spent during my sojourn in the
Ottoman Empire. I would first of all remark, that Turkey occupies the most
beautiful portion of Europe. The soil, being so volcanic, produces a wealth
of luxurious fruits, especially grapes and figs; but the Turkish Government,
as well as the Turks themselves, being naturally indolent, never think of
cultivating the soil as they might. Therefore, there is more poverty among
them, through their laxity, than wealth.
 The part of Turkey in which I happened to have recently arrived was the
lovely island of Lesbos, the birthplace of Sappho, and with very mixed
feelings have I stood on the very spot on the road to Polyknito, where that
impulsive maid so long ago threw herself from that Leucadian steep into the
blue waters beneath. Of recent years, a young lady I knew, threw herself
from the same spot and perished—a victim of unrequited love.
Well, two or three Greek girl friends and myself made up our minds to
have a real good day’s outing, so, packing our luncheon baskets, we were
off before sunrise, as, living some distance from the town of Mitylene, we
had a long walk in front of us. We started in high spirits, and were nearing
the town when I heard what, to my unsophisticated ears, was a most
peculiar awe-inspiring sound. I found it was produced by the Hozahs at
sunrise, calling from the minarets of the mosques, the faithful to prayer.
And Turks they may be, but, they shame us by their devotions, which all the
jeers in the world would never prevent.
We toiled along up the hill towards the Konah, the kiosk, being near by
the Governor’s residence, and at the top we stood admiring the sunrise over
the hills of Anatolia, in Asia Minor; and the view right along to the heights
of Smyrna in the distance was superb. Every inch of this part of eastern
Europe is teeming with historical interest. We walked along past the Turkish
graveyard, the tombs of which are all surmounted with turbans beautifully
sculptured, giving in the dusk a most weird appearance, as though human
beings stood there on guard.
At length we arrived at the Loutra, as it is called. The thermal water is
conducted underground from the hot springs. We entered a small garden
enclosed by a wall; then we were ushered into a room containing dozens of
small cupboard-like compartments, scrupulously clean. Our entrance fee
was five piasters, or tenpence in English money. We were each supplied
with clean towels. Then I, at least, went timorously towards the apartment
where the first portion of our ablutions were to be carried out. An attendant
came forward to receive us. The first apartment was very warm, and we
remained there until the perspiration began to trickle down on to our towels
which we secured round our waists. Then came the ordeal.
On entering the “chamber of horrors” (I thought at first) I could scarcely
breathe, the air was so hot, and then I noticed that the floor in this dome-
shaped chamber sloped towards the middle. Suddenly several taps were
turned on, gently at first, and the attendant smeared us all over the top part
of our bodies with Fuller’s earth, after which, the taps were turned on full
speed, and we raced round that room while the attendants pursued us, and
smacked us soundly in turn. We slid around on the marble floor, but kept
losing our footing. Our faces were scarlet, and oh! the dirt that came from
the pores of our skin. And we had thought we were clean! Well, the
smacking process went on; the water seemed hotter than ever, and at last we
were allowed into the cooler chamber, as we were feeling exhausted. The
attendant was a Turkish woman, but spoke Greek sufficiently to make
herself understood. I have often thought since she was an unusually active
person for a Turkish woman.
Then we went back to the dressing rooms again, and after we had rested
on one of the numerous divans for half-an-hour, we went into the garden
and eat our dejeuner with gusto, we were so hungry and so delightfully
tired; and we chatted and watched the groups of well-to-do people enjoying
themselves—the Turkish children, in particular, with dozens upon dozens of
small plaits adorning their heads, which are often not undone for months.
At 4 o’clock small cups of muddy, but delicious mocha were brought us,
and then we regretfully departed for our tramp home after a very pleasant
day, almost too fatigued to talk. So ended my first day in a Turkish bath, for
it needs the whole day to recuperate after the trying but pleasing experience.

THE PORTS OF PALESTINE.

One morning we were waiting, luggage packed ready, to embark on the
Russian liner for all Palestine Ports. We were in a state of suppressed
excitement at the alluring prospects in store for us, the historical places, and
scenic loveliness of which we had heard, making us long to start. After
some hours the belated vessel hove in sight, an immense grey object,
capable of carrying in comfort eight or nine hundred passengers. Having
previously secured our ticket, we immediately hired a caique, after much
altercation about the fare, and were speedily conveyed to the vessel, which
was making only a short stay. Arrived on board, we were conducted by a
gorgeously dressed official to our cabin, and delivered to the tender mercies
of the stewardess, a French woman. We went on deck to explore, and until
we started people were rushing about talking in a dozen different languages.
At last we were off, and we took our final farewell of Smyrna, that peerless
city of the East, set in the beautiful background of opaline-tinted clouds,
merging into crimson departing glory of day; and at last, as the pall of night
fell, we went into the saloon—which was filled with the usual brilliant
company of tourists—to dine. After dinner, tea, instead of coffee, was
served in long fragile glasses, a thin slice of lemon floating on top, and a
serviette to prevent the fingers being burned. Of pale amber colour this tea
was delicious, the flavour exquisitely preserved. The tea is imported
overland, the sea voyage destroying the flavour more or less.
We again went on deck and, glancing beneath us on the lower deck, we
saw long rows of reclining figures in white, like so many mummies, with
one or two sitting up talking volubly and gesticulating. They were Turks
and Arabs bound for Bagdad and Mecca. There were long-bearded Greek
priests, Armenians, Italians, and Russians, all en route to Jerusalem or
Damascus, the majority for Jerusalem. They would return as Hadjes, a title
which is borne by those who have visited the Holy Sepulchre.
We were up very early to see the first beams of Aurora, and we were
well rewarded, earth and sea combining to make one feel how beautiful it is
to live. The mysterious beauty of the misty mitre-peaked hills on the land
side of us, rosy in the gilded dawn, filled our minds with imagination. On
the other side, gleaming like the facets of an emerald, lay Samos, noted for
its vintage, its figs and oil, the dark olive mounts, showing against the
tender foliage of orange and lemon groves. On we went until we came to
Rhodes, with its great harbour, once famed for its colossus erected to
Apollo, but long since levelled to the ground by seismic agencies. It must
have appeared like a mighty janitor watching down the centuries,
worshipped as a deity by the wonderful race who lived there.
We chummed with five young Russian ladies, who, with their chaperon,
were journeying to the Holy Sepulchre, and we were shown the presents of
silver and crosses which they were to lay on the shrine. We extracted much
pleasure from their company, and we would not like to disclose how many
cups of tea we consumed from the ever-boiling samovar, which these ladies
dispensed every time they could induce us to visit the cabin de luxe
reserved for their special use. They will always hold a place in our memory.
 On leaving Rhodes, we steamed away from the coast and we turned in
towards Cyprus, passing the Gulf of Adalia. The Island of Cyprus is noted
for its ancient copper mines, its magnificent temples, statues to the deities,
and frescoes covered with the dust of centuries. From there we made for the
mainland, remaining at the small town of Alexandretta but a few hours.
Everything was extremely Oriental. We saw a number of Mohammaden
women, attended by an eunuch, walking along, their yasmaks now and
again lowered, and a pair of laughing young eyes disclosed. How the dark
eyes, some very dreamy looking, of these wise children of the East (some of
them the Bedouin Arabs, the descendants of Ishmael) have been, century
after century, centred on these Eastern nights of splendour, watching the
heavens—wiser than we in things pertaining to nature.
We next come to Tripoli, with its long-robed bearded priests and sheiks,
and veiled women, and the dogs, those scavengers of the east, the bazaars,
and beautiful foliage.
When we came to Beyrout there was a great stir, so many persons
disembarking, some for Beyrout, but more bent for Damascus, beyond the
Mountain of Lebanon, and some crossing the Syrian deserts for Bagdad. We
bought some immense bunches of pink, blue and white double violets
which came from Sharon.
Damascus, the oldest city in the world, is famed chiefly for its finely
wrought steel instruments in the shape of swords, daggers, knives, stilettos,
some of them magnificent specimens of artistic skill, and often encrusted
with jewels of great value.
After leaving Beyrout the weather began to get very stormy, the waves
grew mountainous, and soon we were in the throes of a great gale. Just
about here we were told the currents are very dangerous, and very fierce
storms rage at times. We were ordered below, and we could hear glass and
crockery breaking at intervals—during a lull of the tempest.
When morning broke we were some miles from Joppa or Jaffa, as it is
called to-day. As we slowly neared the port, rolling heavily, we saw that
ancient city built on a rock rising sheer out of the water, with practically no
harbour, and in that great gale, swarms of caiques manned by dexterous
men of divers nationalities coming towards us—one moment lost in the
waves, the next high up on the crest of another. It was of no use, we could
not cast anchor, and were doomed to disappointment, for had we not
dreamed of traversing that long, white, chalky road which some forty miles
away shows the Zion of the elect. And our Russian ladies were greatly
excited at having to wait until the return voyage to descend and attain their
heart’s desire—to say that they had seen Gethsemane, Calvary, and all the
places which must, in these modern times, have lost (except the Holy
Sepulchre) much of the beauty depicted in holy writ.

THE IVORY TEMPLE.

FOR AUSTRALIAN WOMEN.

No matter to what status of society we belong we nearly all have little

idiosyncrasies, little mannerisms, and, in the majority of cases, they are
caused by self-consciousness. Many great speakers, at times, show it in a
marked degree. Actresses, too, suffer from it, not to mention singers; but in
the latter cases it is termed stage fright. And it is not vanity, it is hyper-
sensitiveness; it is not unpardonable, but is often adversely criticised.
And how often are we prone to criticise our friends in their absence;
when they are not present to refute any unkind thing said of them, merely
because they are misunderstood. The things said may be very trivial, and a
look or an innuendo will ban more than words. How often are long and
valued friendships broken through these things, or rather these habits of
running each other down!
We wear the mask of what we call good-breeding, which makes us
unnatural to the detriment of our real selves. We murmur conventional
phrases with our lips, give a frozen smile: shake hands in the fashion of the
moment and pass on, thinking we have done our duty to society. And yet
some of us would give worlds for an earnest sympathetic pressure of the
hand, creating a bond of good feeling which is of the greatest value and
cannot be too much prized. Do let us be natural and unaffected. It sits badly
on young or old to pretend to be what we are not. Our real selves do not
seem to be reflected in the mirror of life; we are hidden, distorted, just as
when one looks into a common mirror. Let us hope that physical culture and
plenty of outdoor exercise will make our coming young Australian citizens,
with their finely developed bodies, a self-reliant, broad-minded and
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