Virtus in the Roman World: Generality, Specificity, and Fluidity Kyle W
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Plutarch, Machiavelli and Shakespeare's Coriolanus Patrick
The Changing Faces of Virtue: Plutarch, Machiavelli and Shakespeare’s Coriolanus Patrick Ashby University of Bristol [email protected] Introduction: The hinges of virtue ‘Let it be virtuous to be obstinate’, says Caius Martius Coriolanus, shortly before the catastrophe of Shakespeare’s tragedy (Coriolanus, 5.3.26).1 In uttering these words, he articulates a moral hypothesis which is of central importance to Coriolanus: the supposition that steadfastness of principle is a fundamental good. This is a theory which the play puts to the test. The idea of ‘virtue’ — in a variety of guises — is a key focus of this essay, which identifies as crucial those moments at which definitions of virtue are unsettled, transformed, or confronted with a range of alternatives. Several commentators have connected Shakespeare’s Coriolanus with the political ideas of Niccolò Machiavelli, the Florentine theorist whose notoriety rests upon his recommendation of moral flexibility for political leaders. For Anne Barton, who reads the play in the context of Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy’s history of early Rome, Coriolanus dramatises the futile persistence of obsolescent virtues (the valorisation of battlefield heroics) in an environment of subtler needs and growing political sophistication.2 In Shakespeare and the Popular Voice, Annabel Patterson hints at Shakespeare’s sympathy with the idea of popular political representation, proposing that ‘there is nothing in the play to challenge that famous interpretation of the tribunate which [. .] Machiavelli made a premise of Renaissance political theory’.3 John Plotz 1 William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, The Norton Shakespeare, ed. by Stephen Greenblatt, Katherine Eisaman Maus, Jean E. -
The Politics of Roman Memory in the Age of Justinian DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the D
The Politics of Roman Memory in the Age of Justinian DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Marion Woodrow Kruse, III Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Anthony Kaldellis, Advisor; Benjamin Acosta-Hughes; Nathan Rosenstein Copyright by Marion Woodrow Kruse, III 2015 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the use of Roman historical memory from the late fifth century through the middle of the sixth century AD. The collapse of Roman government in the western Roman empire in the late fifth century inspired a crisis of identity and political messaging in the eastern Roman empire of the same period. I argue that the Romans of the eastern empire, in particular those who lived in Constantinople and worked in or around the imperial administration, responded to the challenge posed by the loss of Rome by rewriting the history of the Roman empire. The new historical narratives that arose during this period were initially concerned with Roman identity and fixated on urban space (in particular the cities of Rome and Constantinople) and Roman mythistory. By the sixth century, however, the debate over Roman history had begun to infuse all levels of Roman political discourse and became a major component of the emperor Justinian’s imperial messaging and propaganda, especially in his Novels. The imperial history proposed by the Novels was aggressivley challenged by other writers of the period, creating a clear historical and political conflict over the role and import of Roman history as a model or justification for Roman politics in the sixth century. -
IMPERIAL EXEMPLA Military Prowess, Or Virtus, Is but One Quality That
CHAPTER FOUR IMPERIAL EXEMPLA Military prowess, or virtus, is but one quality that characterized an efffec- tive emperor. Ideally, a ‘good’ emperor was not just a competent general but also displayed other virtues. These imperial virtutes were propagated throughout the Roman Empire by means of imperial panegyric, decrees, inscriptions, biographies, and coins.1 On coinage in particular, juxtaposi- tions of AVG or AVGG with the virtue and/or the imperial portrait on the obverse would connect the virtues mentioned on the reverses directly with the emperor(s). Not all emperors emphasized the same virtues on their coinage. For example, Elagabalus seems not to have felt the need to stress virtus, whereas his successor Severus Alexander did try to convince the Roman people of his military prowess by propagating it on his coins. The presence or absence of particular virtues on coins issued by diffferent emperors brings us to the question as to whether an imperial canon of virtues existed. But before elaborating on this, the concept ‘virtue’ must be clarifijied.2 Modern scholars investigating imperial virtues on coinage consider vir- tues to be personifijications with divine power – in other words, deifijied abstractions or, as Fears puts it, ‘specifijic impersonal numina’.3 For many, the terms ‘personifijication’ and ‘virtue’ are interchangeable.4 Indeed, vir- tues can be considered personifijications. Yet, not all personifijications are 1 Noreña, “The communication of the emperor’s virtues”, p. 153. 2 ‘But if one is to compare coins with other sources, particularly philosopically inspired ones (i.e. in talking of the virtues of the ideal statesman) it is vital to distinguish what is a virtue and what is not’, A. -
Seriously Playful: Philosophy in the Myths of Ovid's Metamorphoses
Seriously Playful: Philosophy in the Myths of Ovid’s Metamorphoses Megan Beasley, B.A. (Hons) This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Classics of The University of Western Australia School of Humanities Discipline of Classics and Ancient History 2012 1 2 For my parents 3 4 Abstract This thesis aims to lay to rest arguments about whether Ovid is or is not a philosophical poet in the Metamorphoses. It does so by differentiating between philosophical poets and poetic philosophers; the former write poetry freighted with philosophical discourse while the latter write philosophy in a poetic medium. Ovid, it is argued, should be categorised as a philosophical poet, who infuses philosophical ideas from various schools into the Metamorphoses, producing a poem that, all told, neither expounds nor attacks any given philosophical school, but rather uses philosophy to imbue its constituent myths with greater wit, poignancy and psychological realism. Myth and philosophy are interwoven so intricately that it is impossible to separate them without doing violence to Ovid’s poem. It is not argued here that the Metamorphoses is a fundamentally serious poem which is enhanced, or marred, by occasional playfulness. Nor is it argued that the poem is fundamentally playful with occasional moments of dignity and high seriousness. Rather, the approach taken here assumes that seriousness and playfulness are so closely connected in the Metamorphoses that they are in fact the same thing. Four major myths from the Metamorphoses are studied here, from structurally significant points in the poem. The “Cosmogony” and the “Speech of Pythagoras” at the beginning and end of the poem have long been recognised as drawing on philosophy, and discussion of these two myths forms the beginning and end of the thesis. -
Livy's View of the Roman National Character
James Luce, December 5th, 1993 Livy's View of the Roman National Character As early as 1663, Francis Pope named his plantation, in what would later become Washington, DC, "Rome" and renamed Goose Creek "Tiber", a local hill "Capitolium", an example of the way in which the colonists would draw upon ancient Rome for names, architecture and ideas. The founding fathers often called America "the New Rome", a place where, as Charles Lee said to Patrick Henry, Roman republican ideals were being realized. The Roman historian Livy (Titus Livius, 59 BC-AD 17) lived at the juncture of the breakdown of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. His 142 book History of Rome from 753 to 9 BC (35 books now extant, the rest epitomes) was one of the most read Latin authors by early American colonists, partly because he wrote about the Roman national character and his unique view of how that character was formed. "National character" is no longer considered a valid term, nations may not really have specific national characters, but many think they do. The ancients believed states or peoples had a national character and that it arose one of 3 ways: 1) innate/racial: Aristotle believed that all non-Greeks were barbarous and suited to be slaves; Romans believed that Carthaginians were perfidious. 2) influence of geography/climate: e.g., that Northern tribes were vigorous but dumb 3) influence of institutions and national norms based on political and family life. The Greek historian Polybios believed that Roman institutions (e.g., division of government into senate, assemblies and magistrates, each with its own powers) made the Romans great, and the architects of the American constitution read this with especial care and interest. -
1What Is a Novel?
WhatWHAT is ISa ANovel? NOVEL? WHAT1 IS A NOVEL? novel is a piece of prose fiction of a reasonable length. Even a definition as toothless as this, however, is still too restricted. Not A all novels are writtten in prose. There are novels in verse, like Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin or Vikram Seth’s The Golden Gate. As for fiction, the distinction between fiction and fact is not always clear. And what counts as a reasonable length? At what point does a novella or long short story become a novel? André Gide’s The Immoralist is usually described as a novel, and Anton Chekhov’s ‘The Duel’ as a short story, but they are both about the same length. The truth is that the novel is a genre which resists exact definition. This in itself is not particularly striking, since many things – ‘game’, for example, or ‘hairy’ – resist exact definition. It is hard to say how ape-like you have to be in order to qualify as hairy. The point about the novel, however, is not just that it eludes definitions, but that it actively undermines them. It is less a genre than an anti-genre. It cannibalizes other literary modes and mixes the bits and pieces promiscuously together. You can find poetry and dramatic dialogue in the novel, along with epic, pastoral, satire, history, elegy, trag- edy and any number of other literary modes. Virginia Woolf described it as ‘this most pliable of all forms’. The novel quotes, parodies and transforms other genres, converting its literary ancestors into mere components of itself in a kind of Oedipal vengeance on them. -
2019 MASSACHUSETTS STATE CERTAMEN NOVICE DIVISION - ROUND I Page 1
2019 MASSACHUSETTS STATE CERTAMEN NOVICE DIVISION - ROUND I Page 1 1: TU: Which band of heroes led by Jason successfully fetched the Golden Fleece? THE ARGONAUTS B1: To where did Jason have to travel to bring back the Golden Fleece? COLCHIS B2: From which king of Colchis did Jason steal the fleece? AEETES 2: TU: Complete this analogy: laudō : laudābātur :: dīcō : _____. DĪCĒBĀTUR B1: …: laudō : laudāberis :: videō : _____. VIDĒBERIS B2: …: laudō : laudāberis :: audiō : _____. AUDIĒRIS 3: TU: How many wars did Rome wage against Philip V of Macedon? TWO B1: Against whom did Rome wage the Third Macedonian War? PERSEUS B2: Against whom did Rome wage the Fourth Macedonian War? ANDRISCUS 4: TU: What use of the ablative case can be found in the following sentence: pater tribus diēbus reveniet? TIME WITHIN WHICH B1: ...: equus magnā cum celeritāte currēbat? MANNER B2: ...: Aurēlia erat paulō pulchrior quam Iūlia? DEGREE OF DIFFERENCE 5: TU: The Romans used chalk to make what type of toga stand out during election season? CANDIDA B1: The Pompeians would have seen lots of togae candidae near the end of which month? MARCH B2: Give the Latin term for the officials for which the candidātī would be campaigning. DUOVIRĪ / AEDĪLĒS 6: TU: Quid Anglicē significat: amīcitia? FRIENDSHIP B1: Quid Anglicē significat: trīstis? SAD B2: Quid Anglicē significat: fortitūdō? BRAVERY, COURAGE, FORTITUDE 7: TU: Steropes, Brontes, & Arges are all part of what mythological group? CYCLOPES B1: Cottus, Gyges, & Briareus are all part of what mythological group? HECATONCHEIRES -
The Herodotos Project (OSU-Ugent): Studies in Ancient Ethnography
Faculty of Literature and Philosophy Julie Boeten The Herodotos Project (OSU-UGent): Studies in Ancient Ethnography Barbarians in Strabo’s ‘Geography’ (Abii-Ionians) With a case-study: the Cappadocians Master thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Linguistics and Literature, Greek and Latin. 2015 Promotor: Prof. Dr. Mark Janse UGent Department of Greek Linguistics Co-Promotores: Prof. Brian Joseph Ohio State University Dr. Christopher Brown Ohio State University ACKNOWLEDGMENT In this acknowledgment I would like to thank everybody who has in some way been a part of this master thesis. First and foremost I want to thank my promotor Prof. Janse for giving me the opportunity to write my thesis in the context of the Herodotos Project, and for giving me suggestions and answering my questions. I am also grateful to Prof. Joseph and Dr. Brown, who have given Anke and me the chance to be a part of the Herodotos Project and who have consented into being our co- promotores. On a whole other level I wish to express my thanks to my parents, without whom I would not have been able to study at all. They have also supported me throughout the writing process and have read parts of the draft. Finally, I would also like to thank Kenneth, for being there for me and for correcting some passages of the thesis. Julie Boeten NEDERLANDSE SAMENVATTING Deze scriptie is geschreven in het kader van het Herodotos Project, een onderneming van de Ohio State University in samenwerking met UGent. De doelstelling van het project is het aanleggen van een databank met alle volkeren die gekend waren in de oudheid. -
2. Fighting Corruption: Political Thought and Practice in the Late Roman Republic
2. Fighting Corruption: Political Thought and Practice in the Late Roman Republic Valentina Arena, University College London Introduction According to ancient Roman authors, the Roman Republic fell because of its moral corruption.i Corruption, corruptio in Latin, indicated in its most general connotation the damage and consequent disruption of shared values and practices, which, amongst other facets, could take the form of crimes, such as ambitus (bribery), peculatus (theft of public funds) and res repentundae (maladministration of provinces). To counteract such a state of affairs, the Romans of the late Republic enacted three main categories of anticorruption measures: first, they attempted to reform the censorship instituted in the fifth century as the supervisory body of public morality (cura morum); secondly, they enacted a number of preventive as well as punitive measures;ii and thirdly, they debated and, at times, implemented reforms concerning the senate, the jury courts and the popular assemblies, the proper functioning of which they thought might arrest and reverse the process of corruption and the moral and political decline of their commonwealth. Modern studies concerned with Roman anticorruption measures have traditionally focused either on a specific set of laws, such as the leges de ambitu, or on the moralistic discourse in which they are embedded. Even studies that adopt a holistic approach to this subject are premised on a distinction between the actual measures the Romans put in place to address the problem of corruption and the moral discourse in which they are embedded.iii What these works tend to share is a suspicious attitude towards Roman moralistic discourse on corruption which, they posit, obfuscates the issue at stake and has acted as a hindrance to the eradication of this phenomenon.iv Roman analysis of its moral decline was not only the song of the traditional laudator temporis acti, but rather, I claim, included, alongside traditional literary topoi, also themes of central preoccupation to Classical political thought. -
Marriage in Classical Rome – Just a Tiresome Necessity?! ! © Maria Dettenhofer, © DAMALS 01/1998
Marriage in Classical Rome – just a Tiresome Necessity?! ! © Maria Dettenhofer, © DAMALS 01/1998 (Translated by Graham Pascoe, section headings by MoneyMuseum) As in Athens, marriage in Rome was originally based on custom and tradition. But in contrast to Athens, the political system scarcely affected the nature of marriage. Only on the change from the republic to the empire did interference in private life become clearly detectable. Marriage as duty and privilege In republican Rome, marriage was viewed as a social obligation, and by men apparently rather as a tiresome necessity. When the censor of the year 131 BC, Q. Metellus Macedonicus, called upon his fellow citizens to enter into marriage, he expressed himself in drastic terms: "If we could live without wives, we would be free of tiresome matters. But since Nature has so arranged things that we cannot live very comfortably with them, but cannot live at all without them, we must think rather of our long-term welfare rather than our short-term pleasure." That clearly shows that marriage was seen as a community of purpose: it existed to maintain the family and to provide for old age through the raising of legitimate children. Under the Roman republic there was no legal obligation to marry, but it is noticeable that in contrast to Athens the preconditions and forms of marriage were established at an early period and varied very widely. From the early republican period (510 BC onwards) certain conditions had to be fulfilled for a marriage to be regarded as a valid marriage from which legitimate children could spring. -
The Supernatural in Tacitus When Compared with His Predecessor Livy, Tacitus Has Been Said to Be Less Interested in the “Super
The Supernatural in Tacitus When compared with his predecessor Livy, Tacitus has been said to be less interested in the “supernatural,” a rubric under which we include the prodigies and omens of traditional Roman religion; characters’ participation in forms of religious expression, both traditional and non-normative; and nebulous superhuman forces such as fate and fortune. In this panel, we seek to modify this perception by investigating aspects of the superhuman, religious, and/or inexplicable in Tacitus’ works that contribute in important ways to his historiographical project and to our view of Tacitus as an historian. As the most recent contribution on this topic shows (K. Shannon-Henderson, Religion and Memory in Tacitus’ Annals. Oxford, 2019), religion and its related fields are extremely important to Tacitus’ narrative technique, and ‘irrational’ elements such as fatum and fortuna are constantly at play in Tacitus’ works, particularly, but not exclusively, in his historical narratives. Each of the five papers that we have gathered for this panel addresses these topics from different angles, whether focusing more on the literary, historical, or linguistic elements of the Tacitean narrative under examination. Two papers focus on omens and other ways of predicting the future; two examine religious experiences of Tacitus’ characters; and one considers the role of fortuna in the world of the Dialogus. In the first paper, Contributor #1 examines the value of observing supernatural signs for decision-making in the Histories. In particular, s/he looks at the practical value of observing and interpreting supernatural signs as predictors of the future success or failure of military leaders. -
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Maxwell Institute Publications 2000 The eD ad Sea Scrolls: Questions and Responses for Latter-day Saints Donald W. Parry Stephen D. Ricks Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mi Part of the Religious Education Commons Recommended Citation Parry, Donald W. and Ricks, Stephen D., "The eD ad Sea Scrolls: Questions and Responses for Latter-day Saints" (2000). Maxwell Institute Publications. 25. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mi/25 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maxwell Institute Publications by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Preface What is the Copper Scroll? Do the Dead Sea Scrolls contain lost books of the Bible? Did John the Baptist study with the people of Qumran? What is the Temple Scroll? What about DNA research and the scrolls? We have responded to scores of such questions on many occasions—while teaching graduate seminars and Hebrew courses at Brigham Young University, presenting papers at professional symposia, and speaking to various lay audiences. These settings are always positive experiences for us, particularly because they reveal that the general membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a deep interest in the scrolls and other writings from the ancient world. The nonbiblical Dead Sea Scrolls are of great import because they shed much light on the cultural, religious, and political position of some of the Jews who lived shortly before and during the time of Jesus Christ.