The rape, and subsequent suicide of Lucretia, wife of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, was one of the pivotal and iconic moments in the history of the Roman republic. It was supposedly the spark that resulted in the expulsion of the Tarquin monarchy and the formation of the republic. But besides the obvious political implications of the event, it presents an opportunity for an interesting study of the Roman character. The classic understanding of the story glorifies Lucretia that kills herself for the sake of her honor, and this seems in keeping with the view of suicide throughout Roman history. But this exaltation of suicide seems strange, and some thinkers, such as St. Augustine, have struggled with her choice of suicide, and with the Roman tendency to glorify such an end. We might therefore wonder why the Roman character is attracted to suicide, how Rome sees suicide as choiceworthy. I contend that it is because of a twofold misunderstanding on the part of Rome – a misconception of the reality of immortality and happiness, and a failure to see the relationship between happiness and self-control or self-sufficiency. To illustrate this hypothesis, I will compare different accounts of the rape story – Livy, Augustine, and Machiavelli – to reveal the underlying philosophy of each narrative, and propose that both Christianity and modern republicanism provide a means to rescue the citizen from the suicide that the Roman ethos leads one to seek.
1. LIVY
According to Livy, Sextus Tarquinius, “spurred on as he was by her redoubtable beauty and chastity,” arrived at the house of Collatinus and Lucretia when Collatinus was gone, and after everyone was asleep, invaded Lucretia’s bedroom and with a drawn sword, “confessed his passion, p...
... middle of paper ...
... what is good, and are free to stay alive to enjoy these goods. Life really should not be under-rated, especially if that life involves your mistress’s husband giving you the key to their house.
Works Cited
Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by Joe Sachs. Newburyport: Focus Pubishing, 2002.
—. The Politics. Translated by Carnes Lord. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.
Augustine. City of God. Translated by Marcus Dods. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994.
Livy. The Rise of Rome Books 1-5. Translated by T.J. Luce. New York: Oxford, 1998.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. Discourses on Livy. Translated by Harvey Mansfield. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
—. Mandragola. Translated by Mera J. Flaumenhaft. Long Grove: Waveland Press, 1981.
—. The Prince. Translated by Harvey Mansfield. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
T.J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 BC), London and New York: Routledge, 1995
Livy’s The Rise of Rome serves as the ultimate catalogue of Roman history, elaborating on the accomplishments of each king and set of consuls through the ages of its vast empire. In the first five books, Livy lays the groundwork for the history of Rome and sets forth a model for all of Rome to follow. For him, the “special and salutary benefit of the study of history is to behold evidence of every sort of behaviour set forth as on a splendid memorial; from it you may select for yourself and for your country what to emulate, from it what to avoid, whether basely begun or basely concluded.” (Livy 4). Livy, however, denies the general populace the right to make the same sort of conclusions that he made in constructing his histories. His biased representation of Romulus and Tarquin Superbus, two icons of Roman history, give the readers a definite model of what a Roman should be, instead of allowing them to come to their own conclusion.
Livius, Titus. The Early History of Rome. Trans. Aubrey De Sélincourt. London: Penguin Group, 2002. N. pag. Print.
The Roman Way is basically an informal history of Roman civilization as Edith Hamilton interprets the writings of the greatest literary figures from around the time of 200 B.C. to 100 A.D. Some of these writers include Cicero, with his vast assortment of letters; Catullus, the romantic poet; and Horace, the storyteller of an unkind and greedy Rome. They are three affluent white men from around the same period of time, although each of them had very different styles of writings and ideologies. Edith Hamilton does a great job in translating the works of many different authors of Roman literature, discussing each author's exclusive stance in...
Heather, Peter. The Fall of the Roman Empire: a New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford UP, 2005.
While Suetonius’s scriptures of Nero may pose a risk of bias, similar perversions were discussed within Edward Champlin’s ‘Nero Reconsidered’. Champlin discuses Nero’s descent into debauchery and malfeasance; how his personal exploits gradually began to corrupt his political and military affairs (Champlin, 1990). Nero began alienating and persecuting much of the elite for higher interests in personal concerns, as well as neglecting military advances and affairs completely. Nero’s exorbitant personal affairs and expenditures left the treasury thoroughly exhausted. His period was riddled with deflation as shortage of money began to emerge (Champlin, 1990). Nero’s adolescence and unruly upbringing was largely contributory to his inadequacy during his years as Roman Emperor. While Nero contributed significantly to the city, his reign demonstrated the unravelling of the Roman
Shuckburgh, Evelyn Shirley. A history of Rome to the battle of Actium. London: Macmillan and Co., 1917.
Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec. A History of Rome. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
Machiavelli, Niccolò, and Robert Martin Adams. "Chapter 18." The Prince: A Revised Translation, Backgrounds, Interpretations, Marginalia. New York: Norton, 1992. 49. Print.
Livy. The Early History of Rome: Books I-V of The History of Rome from its
Shelton, J.A. (1998). As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History. (2nd ed.) New York: Oxford University Press.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. “The Prince and The Discourses” McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 1 edition (August 1, 1950)
1)De, Selincourt Aubrey. Livy, the Early History of Rome: Book I - V of the History of Rome from Its Foundation. London: Penguin, 1960. Print.
The sections that I will be presenting are 73, 74, and 75. I will discuss the political ideas of Niccolo Machiavelli, Francesco Guicciardini, and Thomas Hobbes during the time of Florence Republic. First, Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy in 1469 at a time when the country was in political upheaval. Italy was divided between four dominant city-states, by which each of them was always at the mercy of the continual changing of princes and governments.
... Nederman, Cary, "Niccolò Machiavelli", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .