Selections from Plutarch's Lives
"All history is biography," said Emerson, and he's certainly right in thinking that an understanding of the lives of individual men and women is essential to history. Fortunately for us, many ancient writers shared Emerson's idea of the importance of biography, and they've left us many fascinating accounts of important Roman leaders. Among the most interesting biographies are those contained in Plutarch's "Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans." Please read one of the following selections from Plutarch. Cite an incident or sentiment that seems to you particular important in understanding Roman character/values/history, and explain why you chose this particular passage/event.Abridged versions:
Tiberius Gracchus, Gaius Gracchus, Fabius Maximus, Cato the Elder, Camillus
Unabridged versions:
Tiberius Gracchus, Gaius Gracchus, Fabius Maximus, Cato the Elder, Camillus
posted by Ancient Art at 12:14 PM
16 Comments:
I read the story of Cato the Elder. I like him. He was strict yet did things to better the community, military, homes, and slaves. Cato was a good leader, both in military campaigns and politics. The people liked him so much they made a statue of him. political leaderes didn't like in that he cut their power to a minimum. Big business didn't like too much because he put an end to their price gouging.
The Romans must have valued selflessness and publi service to the people. Caius Gracchus was a man who served in the senate on the side of the plebians. He defended them, because they could not defned themselves. He is said to have shown honesty and good judgment while in the senate. Caius could also relate to every group of people no matter what their social status was. He was truly a man of the people, and this seems to be a value to the Romans, or at least an attribute that they admired in this man.
When some senateors conspired behind Caius' back, there is some ill feeling towards them in the biography of Caius. They plan on turning the plebians against Caius by pretending to pass laws that will benifit them This act is deceitful and this could be classified as something the Romans would not want in their society.
Caius was man who cared about the common man in Rome and set about to improve their lot in life. He gave himself in the service of others without any thought as to what he might gain from it. This seems to be something the Romans wanted and valued: people like Caius.
I read the story relating to Fabius Maximus. The event that I thought was important was the story of Fabius vowing to make a sacrifice of all the cows, sheep,and swine in all of Italy. Also, he established more musical festivals. He did this because he greatly valued the roman gods. He believed, as did many, that their loss in battle could be attibuted to a disregard for the gods rather than the strength of the enemy. I picked this passage because I think it testifies to the way the Romans believed in the will of the gods.
I chose to read the story of Cato the Elder. This biography illustrates what Romans wanted their future generations to be like at least to a degree. The story tells of how Cato was witty, honest, courageous, fair, plain, hard working, and educated. This is seen in how he approached his law practice, his farm, his social duties in the gov't., his military duties, and his family. The one thing of all those that stuck out in the passage was how much emphases was put on the family. One can tell the values of the Romans by seeing how Cato and other Censors handled divorce and also how Cato was said to have viewed spousal or child abuse. He also seemed to be bull headed when it came to knowledge. He treated his own family for illness simply because he did not think any else knew more than he did and he educated his own son. He also carried this on in his political career, making many people upset. Though, Romans may not have liked his bull headedness, they did like his firmness with his beliefs.
I chose the account of Tiberius Gracchus. What i find important here is how Tiberius developed a reputation for bravery in the Roman Army. This reputation followed him throughout his life to the point of after he had left the army and had began a public life as a quaestor, he was called back to service with regards to the Numantian War.
Despite the failure of the campaign, due to the general in charge of it, Tiberius ended up saving the lives of many soldiers and slaves.
This was due to his reputation as an honorable man. This is what strikes me as the best example of virtus.
I read the article of Cato the Elder. Cato had many good qualities. He was a good orator, who would never accept a fee, he waited on himself, prepared his own food, only drank water (not wine), worked very hard, and lived and dressed plainly. Cato felt that "only useful things had value." I think this quote describes his best value. Luxuries were evil and made people vain. However, when elected to a high consul position, he became very rich. Inspite of his new wealth, he made taxes on luxuries very high. Some people were angry, but in the end, the people erected a statue of him that said, "In honor of Cato...reclaimed Roman commonwealth when it was sinking into vice." This quote proves that the majority of people valued a simple, useful, honest life, and believed that luxuries were evil and people were becoming materialistic and vain, despite Cato's contradition later in his life.
As I read the biography of Caius Gracchus, the first thing I noticed was the Roman were devoted to their religion and thus were very superstitous about the dream they had. Caius was visited by Tiberius stating that his destiny was to live and die "in the service of the people." Even though at the time he didn't desire a life of politics, he followed his dream and fulfilled his destiny as a defender of the poor and oppressed.
Over his life, Caius tried to give power to the people by passing laws that would also lessen the power of the Senate. The nobility and the Senate were not pleased and thus were successful over time in their attempts to lessen his power until they killed them and threw his body into the river, like Tiberius.
Caius was a defender of the poor and the oppressed. His character, which was beyond reproach, was constantly under attack by those that seek to discredit and destroy him because he was a man of the people.
The Roman I chose to read up on was named Camillus. One particular incident which a Tuscan general is in the process of offering a sacrifice to the god, Juniper. The man claims that whoever finishes the sacrifice will win.
"Thereupon the city was taken by storm, and while the soldiers were occupied in gathering the spoils, Camillus raised his hands on high and offered a prayer of thanksgiving to Jupiter. At its conclusion he turned to the right, which was the Roman custom after prayer, but in doing so he fell. His friends were uneasy at this, and regarded it as a presage of evil, but Camillus reassured them by saying that it was just what he had prayed for,—a small mishap as a counterbalance to his great success, lest the gods should become jealous of his uniform good fortune.
The interesting part is not so much that Camillus finished the offering and in so won victory; it is the mishap which caused him to fall. while some would consider it a bad trait (imbalance) Camillus believed it kept him humble and balanced.
The other interesting value is that Camillus finished the offering at all. It wasn't his god. It wasn't his sacrifice. The fact that he did it to show great respect for all gods. That was a continual Roman value throughout the whole of the Roman empire. Respect for all gods.
I enjoyed the biography of Cato the Elder, especially this excerpt:
"Cato had a farm, on which he lived when not engaged in war, and while there his habits were as frugal and economical as possible. The estate adjoining his farm belonged to a nobleman named Valerius Flaccus, a man of influence and great wealth. He often heard his servants speak of the laborious life his neighbor led; how he went early in the morning to the various towns in the vicinity to argue cases of law, and then returned to his own farm and worked hard with his domestics all day, afterwards sitting down with them and sharing their coarse food."
Even though the entire article focused on the many wonderful things about Cato the ELder, I liked this one because it shows how down to earth he was, working side by side with his servants and even sharing meals with them. He obviously did not put himself on a pedestal, like many who had wealth did.
I read Plutarch's account of the younger Gracchus brother, Caius. His love for his country became his downfall. His devotion to the plebian class left him with many enemies in the Senate. In a vile, deceitful manner, members of the senate began to use Caius's good deeds against him. His work to better the conditions for the army led to his being forced to stay on the frontier. He proposed many civil projects, all bettering the lives of all citizens of Rome--not just the patricians. His favor with the people led to his death. It came on his own terms, but the treatment of his remains was as atrocious as that of his brother's.
I chose to read the story on Fabius Maximus. I liked the part where it told of him restoring confidence to the Romen people. Saying that is was not their fault that they were losing battles against Hannibal,but that it was because the generals were not doing enough sacrifices to the gods. All they had to do was make proper sacrifices for the gods to act because the gods were already on their side. This shows that he was a smart man. All countries need in times of war is confidence that things will get better and that they can win. He did a good job at this, and did a good job with his strategies against Hannibal.
The passage i read was about Cato the Elder. The overal theme of his life was to work hard and avoid vice. This is a pretty good maxim to live by. His life shows the virtu that was so important to roman society. He is also interesting in that he could see the road that rome was heading towards and took steps to try and stop what was happening.
A segment that I believe exemplifies the values of the Romans comes form the piece about Caius Gracchus. In this segment Fulvis and Caius are preparing to fight Opimius at the Aventine Hill. The fight has come about due to the underminings of Opimius and the Senate in an attempt to destroy Caius and the clout he possesses; however, the populace remain loyal to Caius. As the battle approaches, Caius is flooded with emotion over the "criminal action" that is abou to take place and can not bring himself to don his full armour but rather only carries a small dagger. To further try to prevent this engagement, Caius sends Fulvius' son to the other side to try and reach a settlement. The boy's proposal was rejected but Caius sent him back again for he wanted ot avoid this battle if at all possible. However, Opimius was just as determined and captured the young boy and proceeded on with the battle. Although Opimius had done horrible things to Caius, Caius wanted to prevent war because he knew the horrific things that would come of it. He possessed such a deep-seated love for his country and its people that he was willing to put aside his hatred for Opimius if it would spare innocent lives.
A segment that I believe exemplifies the values of the Romans comes form the piece about Caius Gracchus. In this segment Fulvis and Caius are preparing to fight Opimius at the Aventine Hill. The fight has come about due to the underminings of Opimius and the Senate in an attempt to destroy Caius and the clout he possesses; however, the populace remain loyal to Caius. As the battle approaches, Caius is flooded with emotion over the "criminal action" that is abou to take place and can not bring himself to don his full armour but rather only carries a small dagger. To further try to prevent this engagement, Caius sends Fulvius' son to the other side to try and reach a settlement. The boy's proposal was rejected but Caius sent him back again for he wanted ot avoid this battle if at all possible. However, Opimius was just as determined and captured the young boy and proceeded on with the battle. Although Opimius had done horrible things to Caius, Caius wanted to prevent war because he knew the horrific things that would come of it. He possessed such a deep-seated love for his country and its people that he was willing to put aside his hatred for Opimius if it would spare innocent lives.
After reading the article about Fabius Mzximus, I feel that he was a major influence on Roman Character and Values for Rome.
Fabius displayed “Fides” towards Rome and his colleague Lucius Minucius, rescuing Minuciuses army from the attacking forces of Hanibal, right after Minucius left him, being unsatisfied with his leadership.
Fabiuses demonstrated two qualities to his nation that made him renown in Roman history, “Constantia”< (being firm to patiently wait out the proper time to attack the enemy), & “Disciplina”, (being disciplined to do so). It is because of these qualities that he was dubbed by the Romans as “ The Shiled”. As a matter of fact, Fabius seemed to possess all eight of the societal mores of the Mos Majorum, (for he was a religious man as well).
-Nate Mills
I read the story of Caius Gracchus. I could cite the entire story as being noble and showing good virtue on the behalf of Caius. He truly cared about all Romans, not just himself and the upper class. Since he was a very strong and talented speaker he was able to get many laws passed to better the lives of the plebians and all Romans. The laws he got passed strengthened the plebians hold in the Senate while weakened the amount of power Senators had. The Senate did not like what Caius was doing so they did everything in their power to stop him. This eventually led to Caius's death.
This story shows that there were still some people willing to do what was right on behalf of all Roman citizens. It also shows the corruptness that many high-ranking Roman officials adopted as they received more power.
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