Rome
One could be important in Roman society either by doing something great, or simply by being born into high status. In other words, Romans valued both accomplishment and privilege. Which of these two do you think was more prominent in Roman society? Argue for one over against the other. Your argument must incorporate an analysis of two things: a specific historical event or institution, and the point-of-view of a Roman writer.
Polybius, was a Greek military commander in Roman service who spent many years on campaign with the Roman Republican armies in the second century B.C.E. The core values are the descendant of Greek views on virtue and the Greek value of competitive individual excellence. In Polybius' opinion, this excellence was exhibited repeatedly and most excellently in the Roman military organization.
His emphasis upon the importance of the Roman Army and individual achievement there frames his entire concept of an individual's achievement in accordance with traditional Roman virtue. He remarked repeatedly upon the superiority of Roman ways in the military arena. The military virtues are evident in his actual account of battle as one repeatedly reads in Polybius' writings on the Punic Wars.
One can see the minute documentation in the history that he had written, inspired as he was by Thucydides. Whether it was about the operations of the Mamertines during the First Punic War, It was obvious that Polybius was not alive at the time (Mellor 24). However, one could be certain that he had never spoken with any of the principles. However, one can be sure that he did the next best thing and checked and double checked the information. This caused him to read, analyze and write his history according to the works of Philinus and Fabius (ibid., 26).
Polybius's continued accounts of the Roman military camp speaks volumes about of the type of top-down, centrally-planned and highly regimented life of civic purpose and virtue that he favors in his writings. He credits the mixed Roman political constitution with giving the blessings of checks and balances to Rome. These great rewards and punishments were handed out to the Romans by the soldiers. For Rome to continue succeeding as a society, it had to continue to be virtuous in order to keep drawing the favor of the gods. Rome's deeply entrenched and highly superstitious religious beliefs for promoting and maintaining civic virtue were tied to its success in the international arena and on the battlefield as it was delivered by the moral and virtuous Army. Since virtue is linked with concepts of political and military greatness, then also is vice linked with political and military weakness that would lead to Rome's decline and fall. This is why he is beginning the story of the first Punic War "Where the History of Timaeus left off, and it falls in the 129th Olypiad..." (ibid, 20). The new games of accurate history have now begun.
This commitment or drive for virtue and morality imbued a passion of self honor, sacrifice, duty and a commitment to end ones' own life in the service of the state rather than go home in disgrace. It was either win or lose. Using this philosophy was a committed army, that led the centurions who Rome wanted to lead the nation in its quest to spread civilization in the Mediterranean world. This was a successful deployment of Roman virtue in the cause of Rome's rise in a barbaric time of history in the crusade to spread "Western Civilization" to the non-Roman world.
According to Polybius, it was easy to see why successful nations flourished. The main (but not the only) factor was their political constitution. Polybius explains this in his sixth book where he explicates upon the superiority and anatomy of the Roman constitution. This book was placed in the text after Hannibal's glorious victories at the Trebia, Lake Trasimene, Cannae and after the treaty had been concluded between Carthage and Macedonia. At this time, Rome's fortunes had certainly reached their lowest point. Polybius' long digression into the grounds of constitutional and political science in an attempt to explain why the Romans could successfully recover from such a series of disasters that would have resulted in the termination of any other nation's existence. This portion of Polybius contains...
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