Sourced List of Ancient Roman Values
score:4
I suspect that most of the personal virtues in the list were extracted from the Conspiracy of Catiline, by the Roman Historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus. He defined a number of what he though of as typical Republican Roman virtues.
He went on to argue that they were in the process of being corrupted because of the influx of wealth.
However, I don't think you're going to be able to find anything like a single source for the whole list.
Another famous source would be Cicero who wrote at about the same time as Sallust. For example, in De Legibus he remarked that good people have Mens (mind), Virtus (courage), Pietas (piety), and Fides (faith). All good, Roman, personal virtues.
And then, of course we have the concept of "public virtues" in ancient Rome, many of which were personified as deities. Examples here would include Bonus Eventus, Fortuna, nobilitas, Pax, and Securitas.
Notice that, of these, nobilitas (social rank) is the only one not to have been personified as a deity. This was also a concept that would change radically in the transition from Republic to Empire.
These public virtues are also sometimes known as the mores maiorum, or "ways of the ancestors". As unwritten rules, these are, not surprisingly, hard to tie down exactly. Some were mentioned, in passing, by Roman authors, For example, Juvenal in his Satires says:
Though fatal Pecunia (Cash) has no temple as yet
To dwell in, and as yet we’ve set up no altars to money,
As we worship now, Peace, Loyalty, Victory, Virtue,
Or Concord, with clatter of storks when we hail her.
- [Juvenal, First Satire]
Others were portrayed or inscribed on objects like coins, or the shield presented to Augustus by the Roman Senate which, as the marble copy below shows, bore the inscription:
virtus, pietas, clementia, iustitia
or
("valor, piety, clemency, and justice.")
]
Source - Wikipedia
Several sites in addition to Wikipedia have fairly complete lists of the virtues, both private and public. I've haven't yet seen a fully sourced one, but the list on nova Romana at least seems fairly complete.
A useful text that discussed the virtues, and at least some of the sources is The Roman Virtues by Harold Mattingly. (It should be available to read free online at JSTOR, but either their site is down right now or the Internet connection on mt phone is playing up)
Upvote:1
In my research, I came across this statement from historian Peter Gay:
In the beginning of his Meditations, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius elaborated a veritable catalog of qualities which, all together, made up the virtues which Cicero had called humanitas and which the philosophes hoped they possessed in good measure: modesty, self-control, manliness, beneficence, practicality, generosity, rationality, tolerance, and obedience to the dictates of nature.
The original fulltext by Marcus Aurelias is available at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2680
The virtues Gay mentions are not so much directly listed, as they are implicit in the list of traits Marcus Aurelias describes himself as being grateful for, as having learned from friends and mentors.
More post
- 📝 What was the process for the Japanese to sign up for the Kamikaze suicide program?
- 📝 Is Nazi brutality particularly well known in the US because of the US's Jewish population?
- 📝 Why did the Korean War result in a stalemate?
- 📝 What is the origin of the "Bigot" clearance used by the Allies in World War II?
- 📝 Did Arab policymakers have plans for the Jewish population, in case of victory in 1948 War?
- 📝 How accurate is the book "Rifleman Dodd"?
- 📝 How might someone have gotten a note forwarded from a transport train headed to Auschwitz?
- 📝 Ancient statue I found near my place
- 📝 Identifying a WW2 German badge/medal
- 📝 Why did the United States drop a uranium bomb instead of a plutonium bomb on Hiroshima?
- 📝 Were there any other Edeljude pardoned by Hitler or high ranking Nazis?
- 📝 Were union disputes the only reason for low female employment in WWI German factories?
- 📝 Why did trench warfare accept deadlocks?
- 📝 Where is the tomb of Genghis Khan located?
- 📝 What percentage of people in 14th century England owned any armour?
- 📝 Invention of Planned Obsolescence
- 📝 Amount of ammunition typically carried by an C18th British redcoat
- 📝 What were the effects of US foreign policy in the South East Asian region in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s on states with capitalist economies?
- 📝 Was ever a poisoning prevented by the person accustoming themselves to poison beforehand (Mithridatism)?
- 📝 When were both minuscule and majuscule letters used for the first time in the same Latin manuscript?
- 📝 Did the Mapuche conquer other non-Mapuche tribes?
- 📝 Jewish diaspora in the late antiquity
- 📝 When did ancient religions start to experience dropping numbers of adherents in Europe?
- 📝 Is there evidence of people moving east to Europe?
- 📝 Who was the first to accuse enemy troops of impaling babies, cutting fetuses from women's bellies, etc.?
- 📝 What was the ethnic identity of first class sergeant Patrick Joseph Cleary?
- 📝 Were secret treaties ratified? How did they become official while remaining secret?
- 📝 What cultures have had a lasting effect on Sicilian culture?
- 📝 Why did Anwar Sadat establish diplomatic relationship with Israel and did that decision pay off?
- 📝 When did Europeans stop writing the month with Roman numbers?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Sourced List of Ancient Roman Values
- 📝 What is the difference between the Ancient Greek religion and the Ancient Roman religion?
- 📝 How much did it cost to attend events at the ancient Roman colosseum?
- 📝 What did an ancient Roman certificate of land ownership look like; or, what did it consist of?
- 📝 Did Ancient Roman insulae reach more than 10 storeys?
- 📝 How did Christianity replace Roman Paganism and other ancient religions?
- 📝 Pedophilia in ancient Greek and Roman culture
- 📝 Was the "drowning man prays to God, but ignores the boats God sends" joke/tale known in Ancient Roman times?
- 📝 What was the life expectancy of an ancient Roman child and adult?
- 📝 How did ancient Roman family names survive to current day use?
- 📝 How alcoholic were ancient Greek and Roman wines, before and after dilution?
- 📝 Why was ancient Christianity more successful than the Roman pantheon and Judaism in gaining followers?
- 📝 Do we know what ancient Roman music sounded like?
- 📝 What does CONOB mean on ancient Roman coins?
- 📝 Was the ancient Roman King ( i.e. rex) elected for eight years?
- 📝 What rules of the ancient Roman game 'Harpastum' are known?
- 📝 What name was given to this ancient Roman custom involving a broken pot to show a pact between individuals?
- 📝 What is the earliest-known list of the Roman Principate?
- 📝 Is there any sort of list of Roman senators?
- 📝 Were the names of the 10 months in the ancient Roman Calendar originally named after ordinal numbers?
- 📝 Rules to correctly write an ancient Roman date
- 📝 Ancient Greek or Roman Teenaged Suicide for Glory
- 📝 List of Roman Imperial Coins ~0 CE/AD
- 📝 Until what time was the Ancient Roman calendar era used?
- 📝 Does there exist a comprehensive list of every ancient document and artifact ever recovered?
- 📝 Ancient Roman garments apart from the toga
- 📝 Why, in ancient battles, did being encircled mean defeat?
- 📝 Did the ancient Greeks ever climb Mt. Olympus?
- 📝 How did people distinguish slaves from free people in Ancient Rome?
- 📝 Did ancient peoples ever hide their treasure behind puzzles?