Republican Virtues

Question 1

Roman Republic Overview

Answer 1

Dates: 509 BCE – 27 BCE
Form of Government: Governed by two annually elected consuls, overseen by the senate.
Elite Male Progression: “Cursus Honorum” - Elite males progress through public offices.
Republican Morality: Mos Maiorum, conservative morality, hierarchical class structure.
Exempla: Oral stories, communicated through examples.
Class Conflict: Conflict of the orders, patricians vs. plebeians.
Social Requirements: Senatorial vs. Equestrian class, wealth criteria.

Question 2

Republican Morality

Answer 2

Mos Maiorum: “Custom of the ancestors,” conservative morality.
Pietas & Fides: “Piety” - duty, obedience; “loyalty” - faithfulness, commitment.
Exempla: No record of “mos maiorum,” communicated through examples.
Physical Symbols: Statues, funeral processions, imagines, prosopopeia.
Class Conflict: Conflict of the orders, expansion of plebs’ rights.

Question 3

Class Conflict

Answer 3

Conflict of the Orders: Patricians vs. plebeians, gradual expansion of plebs’ rights.
Elite Expansion: Nobiles, novus homo, expansion of elite based on wealth and public service.
Social Requirements: Senatorial and Equestrian classes, wealth criteria.
Cooperation: Tax farming, economic elites engaged in trade/commerce.

Question 4

An Elite of Virtue?

Answer 4

Wealthy Morality: Wealthy condemnation of avarice and luxury.
Seneca and Scipio: Stoic philosophy, moralizing letters, praise of Scipio’s simple lifestyle.
Back in the Good Old Days: Cato the Elder, conservative politician, exhortation of “good old days.”
Latifundia: Shift to industrial agriculture, consolidation of farmland into large private estates.