The Romans Essay, Research Paper

The Roman people were a overly proud and extremely

spiritual people, whose sense of individuality as

Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romanss came chiefly from their achievements

in war and their regard of their ascendants. By

analyzing Livy? s The Early History of Rome, we can

place these traits through Roman forms of

behaviour and the foundation myths that their

state is built upon.

The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romanss repeatedly display non merely an

overdeveloped personal sense of pride, but an

exceeding pride in their state & # 8211 ; taking

precedency over even household trueness. The first

illustration of this Roman pride is seen in the really

first foundation myth of Rome, the narrative of Romulus

and Remus. The second of the two versions of this

narrative tells how after the protections have indicated

Romulus as the rightful leader of this new state,

? Remus, by manner of scoffing at his brother, jumped

over the half-built walls of the new colony,

whereupon Romulus killed him in a tantrum of fury,

adding the menace, ? So perish whoever else shall

overleap my crenelations ( P.40 Livy ) . ? ? Not merely

do we see a prefiguration of Rome? s violent nature

in this narrative, but it seems to bespeak a strong

belief in the high quality of this ( hardly

existant ) state, one that necessitates a

national pride of greater magnitude than the even

the strength of the trueness between brothers.

This sort of trueness to state, as displayed by

the Rome? s laminitis, surely sets a precendent

for subsequently Roman citizens. Not surprisingly so,

we see this same sort of pride with similar

effects subsequently on following a conflict between

Rome and the Albans. The triumph had been

decided, non by a full graduated table war, but by a competition

between three work forces from each state ( two sets of

three brothers ) . This competition left Rome

winning and five people dead & # 8211 ; merely one Roman

brother stood life. The master returned to rome

transporting the? three-base hit spoils? and, ? slung across [

his ] shoulders was a cloak, and [ his sister ]

recognized it as the cloak she had made with her

ain manus for her lover. The sight overcame her:

she loosened her hair and, in a voice choked with

cryings, called her dead lovers name. That his

sister should make bold to sorrow at the really minute of

his ain victory and in the thick of national

joying filled horatius with such unmanageable

fury that he drew his blade and stabbed her to the

bosom ( Livy 62 ) . ? Again we see the word? fury?

used to depict this similarly extreme exhibition

of utmost national pride.

Back in the foundation myth of Romulus and Remus,

we see another facet of Roman pride. There is

some indicant

that, In Livy? s clip, there was

some intuition that Grecian infulence in Rome was

detrimental to Roman society. Livy seems to

stress the absence of any sort of formal

schooling ( which would hold been Greek ) in the

adolescence of both Romulus and Remus ( P.38 Livy

) The thought that Romulus in peculiar, was a

self-made adult male, shows that Rome owes nil to

old and other states like Greece and so the

pride of such a great state is all theirs.

There is plentifulness of grounds that Rome was ever

a extremely spiritual state. From even every bit early as

the initiation of the state we see their addiction

on signs of the Gods to do of import

determinations & # 8211 ; viz. the pick between Romulus and

Remus as their leader. ? As the brothers were

twins and all inquiry of senior status was thereby

precluded, they determined to inquire the tutelary

Gods of the countryside to declare by sign which

of them should regulate the new town once it was

founded, and give his name to it ( p.40 Livy ) . ?

More than any one other facet of Roman behaviour,

I feel that acknowledgment and regard of the ways of

their ascendants as the ways of? True? Romans was

the most primary beginning from which Romans defined

at that place individuality. This regard stemmed from unwritten

tradition and early historiographers works that have non

survived to us, but which Livy owes his cognition.

From the regard of great workss that made their

cultural history so deserving of pride, came their

wonts of giving peculiar topographic points and

buildings in the name of honest coevalss

and ascendants. Take for case the narrative of

Caius Mucius Scaevola, a adult male who was willing to

hazard anything to salvage Rome from a Etruscan onslaught.

It cost him his manus, therefore the name Scaevola-

interpreting as the Left-handed Man, but his

attempts brought peace to the battle. Livy

Tells of the acknowledgment of this Roman hero:

? Cauis Muscius was rewarded by the Senate with a

grant of land West of the river ; it was known

later as the Muscian Meadows ( P.120 Livy

) . ? Not merely was this naming of topographic points

declarative mood of the award, but the name they chose

showed something & # 8211 ; the congnomen Musius was

chosen, non his prinomen or Scaevola, the name he

won for himself. It was recognized that the award

was for the household and for the household, though

Caius would be remembered, the gaine household pride

of the Mucius household merely contributed to their ain

pride in their state.

Roman society encouraged being proud and

respectful of the awards of the metropolis and its

citizens. Roman tradition and regard for the minute

maiorum ( ways of the ascendants ) was non merely a

trait that de