sunnuntai 7. lokakuuta 2012

De virtute Romana

"Being a Man" by J. Sarsila is a deep and thorough research on the value system of Roman Republican society. J. Sarsila is not a cold, detached and neutral observer of the material he is dealing with, he is emotionally involved in his studies which he relates to his philosophical and ethical position: his opposition to the relativistic approach prevailing in modern world. For J. Sarsila Roman Republican society, built on a system of values centred on virtus, is not part of a past which is dead and gone, it can contribute to the discussion concerning the present and the future of mankind.

Anyway even though one might disagree with J. Sarsila's ethical and philosophical views one cannot but appreciate the seriousness of his work. His studies are absolutely reliable and shed new light on our knowledge of ancient Roman thought. 

Giuseppe Caruso
University of Jyväskylä
Finland

tiistai 2. lokakuuta 2012

Virtus clara aeternaque habetur

Being a Man

The Roman Virtus as a Contribution to Moral Philosophy

By Juhani Sarsila

Review

"The Moral Power behind Roman Civilisation"

I came to this book as a result of curiosity. First, my University education in the late fifties in Aberdeen where I studied Moral Philosophy under Professor Donald MacKinnon and next, a sense of wonder at - along with the richness of their culture - what must have been the engine that drove the Romans to the conquering of such vast tracts of the earth's surface and their subjugation of so many civilisations and peoples. It had to be more than a blind urge to trample and conquer: what was the philosophy that spurred them on and held their vast empire together for so many centuries?

This study by Juhani Sarsila, "Being A Man: The Roman Virtus As A Contribution to Moral Philosophy" provides many intriguing answers to this. The notion of "virtus" (literally, "manliness") is so much more than just the possession or cultivation of warlike urges and valour - it encompasses a far wider spectrum. Early on, we find that the idea of a single brutish driving force is entirely inappropriate. "Virtus" has to be seen at many different levels in giving its life-long commitment to Roman society. And where do women fit into this? Are they totally sidelined by the driving male assumptions carried in this concept? Seemingly not. Indeed the Roman "virtus" can be extended to include the characteristics of woman - though here again, there are varying interpretations. W. Eisenhut (1973) had referred to the "disturbing" etymological connection with the root-word "vir" that long prevented "virtus" from being attributed to a woman. According to him, it would not have been until a letter of Cicero's to his wife that the meaning of "virtus" was extended to contain the "characteristics of a woman". Yet here there is a suggestion that this interpretation is solecistic. The terms "mulier" and "virtus" are in fact purposely contrasted. Cicero is actually stating that "virtus" applied to a woman does not really apply. The word indeed possesses purely masculine characteristics. And so this argument progresses fascinatingly through the interpretations of the works of Pliny the Younger, Juvenal and Ovid and many, many more.

Then there is the interplay of the genders as revealed in "Amphitruo" by Plautus where the thoughts of Alcmena dwell on the concept of military valour. She highlights "virtus" as the fundamental socio-political and individual value that ensures a safe and stable life for all members of (Roman) society. Indeed her subservience to this concept even goes so far as to suggest her own life's lack of real meaning without the presence of the all-powerful male "virtus". This picture then is further complicated when Alcmena has been praising the benefits of military valour for the whole of society - leading on to the clash of "amor" and "virtus". Are these two incompatible? The former emanating from and pertaining to the individual while the latter bonds and cements society? But just when this conundrum looms all is resolved in the further unfolding of events and we actually have "virtus" not contravening "amor", but actually reinforcing it.

The foregoing can only be only the tiniest glimpse into a fascinating study that covers a vast area of the philosophy, the art and the whole society of this ancient world - as the generous bibliography makes abundantly clear. The sheer complexity of this concept of "virtus" takes us on a journey from the earliest times, with Gaius Lucilius (2nd century BCE). Here we are shown the concept as something quite different again. "Manliness - or virtue - is being able to pay in full a fair price in our business dealings and in the affairs that life brings us; virtue is knowing what each affair has within it for a man; virtue is knowing what is right and useful and honourable for a man and what things are good and what are bad, what is shameful, useless, dishonourable; virtue is knowing the limit and the end of seeking a thing ......... and besides all this, thinking our country's interests to be foremost of all, our parents' next and then, thirdly, lastly our own". What an extraordinarily high - even unattainable - set of values for any social grouping to set itself! And here lies the intriguing feature of Sarsila's book - the revelation of the sheer scale of the concept of "virtus" in the Roman psyche. What at first just might appear to be merely an urge to conquer and expand by organised force of arms, takes on the mantle of an all-encompassing philosophy with many and varied facets.

The text is clear and crisp and to this monoglot anglophone this has to be viewed with a degree of respect. Respect that an academic can not only marshal the arguments of his thesis but can express them in so readable a manner in a language that is not his first. An important point to stress for potential readers in the English-speaking market, which might have a prejudiced tendency to look askance at (to them) foreign authors.

Juhani Sarsila sets out to show that Roman "Virtus" makes a contribution to Moral Philosophy. My conclusion is "quod erat demonstrandum"

For all who wonder at the extraordinary thing that was Roman Culture, this book is a must.

I recommend it highly.

Brian Denoon

August 2006