Roman Morals as Described by Polybius, Vergil, and Juvenal

Throughout the rise and fall of Roman civilization, philosophers, historians, poets, and writers of all sorts often emphasized Roman morals in their literature. Reviewing these writings allows a modern reader to see, in fast forward, how the state of Rome’s morality shifted through the centuries. Some authors, like Vergil and Polybius, extolled the virtues of Roman society. Others, such as Juvenal, reported a much bleaker picture and a civilization rife with corruption. This blog will explore how the Romans’ view on their society changed through the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire.

Polybius, a historian of the second century BC, approached Roman morals as an explanation for how the Roman Republic was able to gain and maintain the amount of political power and economic success that it had. Book VI of his work The Histories reads,

“There are two things fundamental to every state, the virtue of which its powers and constitution become desirable or objectionable. These are customs and laws. Of these the desirable are those which make men’s private lives holy and pure, and the public character of the state civilized and just. The objectionable are those whose effect is the reverse. As, then, when we see good customs and good laws prevailing among certain people, we confidently assume that, in consequence of them, the men and their civil constitution will be good also, so when we see private life full of covetousness, and public policy of injustice, plainly we have reason for asserting their laws, particular customs, and general constitution to be bad” (Finley 492).

Later in Book VI, Polybius explored in greater depth what these good Roman customs are. A description of a Roman funeral procession emphasized that those who the civilians mourned lived virtuous lives and often died noble deaths in the service of their fellow citizens or country. The mourners’ respect for the deceased was another marker of morality, emphasizing the familial piety of their relationship (Finley 496-498).

Decades after Polybius wrote his Histories, Augustus Caesar commissioned Vergil to write an epic poem telling the story of Rome’s earliest origins. In this story, called The Aeneid, he created detailed examples of Roman moral ideals. These morals focused on virtues such as bravery, responsibility, respect of authority, and respect of family. Even the very beginning of the book pointed to Roman morality as the main character, Aeneas, followed the orders of the gods to save his wife, father, and son from the burning city of Troy. The passages emphasize loyalty to one’s country (since Aeneas’ first instinct was to fight to the death for his city), respect for the gods (since Aeneas heeded their signs), and especially devotion to the traditional bonds between people, such as the bonds of family (Virgil 36-51). These messages make sense in the context of Augustus, the adopted son of the previous ruler, Caesar. Augustus needed the people of Rome to recognize his authority and kinship in order to successfully turn the republic into an empire. The fact that Vergil used these morals to appeal to the people suggests that contemporary Roman citizens agreed on the importance of these ideals, both for individuals and for society.

Over the following years, the Roman Republic gave way to the Roman Empire. Juvenal, a Roman satirical writer from the late first and early second centuries AD, described his generation’s morals in the piece Satire III. While intentionally humorous and exaggerated, it still provides a window into how morals had changed. He wrote, “Nowhere is it so easy as at Rome to throw an old client overboard,” bitterly saying that the traditional bonds between people, once considered extremely important, were discarded increasingly often (Pearse, “Juvenal, Satires. (1918). Satire 3”). Juvenal also used hyperbole to demonstrate the erosion of other morals, such as respect for elders and for the gods:

“Here Numa held his nightly assignations with his mistress; but now the holy fount and grove and shrine are let out to Jews, who possess a basket and a truss of hay for all their furnishings. For as every tree nowadays has to pay toll to the people, the Muses have been ejected, and the wood has to go a-begging” (Juvenal, “Juvenal, Satires. (1918). Satire 3”).

Here, he depicted impoverished immigrant Jews taking over what was once a sacred spot used by an ancient, beloved king. The Muses had been usurped by these changes, something that Romans never would have permitted if Rome was as pious as it once was.

While the cause of the change in Roman morals is up for debate, Rome’s shift from a democracy to an empire likely contributed. In countless societies through history, as power shifts to become oligarchical, hedonism and corruption become rampant in the ruling class. Those who interact with the oligarchy receive a leg up by indulging in the same corruption, opening doors for moral decay to percolate through the general population. Unfortunately, this eventually manifested itself at all levels of Roman society, which is especially visible when comparing Juvenal’s humorous Satire III to works written at the time of the Roman Republic.

REFERENCES

Juvenal, and Roger Pearse. “Juvenal, Satires. (1918). Satire 3.” Tertullian.org, 2008, www.tertullian.org/fathers/juvenal_satires_03.htm.

Finley, M. I. The Greek Historians: the Essence of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius. Penguin Books, 1982.

Virgil, and Stanley Lombardo. The Essential Aeneid. Hackett Pub. Co., 2006.