rome, History_Other, College Term Papers.com


		Data Bases
		• Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism?

		Links
		• Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com

		Free Essays
		• Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers

Search Lots of Essays

Back to Subjects - History Other

rome

rome The societies of the Romans readily accepted suicide as a normal act in their culture. These great conquerors and creators of government that even, the United States government is modeled after, considered it a noble act. There seem to be different reasons to commit suicide in Ancient Rome such as a failing in public life which is shown by the higher suicide rates in the Late Republic and Early Empire stages. There is also an attitude of the willingness to commit suicide is shown by other suicides in different times and different classes of people. The reason a person committed suicide depends on the class the person was in society. The largest reason for suicide in Ancient Rome was pudor(honor). In living in a society that suicide is consider self-murder and is even punishable by law, I need to ask the question why? Where did committing suicide originated for the Romans as an option in life? The easy reason for suicide was "committing suicide becomes something of a moral duty for the nobleman who loses face or favour of the emperor." These types of suicides were most likely motivated by the power of the emperor. For if you did not kill yourself, the emperor probably would have sentence you to death. It gave, the man, in the eyes of Roman society in honorable way to die then to die at the hands of another. I believed that they took this concept from the Ancient Greeks. The Ancient Greeks believed that the citizens lived and died for the state and not as individuals, for they consider it wrong for one to commit suicide without the permission of the state. "Man who kills what is most private, who violently robs fate of its disposal- at least when not killing himself on the explicit orders of the state." The Greeks were thinking in terms of the polis and if the polis agree that you needed to die then accomplish the task, for it was honorable to die for the polis. Which the Romans started to do, when a nobleman was ordered to death by the emperor, it was an honor to die for Rome, so there was not a conflict. By killing oneself, the nobleman was able to save his honor in the eyes of the people. This idea was motive by the will of state being superior over the will of the individual. A major road to suicide was that of escaping dishonor and misery of being a slave. Captured soldiers frequently used this kind of reason to commit suicide. It was consider dishonorable to surrender to the enemy, so soldiers were excepted to fight to the death. So if the soldier saw that they were about to be captured, they would end their lives before capture. For being a prisoner of war and running away were considered cowardly and dishonorable acts. They had a fear of losing honor, which contributed to their decision to commit suicide. An example of this was the Battle in the Teutoburg Forest, where the whole army at Carrhae was destroyed. "But Roman honor was saved, officers and soldiers chose death when they realized that there was no escape from the revenge of the Parthians." This is again connected to the concept from the preceding paragraph, duty to the state. If a commander could not win a battle, he cannot complete his job for the state. He is then no longer useful to the state and to save his honor, he will commit suicide. This motive is reserved for the commanders. The soldiers took their lives in part to save their honor and also not to become a prisoner of war, so they took their own lives. This idea has even been seen in modern times, when a navy commander will go down with his sinking ship, for they would say that it was an honorable thing to due. One idea that still persists today, is the concept to escape the suffering of one's life. Slaves used this one in Rome to escape lives that were unbearable or even to get revenge on their master/captors. "The meanest slaves gather strength in cases of unbearable suffering and they outwit their guards in finding an opportunity for dying."20 They used suicide in this situation to say to their captors/masters that I am still in control and will not let you have power over my life. The slave believes that he was having the last laugh. This concept expanded in Ancient Rome due to the major population of slaves. They commit self-murder due to despair because they could foresee no alternate exit. This is the main reason for the lower classes to commit suicide. Another avenue that suicide seems to come from is the Stoic religion. They believe that if a person was physical or mental incapable, then they should end their life honorable, commit suicide. It was just unthinkable to continue life in that condition. "Anyone among them who has become crippled or suffers in general from any physical infirmity is forced by them, in accordance with an inexorable law, to remove himself from life." They believed that a person, who committed suicide needed to do it with rationally thought. These two factors of the Stoic belief are connected for a person that is physically or mentally handicapped, with rational thought would end their lives. A person that has physical limitations will rationally end his life because he cannot function normally or benefit the state to his fullest ability. Someone that has mental limitations, would be lead by friends that if he was "sane" and could think rationally, he would end his life so they lead him to the path of suicide. This was considering benefiting the individual and in a sense freeing that person of suffering and of course the logical action to do. In the last couple of paragraphs, I discuss the main reasons why suicide was committed in the different social classes of Ancient Rome. The in the next part of my writing, I am going to discuss in further detail the motives behind self-murder in Rome. One of the motives of suicide was despair but this is also connected with many of the values of society, such as usefulness to the state and to preserve one's honor. Roman soldiers were motivated to kill themselves due to fear of losing honor, loyalty to one's leader and also because there seems to be know alternate exit. Also leaders or generals, whose causes were ending, ended their lives. "Gaius Gracchus offered his head to his slave Eurporus since his policy of radical reform had failed and the Senate's gang were restoring the old order." It was use as an escape and to preserve one's honor. It was always one's feeling of despair that started the notion of suicide in one's mind but would always call honor before ending their own lives. The slaves also use the feeling of despair to end one's life. They had no hope for the future so they would end their suffering. Even women, who were wives of leaders, whose husbands were being put to death, would feel that their lives had nothing left to offer, so they kill themselves. "It is the common fate of women to share in the fall of their husband." Women also killed themselves when convicted of crimes before the punishment could be carried out. Even in our modern times of today, when an individual commits suicide, the reason is despair, no hope for tomorrow. In ancient times, they did not call it despair, for despair was the very lowest kind of person on earth, they did it to preserve their honor. The Ancient Romans used honor because they wanted to have a legacy, not one of despair but one of honor, for their families to carry on. They used honor as a weapon for despair, when their lives were at the end, they did not call out despair but called for honor. It is hard to separate the two for they are intertwined and could be look upon as one and the same. Another factor of suicide was forced into free death. This was very prevalent in Roman society from criminals to the nobleman. The government would condemn an individual to death put would provide that individual with the chance to save their honor by taking one's life. "In the cases of ordered suicide, nobody is ever said to have refused by fleeing after received the final and fatal written order." This Greeks also used this force suicide on individuals. It also leads back to the concept of honor, that even though one is condemn to death, I am still man enough to take responsible and end my life with my own hands. It also leads down the path of despair, for if, one does not commit suicide for whatever reasons, they are going to kill him anyway. So there is no alternate exit for that individual except as Romans would say, to save one's honor. As again, free death, despair and honor are intertwined and not easily separated. *A factor that led to suicide in Rome was that of furor (proof of madness). This was one factor where there is no cry for honor. This cases lean towards despair but is hard to analyzing due to lack of sciencatific data during those times. People that committed suicide and were unexplainable were categorize with furor. People that committed this type of suicide usually had some traumatic event happen in their lives, such as a sudden death in the family. They just did the action without calling out for honor. It seems that life for them became unbearable and that they felt despair and killed themselves. An example of this was in Rome of a high priest. "Fulvius Flaccus lost his mental faculties after various disasters in his family. In a fit of madness he hanged himself and thus died a ghastly death." *The biggest reason why Romans or any ancient world committed self-murder was for pudor/honor. In a letter to Marcus Marius, Cicero said "I withdrew from a war where there was nothing left but either to die in battle, or fall into some ambush, or pass into the conqueror's hands, or to take refuge with Juba, or to find a spot for what could be practically exile, or deliberately to die by one's own hand." Cicero was unable to kill himself and he regretted that fact. For losing face was one of the greatest motivators behind the ancient world. Their ideology was one built on heroic with the main value being honor. It became a norm in ancient culture for a leader to end his life, if he had been defeated or could no longer face his people. The leader did this so as not to shame himself and keep his honor. This played a huge role in the armies, for a commander usually preferred death over defeat or captivity and the soldiers around that commander follow his lead. It was consider the right action to take, if you were defeated. In their eyes, they did not commit suicide out of despair but shame/ to preserve their honor. "Again and again it is stressed that the people concerned acted primarily from motives of honor." Roman nobility if charge with a crime, committed self-murder to save honor and also family property. The thinking behind this was that, if the nobleman went to the hearing, he has already lost everything and shame his himself and his family. A man so great could not be bother with tiny matters and out of shame would kill himself, so his legacy will be a favorable one and his family can live on, in comfort. Bibliography:

Word Count: 1962