STOICISM AND WAR WOUNDS: MUCIUS SCAEVOLA, SERGIUS SILUS AND QUINTUS SERTORIUS
Abstract
Soldiers sustaining battle wounds was both an historical reality as a popular literary theme in the Late Republic and the Early Empire. Battle scars were often instrumentalised as tokens of bravery on the battlefield and equated with military honours, symbolising true virtus. In this paper we analyse how some ancient authors constructed the behaviour of injured soldiers in their writing based on stoic ideals such as an indifferent attitude towards damaged body parts. We further argue that these literary depictions served as powerful metaphorical exempla that had educative and moral purposes not restricted to a military context but in a broader sense, relevant for all aspects of life. The targeted readership was encouraged for introspection and to discern popular from philosophical views in their own frame of mind on achieving virtus. In addition, a stoic framework was cleverly selectively deployed against boasting soldiers and their ideological allies which proved to be very efficient.
Keywords
DOI: 10.14795/j.v6i2.388
References
BAROIN 2002
Baroin, C., Les cicatrices ou la mémoire du corps. In: Moreau, P. (ed.), Corps Romains (Grenoble: Jérôme Millon), 27-46.
BAROIN 2010
Baroin, C., Intégrité du corps, maladie, mutilation et exclusion chez les magistrats et les sénateurs romains. In: Collard, F./Samama, E. (eds.), Handicaps et sociétés dans l’histoire (Paris: L'Harmattan), 49-68.
BARTON 1997
Barton, T.S., Power and knowledge. Astrology, physiognomics, and medicine under the Roman empire (Michigan: University of Michigan Press).
BEAGON 2002
Beagon, M., Beyond comparison: M. Sergius, fortunae victor. In: Clark, G./Rajak, T. (eds.), Philosophy and Power in the Graeco-Roman World (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 111-132.
BEAGON 2005
Beagon, M., The Elder Pliny on the human animal: Natural History Book 7 (Clarendon Ancient History Series) (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
BLACK/PRETES 2007
Black, R.S./Pretes, L., Victims and victors: representation of physical disability on the silver screen, Research & practice for persons with severe disabilities 32.1, 66-83.
CORBEILL 1996
Corbeill, A., Controlling laughter: political humor in the late Roman republic (Princeton - New Jersey: Princeton University Press).
DAVIS 2006
Davis, L.J., The disability studies reader (New York - London: Routledge).
DE LIBERO 2002a
De Libero, L., Mit eiserner Hand ins Amt? Kriegsversehrte Aristokraten zwischen Recht und Religion, Ausgrenzung und Integration. In: Spielvogel, J. (ed.), Res Publica Reperta: zur Verfassung und Gesellschaft der römischen Republik und des frühen Prinzipats, Festschrift für J. Bleicken zum 75 Geburtstag (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Stuttgart), 172-191.
DE LIBERO 2002b
De Libero, L., Dem Schicksal trotzen, Behinderten Aristokraten in Rom, Ancient History Bulletin 16, 75-93.
ELLIS/GOGGIN 2015
Ellis, K./Goggin, G., Disability and the media (London: Palgrave).
EVANS 1999
Evans, R.J., Displaying honourable scars: a Roman gimmick, Acta Classica 42, 77-94.
FLOWER 1996
Flower, H.I., Ancestor masks and aristocratic power in Roman culture (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
GEVAERT 2017
Gevaert, B., Perfect Roman bodies: the Stoic view. In: Laes, C. (ed.), Disability in antiquity (London: Routledge), 213-221.
HARRIS 1985
Harris, W.V., War and imperialism in republican Rome 327-70 B.C. (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
HEIKKINEN 1997
Heikkinen, R., A moral example in Seneca: C. Mucius Scaevola, the conqueror of bodily pain. In: Vaahtera, J./Vainio, R. (eds.), Utriusque linguae peritus. Studia in honorem Toivo Viljamaa (Turku: Turun yliopisto), 63-72.
HOLFORD-STREVENS 2003
Holford-Strevens, L., Aulus Gellius: an Antonine scholar and his achievement (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
KAMA 2004
Kama, A., Supercrips versus the pitiful handicapped: Reception of disabling images by disabled audience members, Communications: the European journal of communication research 29.4, 447-466.
KASTER 2005
Kaster, R.A., Emotion, restraint, and community in ancient Rome (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 84-103.
KATZ 1981
Katz, B.R., Dolor, invidia and misericordia in Sallust, Acta Classica 24, 71-85.
LAES 2011a
Laes, C., Niet moeders mooiste! Antieke oorlogsinvaliden, schoonheidsidealen en history of disability in de Romeinse Oudheid, Geschiedenis der Geneeskunde 15, 68-77.
LAES 2011b
Laes, C., How does one do the history of disability in antiquity? One thousand years of case studies, Medicina nei Secoli 23.3, 915-946.
LAES 1997
Laes, C., Hoe zie ik eruit? De antieken en de fysiognomiek, Hermeneus 69.4, 235-240.
LAES 2018
Laes, C., Disabilities and the disabled in the Roman world: a social and cultural history (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
LANGLANDS 2018
Langlands, R., Exemplary ethics in ancient Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
LASCARATOS/LASCARATOS/KALANTZIS 2004
Lascaratos, J./Lascaratos, G./Kalantzis, G., The ophthalmic wound of Philip II of Macedonia (360-336 BCE), Survey of Ophthalmology 49.2, 256-261.
LEIGH 1995
Leigh, M., Wounding and popular rhetoric at Rome, The Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 40, 195-216.
LONG 2002
Long, A.A., Epictetus: a stoic and Socratic guide to life (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
LONG 2006
Long, A.A., From Epicurus to Epictetus: studies in Hellenistic and Roman philosophy (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
MCGUSHIN 1992
McGushin, P., Sallust, The Histories. Volume I. Books i-ii (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
MORGAN 1974
Morgan, M.G., Priests and physical fitness, Classical Quarterly 24, 137-141.
MOSER 2012
Moser, P.D., Epiktet – ein Porträt des Philosophen als behinderter Mensch. In: Breitwieser, R. (ed.), Behinderungen und Beeinträchtigungen / Disability and Impairment in Antiquity (Oxford: Archaeopress), 65-74.
NETTLESHIP 1883
Nettleship, H., The Noctes Atticae of Aulus Gellius, The American Journal of Philology 4.4, 391-415.
OGILVIE 1965
Ogilvie, R.M., A commentary on Livy books 1-5 (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
RILEY 2005
Riley, C.R., Disability and the media: prescriptions for change (Hanover: University Press of New England).
ROLLER 2018
Roller, M.B., Models from the past in Roman culture: a world of exempla (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
SALAZAR 2000
Salazar, C.F., The treatment of war wounds in Graeco-Roman antiquity (Leiden: Brill).
SAMAMA 2013
Samama, E., A king walking with pain? On the textual and iconographical images of Philip II and other wounded kings. In: Laes, C./Goodey, C.F./Rose, M.L. (eds.), Disabilities in Roman antiquity: disparate bodies, a capite ad calcem (Leiden: Brill), 231–248.
SELLARS 2006
Sellars, J., Stoicism (Berkeley: University of California Press).
SHERMAN 2005
Sherman, N., Stoic warriors: the ancient philosophy behind the military mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
SWAIN 2004
Swain, S., Bilingualism and biculturalism in Antonine Rome: Apuleius, Fronto, and Gellius. In: Holford-Strevens, L./Vardi, A. (eds.), The worlds of Aulus Gellius (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 4-40.
VAN HOUDT 2001
Van Houdt, T., Het lichaam als teken. Mannen, vrouwen en ‘vrouwelijke’ mannen in de antieke fysiognomiek en retoriek. In: Wils, K. (ed.), Het lichaam (m/v) (Leuven: Universitaire Pers Leuven), 27-40.
VAN LOMMEL 2015
Van Lommel, K., Heroes and outcasts: ambiguous attitudes towards impaired and disfigured Roman veterans, Classical World 109.1, 91-117.
WEILER 2004
Weiler, I., Negative Kalokagathie. In: Mauritsch, P./Petermandl, W./Mauritsch-Bein, B. (eds.), Die Gegenwart der Antike. Ausgewählte Schriften zu Geschichte, Kultur, und Rezeption des Altertums (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft), 325-348.
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
ISSN: 2360-266X