Latin: Virtus (pronounced as /la-x-classic/) was a specific virtue in ancient Rome that carried connotations of valor, masculinity, excellence, courage, character, and worth, perceived as masculine strengths. It was thus a frequently stated virtue of Roman emperors, and was personified as the deity Virtus.
The origins of the word Latin: virtus can be traced back to the Latin word Latin: vir, "man". The common list of attributes associated with Latin: virtus were considered to be particularly masculine strengths. From the early to the later days of the Roman Empire, there appears to have been a development in how the concept was understood.
Originally Latin: virtus described specifically martial courage, but it eventually grew to be used to describe a range of Roman virtues. It was often divided into different qualities including Latin: prudentia (practical wisdom), Latin: iustitia (justice), Latin: [[temperantia]] (temperance, self-control), and Latin: fortitudo (courage). This division of virtue as a whole into cardinal virtues is an ongoing project of positive psychology or, in philosophy, virtue ethics, following a tradition originating in Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. It implies a link between Latin: virtus and the Greek concept of .
At one time Latin: virtus extended to include a wide range of meanings that covered one general ethical ideal. The use of the word grew and shifted to fit evolving ideas of what manliness meant. Once Latin: virtus meant primarily that a man was a brave warrior, but it came also to mean that he was a good man, someone who did the right thing. During the time of the decline of the Roman elite, the Roman upper class no longer thought of themselves as unmanly if they did not serve in the military.
Latin: Virtus came from an aristocratic tradition in which it described a specific type of public conduct. It was mainly applicable to those in the Latin: [[cursus honorum]], certainly by the late republic at least. It was not a "private" virtue in the way that modern people might consider it. Valor, courage, and manliness were not things to be pursued in the private sphere of the individual or the individual's private concerns. There could be no virtue in exploiting one's manliness in the pursuit of personal wealth, for example. Latin: Virtus was exercised in the pursuit of Latin: gloria for the benefit of the Latin: [[res publica]] resulting in the winning of eternal Latin: memoria. According to D.C. Earl. "Outside the service of the Latin: res publica there can be no Latin: magistratus and therefore, strictly speaking, no Latin: gloria, no Latin: nobilitas, no Latin: virtus".
The nobility of Latin: virtus lay not only in one's personal Latin: acta but also those of one's ancestors. However Cicero, a Latin: [[novus homo]], asserted that Latin: virtus was a virtue particularly suited to the new man just as Latin: nobilitas was suited to the noble. Cicero argued that just as young men from noble families won the favor of the people so too should the Latin: novus homo earn the favor of the people with his Latin: virtus. He asserted that Latin: virtus, and not one's family history, should decide a man's worthiness. Because Latin: virtus is something that a man earns himself, not something that is given to him by his family, it is a better measure of a man's ability. Cicero's goal was not to impugn the noble class but widen it to include men who had earned their positions by merit.
The term Latin: virtus was used quite significantly by the historian Sallust, a contemporary of Cicero. Sallust asserted that Latin: virtus did not rightfully belong to the Latin: nobilitas as a result of their family background but specifically to the Latin: [[novus homo]] through the exercise of Latin: ingenium (talent, also means sharpness of mind, sagacity, foresight, and character). For Sallust and Cicero alike, Latin: virtus comes from winning glory through illustrious deeds (Latin: egregia facinora) and the observance of right conduct through Latin: bonae artes.
Latin: Virtus was not universally applicable—typically only adult male Roman citizens could be thought of as possessing Latin: virtus.
Latin: Virtus was rarely attributed to women, likely because of its association with Latin: vir. The highest regarded female virtue was Latin: pudicitia: "modesty" or "chastity". Cicero, however, attributes Latin: virtus to women several times. He uses it once to describe Caecilia Metella when she helps a man who is being chased by assassins. Twice more he uses it when describing his daughter, Tullia, portraying her in his letters as brave in his absence. He uses it again to describe his first wife Terentia during his exile.Livy in Book 2 attributes it to Cloelia.
Latin: Virtus was not a term commonly used to describe children. Since Latin: virtus was primarily attributed to a full grown man who had served in the military, children were not particularly suited to obtain this particular virtue.
While a slave was able to be Latin: homo ("man") he was not considered a Latin: vir. Slaves were often referred to as Latin: puer (Latin for boy) to denote that they were not citizens. Since a slave could not be a Latin: vir it follows that they could not have the quality of Latin: virtus. Once a slave was manumitted he was able to become a Latin: vir and he was also classified as a freedman but this did not allow him to have Latin: virtus. A good slave or freedman was said to have Latin: fides, but no Latin: virtus.
Foreigners in the Roman world could be attributed with Latin: virtus, for example, if they fought bravely. Latin: Virtus could also be lost in battle. Latin: Virtus could even be a qualification for citizenship as in the case of Spanish cavalry men granted citizenship by Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo in for their Latin: virtus in battle.
Latin: Virtus applies exclusively to a man's behaviour in the public sphere, i.e. to the application of duty to the Latin: [[res publica]] in the Latin: [[cursus honorum]]. His private business was no place to earn Latin: virtus, even when it involved courage, feats of arms, or other associated qualities performed for the public good.
While in many cultures it is considered "manly" to father and provide for a family, family life was considered in the Roman world to be part of the private sphere, in which there was no place for Latin: virtus. Most uses of Latin: virtus to describe any part of private life are ambiguous and refer to another similar quality. In the Roman world the oldest living patriarch of the family was called the Latin: [[pater familias]] and this title implied that he could make all legal and binding decisions for the family; he also owned all its money, land, and other property. His wife, daughters, sons, and his sons' families were all under his Latin: [[potestas]]. The only time a son was seen as separate from his father's control in the eyes of other Romans was when he assumed his public identity as a citizen. He could earn his Latin: virtus by serving in the military, and thus he could only demonstrate manliness outside of the family setting. This is another reason that Latin: virtus is not often used to describe Roman private life.
Latin: Virtus was a crucial component for a political career. Its broad definition led to it being used to describe a number of qualities that the Roman people idealized in their leaders.
In everyday life a typical Roman, especially a young boy, would have been inculcated with the idea of Latin: virtus. Since military service was a part of most Roman men's lives, military training would have started fairly early. Young boys would have learned how to wield weapons and military tactics starting at home with their fathers and older male relatives and later in school. Also a young boy would have heard numerous stories about past heroes, battles, and wars. Some of these stories would have told of the Latin: virtus of past heroes, and even family members. Publicly it was easy to see the rewards of Latin: virtus. Public triumphs were held for victorious generals and rewards were given to brave fighters. This propaganda encouraged young boys coming into their manhood to be brave fighters and earn Latin: virtus. It was the duty of every generation of men to maintain the Latin: [[Dignitas (Roman concept)|dignitas]] which his family had already earned and to enlarge it. Pressure to live up to the standards of one's ancestors was great. In achieving Latin: virtus one could also achieve Latin: [[Glory (religion)|gloria]]. By gaining Latin: virtus and Latin: gloria one could hope to aspire to high political office and great renown.
Cicero suggested that Latin: virtus was real manhood and that it boiled down to "Ever to excel." He declared that "The whole glory of virtue [{{lang|la|virtus}}] resides in activity." A Roman political man would only need to show scars in defense of Republic to prove his worth.
Romans established their status through activity, creating a pecking order of honour. This involved Latin: [[agon]]—a test, trial, or ordeal, requiring active effort to overcome. In that active form, the characteristics of Roman thought believed to be negative; the "stone and ice" tendencies antithetical to virtue we're banished. Such negative characteristics included being shameless, inactive, isolated, or leisurely and were the absence of virtus; placing Latin: dignitas into a static, frozen state. The contest established one's being and constructed the reality of one’s virtus. Romans were willing to suffer shame, humiliation, victory, defeat, glory, destruction, success, and failure in pursuit of this.
While young boys were encouraged to earn Latin: virtus, there were limits on showing Latin: virtus in public. Latin: Virtus was often associated with being aggressive and this could be dangerous in the public sphere and the political world. Displays of violent Latin: virtus were controlled through several methods. Men seeking to hold political office typically had to follow the Latin: [[cursus honorum]]. Many political offices had an age minimum which ensured that the men filling the positions had the proper amount of experience in the military and in government. This meant that even if a man proved himself capable of filling a position or was able to persuade people that he was capable, he would not necessarily be able to hold the position until he had reached a certain age. This also served to ensure that in elections of public offices no one had an advantage over another person because by the time most men went into public office they would have retired from military service. Furthermore, before any Roman soldier could partake in single combat he had to gain permission from his general. This was meant to keep soldiers from putting themselves in unnecessary danger in order to gain Latin: virtus.
Latin: Virtus also tended to be a concept of morality as far as politics were concerned. This could range from as seen in aggression and the ruthless acquisition of money, land, and power, or the lighter, more idealistic political meaning which almost took on the extended meaning of Latin: pietas, a man who was morally upright and concerned with the matters of the state.
Plautus in Amphitruo contrasted Latin: virtus and Latin: ambitio. Latin: Virtus is seen as a positive attribute, while though Latin: ambitio itself is not necessarily a negative attribute it is often associated with negative methods such as bribery. Plautus said that just as great generals and armies win victory by Latin: virtus, so should political candidates. Latin: Ambitio "is the wrong method of reaching a good end." Part of Latin: virtus, in the political sphere, was to deal justly in every aspect of one's life, especially in political and state matters.
According to Brett and Kate McKay, ; Rome was a contest culture and honor culture. Romans believed "your identity was neither fixed nor permanent, your worth was a moving target, and you had to always be actively engaged in proving yourself."[1]
Although "Latin: virtus" and "virtue" are related concepts, Latin: virtus, for the Roman, did not necessarily emphasize the behavior that the associations of the present-day English term "virtue" suggest. Latin: Virtus was to be found in "outstanding deeds" (Latin: egregia facinora), and brave deeds were the accomplishments that brought Latin: gloria ("a reputation"). This Latin: gloria was attached to two ideas: Latin: fama ("what people think of you") and Latin: dignitas ("one's standing in the community"). The struggle for Latin: virtus in Rome was above all a struggle for public office (Latin: honos): it was through military achievement, which would in turn cultivate a reputation and votes, that a man could best show his Latin: virtus. It was the duty of every aristocrat and would-be aristocrat to maintain the Latin: dignitas that his family had already achieved and to extend it to the greatest possible degree, through political offices and military victories. This system resulted in a strong built-in impetus in Roman society to engage in military expansion and conquest.
While in many cultures the virtue of manliness is seen as being partly sexual, in the Roman world the word Latin: virtus did not necessitate sexuality. Similar words deriving from the same stem often have sexual connotations, such as the word for man itself (Latin: vir) and the concept of "virility" (Latin: virilitas). Nonetheless, poems such as Catullus 16 and the Carmina Priapea, as well as speeches such as Cicero's In Verrem, demonstrate that manliness and Latin: [[pudicitia]], or sexual propriety, were linked.
M. Claudius Marcellus, during the battle of Clastidium in, dedicated a temple to Honos and Virtus. This was one of the first times that Virtus had been recognized as divine. The connection with Honos would have been obvious to most Romans, as demonstrations of Latin: virtus led to election to public office, and both were considered Latin: honos. The cult of Honos was already a long-standing tradition in Rome. The marriage of the two deities ensured that Virtus would also get proper respect from the Romans. But the pontiffs objected that one temple could not properly house two gods because there would be no way of knowing which god to sacrifice to should a miracle happen in the temple.
During the reign of Augustus, the Senate voted that a golden shield be inscribed with Augustus' attributes and displayed in the Curia Iulia, these virtues including Latin: virtus, Latin: [[clementia]], Latin: [[iustitia]], and Latin: [[pietas]]. These political catchwords continued to be used as propaganda by later emperors.
The comic poet Plautus made use of Latin: virtus in his play Trinummus which concerned family Latin: virtus, honor and public office, and obligations to the state. He also offered commentary on the concept of Latin: virtus in Amphitruo (see How it was used: In public above).
Cicero said, "[only] Latin: virtus usually wards off a cruel and dishonorable death, and Latin: virtus is the badge of the Roman race and breed. Cling fast to [{{lang|la|virtus}}], I beg you men of Rome, as a heritage that your ancestors bequeathed to you. All else is false and doubtful, ephemeral and changeful: only Latin: virtus stands firmly fixed, its roots run deep, it can never be shaken by any violence, never moved from its place."[2]