In Book 6 of Virgil's Aeneid, the
hero travels to the underworld to meet with his father, Anchises. When Aeneas finally
encounters his father, his father shows him some of the future leaders of the city he
will be helping to establish. Before Anchises turns to the figure of Claudius Marcellus,
he makes the following comment:
Others (I can well believe) will hammer out
bronze that breathes
with more delicacy than us, draw out
living features
from the marble: plead their causes
better, trace with instruments
the movement of the skies,
and tell the rising of the constellations:
remember, Roman,
it is for you to rule the nations with your power,
(that
will be your skill) to crown peace with law,
to spare the
conquered, and subdue the proud.’
(A.S. Kline
translation)
Anchises'
comment here is one of the most famous passages in the Aeneid because it essentially
defines what Romans are supposed to do as a nation. In contrast to the Greeks, who may
be more skilled as artisans, rhetoricians, or astronomers, the mandate of the Romans
will be to rule other nations, to establish the ways of peace through the establishment
and enforcement of law, and finally to show mercy to those who ask for it, while
crushing into the dust those who refuse to submit to Rome's authority (e.g., the
Carthaginians in 146 BCE).
The last line of this mandate
is of particular importance to Aeneas, who, at the end of Aeneid
12, has to decide whether or not to spare Turnus, who is begging Aeneas to
spare his life. Thus, Aeneas has to choose whether to spare the conquered or subdue the
proud, either one of which are applicable to Turnus at the end of the poem. Thus,
Aeneas' choice is a choice similar to one's that many Roman leaders would face and which
some leaders still face today.
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