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VIOLENCE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

Suitable Cruelties is set in the era of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage. The Western Mediterranean wasn't big enough for the both of them, so armed conflict was inevitable.

It was an age of everyday violence. Most judicial systems included not only gruesome executions but also legally-sanctioned punitive mutilation, such as blinding or cutting off body parts. Most such punishments were done in public. Attendance was high.

There was no notion of what we today would call war crimes. Slaughter of prisoners-of-war and civilians was routine. When an army conquered a settlement, the soldiers were often let loose to steal and rape with impunity-- this was, in fact, sometimes a promised benefit during recruitment. POWs might be enslaved, either retained by their captors or sold to slave dealers, but if it was too much trouble to arrange their sale, POWs could be killed without legal repercussions for the killers.

Slavery was practiced by all societies and there were virtually no objections to its legality anywhere. In some cases, slaves could rise in the households or businesses of their masters and end up free and financially comfortable--this was true of the Roman Emperor Claudius's freedman Narcissus--but this was by no means typical. Much depended on the ethics and whims of the slaves' masters. There were no legal requirements for masters to treat slaves with kindness, and few restrictions on whatever cruelties the masters considered suitable. There are also many documented instances of free persons kidnapped and sold to slavers. The enslaved became so through sheer wrong-place-wrong-time bad luck.

This is the world into which Marcus Torquatus Cincinnatus is thrust. While he eventually becomes hardened to the violence he sees, he never completely stops being affected by it and he remains shocked about the savagery of his captors--although to be fair, the Romans were also not particularly kind to slaves or POWs. The latter were often forced to fight each other to the death as the Romans wagered on the outcomes. This was a post-battle religious ritual that eventually evolved into gladiatorial combat.

The sacrifice of animals and the outpouring of their blood on a public altar were common rituals before community events or to elicit the will of the gods. In other words, people saw blood and death often and were less affected by it than we would be today. This helps explain why Marcus is cruel to animals when the need arises, but even then is bothered by it.

 

It is tempting to conclude from all this gore that humans are horrible. Yet if you look at this another way, it infers the opposite: yes, people did terrible things to others, but we have evolved. Executions, state-sanctioned mutilation and enslavement still occur, but most societies have outlawed them. When they do happen, they draw public outcry. Suitable Cruelties, therefore, contains an implicit message of hope. We are still far from perfect but we're actually getting better. Just give us another couple of millennia and we'll learn to be kind to everyone.

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