Even though it may be tempting
to summarize the virtues of ancient Rome as “might makes right” because of the
emphasis, which is even in the Latin language, on fighting armies and
repressing rebel populations, the virtues did not reduce to those of war. In
fact, such virtues, as Nietzsche suggests in his texts, can serve as a
refresher for our species as it has “progressed” through the centuries since
the Roman Empire existed. Even though the film Gladiator (2000) contains
much mortal combat albeit contained in coliseums rather than unrestrained on
battle fields, at least three clusters of virtues can be gleamed and
articulated as alternative “schools” of virtue ethics. This is not to say that
all three are equally valid, however. The virtues cherished by the Emperor
Commodus, for instance, are arguably inferior ethically to those of his father,
Marcus Aurelius, and even those of the gladiators.
The full essay is at "Gladiator."
