Conclusion

One of Rome's signal achievements was the establishment of several cen­turies of relative peace and security across the length and breadth of the ancient Mediterranean world. For most of the Principate (the period roughly from 31 bce to 235 ce) largescale wars and barbarian incursions were unheard of.There were revolts (two in Judea, for instance, in 66-70 ce and again 132-6 ce) but, for all their brutality, they were localised affairs.

But the Roman world was not a forgiving place, as the opening quote from Seneca demonstrates. Compared to what most modern developed countries would consider acceptable, pain and suffering and violence were a more everyday feature of life. With life expectancy hovering around 35 years, infant mortality rates were shockingly high and few would make it to old age. Palliative care was minimal. Death and suffering were therefore constant and proximate companions throughout life. In such an environment, attitudes towards the pain and suffering of others would tend to be hard. This baseline circumstance was exacerbated by the strictly hierarchical cast of Roman social thought. People belonged to groups, and individual worth was cali­brated against that group membership. Whole swaths of the population were thus regarded as expendable or, in the case of slaves, worthless except as property. The hierarchical attitude extended to inter-state relations too, so that Rome's enormous empire, which encompassed the known world, stood as a vast confirmation of who was more worthy than whom. Rome's empire had been forged by the wholesale application of violence, which was openly celebrated as strength and virtue and manliness. Vast public spectacles either showcased violence in the performances or were marred by violence in the stands. In everyday disputes and interactions, the legal principle vim vi repellere licet played out. Bandits and pirates prowled the countryside and the high seas, and communities looked to themselves for security on the self­help principle. While we lack the data to quantify precise levels and frequency of incidents, it appears that violence was in no small measure the currency of the Roman hierarchy. Aside from poverty and disease, Seneca lists among the three main fears in life ‘what comes from the violence of those more power­ful than us', which prompts him to recommend ‘let's see to it, then, that we don't give offence' (Sen. Ep. 14.3-6).