SLL258F- Points to consider as we read Roman Rape Myths

I. While rape for us is one of the most disgusting violations of constitutionally enshrined individual rights and not a matter of shame for the raped but only for the rapist, Roman rape is a question for the community not the individual.

II. Rape constitutes the violation of family and thus community identities, the transgression of the proper boundaries of the community.

III. Rapes in Roman legend precipitate social change.

IV. Rape accounts reflect at the domestic, private level, broader social violations of citizen body rights.

V. Social Standing: rape is tyrannical behaviour, it bespeaks inequality amongst citizens. It is proper to slaves not the women of free Romans. Society shapes itself along a hierarchy of honour or social standing. An insult to a family’s honour is a disrution of social order.

VI. Keep in mind always how Livian historico-myth demonstrates the values proper to Romans:

i. The priority of Roman community over family and individual life.
ii. Law must regulate power.
iii. In the face of extremity, heroic and exemplary figures are self-effacing and ultimately act for moral and thus social vindication, for the restitution of violated honour, the restoration of a better, once more stable order.

Marriage: the opposite of Rape

Marriage
i. proper exchange
ii. union
iii. covenant, treaty, agreement
iv. loyalty
v. peace & prosperity
vi. law

Rape

i. inequality, tyranny
ii. disunion, the breaking of social covenant, separation
iii. infidelity
iv. violence, strife, lust, unbridled passion, Power untempered by Law
v. lawlessness, chaos