HISTORY EXPERTS ONLY

Passage Identification Examples

Passage 1:

Marcus: I note, then, that according to the opinion of the best authorities law was not thought up by the intelligence of human beings, nor is it some kind of resolution passed by communities but rather an eternal force which rules the world by the wisdom of its commands and prohibitions. In their judgment, that original and final law is the intelligence of God, who ordains or forbids everything by reason. Hence that law which the gods have given to the human race is rightly praised, for it represents the reason and intelligence of a wise man directed to issuing commands and prohibitions.

Answer:

In the The Republic and the Laws by Cicero, he focuses mainly on the origin of law and how society correlates with the law. Here through the character of Marcus, Cicero explains that laws are not simple words written down. He says law, as in an almost innate moral code, originated in nature and is implanted in humans through reason. This gift of reason (and law) was given to humanity by God. It’s the duty of a good citizen/human to follow the laws and serve their state. The law is supposed to discern between right and wrong and just and unjust.

Cicero was a very influential man. By the time of his death, 44 CE, he was credited for supporting the Republic in Rome. He gave Rome a strong government from which many societies drew influence (including our own!) Of course government was a huge theme in The Republic and the Laws. Cicero advocated for citizen involvement in politics but he also mentions many times the idea that God somehow touched all of humanity. This contrasts with personal and geographic gods in other readings like Gilgamesh. The idea of a world God is most congruent with Christianity explained in the New Testament after Jesus’ death in 30 CE. In Christianity, God is accessible to anyone who will accept. This seems similar to the notion in Cicero that God gave ALL of humanity reason.

Passage 2:

____: I will. Always till now we have controlled our feelings and uncomplainingly endured whatever you men did- and in any case you wouldn’t let us say a word. But don’t think we approved! We knew everything you were up to. Many a time we’d hear at home about some major political blunder of yours, and then when you came home we’d be inwardly in great distress but we’d have to put on a smile and ask you: ‘In the assembly today, what did you decide to inscribe on the stone underneath the Peace Treaty?” And what did my husband always say? ‘Shut up and mind your own business!’ And I did.

Stratyllis: I wouln’t have done!

Magistrate: [Ignoring her; to ___]: You’d have been for it if you hadn’t!

___: Exactly- so I kept quiet. But sure enough, next thing we knew you’d taken an even sillier decision, and then we might go so far as to ask, ‘Husband, why are you men persisting with this stupid policy?’ Whereupon he’s glare at me and say ‘Back to your spinning, woman, or you’ll have a headache for a month. “Let war be the care of the menfolk!”

Magistrate: Quite right too, By Zeus.

___: Right? That we should not be allowed to make the least little suggestion to you, no matter how much you mismanage your affairs? But now every time two men meet in the street, what do they say? ‘Isn’t there a man in the country?’ And the answer comes, ‘Not one’. That’s why we women got together and decided to unite and save Greece. What was the point of waiting any longer? So, let’s make a deal. You listen to us- and it’ll be good advice we give- listen to us and keep quiet, like you made us do, and we’ll set you to rights.

Answer:

This passage was taken from Aristophanes’ play Lysistrata. It was written in Athens which is located off the East coast of Greece. It was also a response to the Pelopennesian War, a war between Athens and Sparta which occurred after the Greeks deafeated the Persians.

In this text, Lysistrata is talking to a Greek magistrate about women’s frustrations about the war. She claimed that women had to endure bad decisions made by men constantly, and they became fed up with it. So she comnvinced the women of Greece to go on a sex strike from their husbands until the war ended.

Although Aristophanes seemed to portray women in a serious manner, one must remember that this was a comedy. Even after his death in 386BCE, this was meant to be laughed at. Greece had been a male-dominated society where powerful Greek thinkers like Plato, Aristotle and Socrates riled the political forum. With that being said, the larger context of the play was a critique of the governors of each polis and the siliness of their war policies.

This differs greatly from stories like Gilgamesh because unlike that ancient epic, this play pokes fun at war. Gilgamesh put an emphasis on fighting and warring nations, but Lysistrata poked fun at the idea. Unlike almost all other texts, Lysistrata puts women as the main characters, even if it was meant to be comical. One final and glaring difference between Lysistrata and Cicero’s The Republic and the Laws was that Cicero would have been appalled by the stance taken by these Greek women. Cicero believed that whatever one did, it was to be done with the Republic in mind, not one’s own personal desires. Although Greece was not a republic, one could compare the polis to a republic.