Virtus, Clementia, and Caesar’s left-hand man: Lucan’s Lament of Republican ethics
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2013
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Abstract
“The targeted killing program is a vision – a vision of how war could be and never has
been. It is a war of individuals instead of armies. It is intelligence instead of brute force.
It is a war of both technological precision and moral discrimination. It is war as an
alternative to war: it saves many lives by ending one life. But when war stops being war,
does it become something like murder?”
– Tom Junod, “The Lethal Presidency of Barack Obama”
At first glance, the War on Terror bears little resemblance to the civil war between Caesar and
Pompey. Although each represents a defining event of their respective time periods, the passing
of centuries, technological development, and the evolution of politics and society separate the
two conflicts. The above quote from Tom Junod’s essay on President Obama’s targeted killing
program, however, bears a striking resemblance to Lucan’s portrayal of how Caesar wages war
in the Bellum Civile. The war Caesar fought against Pompey and Cato was not simply for land,
wealth, or ambition. Caesar sought to reshape the Roman Republic in his own image, a project
requiring a new brand of warfare. While his men fought against enemies on the battlefield,
Caesar himself damaged the soul of the Republic with his clemency. Rather than punishment, he
conquered through forgiveness, all the while recalling imagery from Rome’s illustrious past to
legitimize his actions. Caesar’s use of virtus and clementia masked the general’s true ambitions
and attempt to hide the nature of his fight. Beneath this sublimation, however, Lucan recognized
that Caesar’s war was actually an act of violence against the traditional notion of what it meant
to be Roman. The War on Terror’s targeted killing program has changed traditional ideas about
warfare, challenging American ideas about privacy, due process, and executive authority. Lucan,
like Junod, seeks to warn his readers about the dangers posed by individual authority that seeks
to alter traditional freedoms and values under the guise of representative government, no matter
the seeming benevolence of methods or motives ... As the definition of a threat to
American security changes, it becomes a slippery slope when suspects previously found in a
foreign country begin to appear on American shores as citizens. Lucan’s voice throughout the
Bellum Civile is a message for his readers about the dangers of complacency. If they accept the
images of a virtuous Scaeva or a merciful Caesar as actions that merit praise, then they are
buying into an imperial construction designed to relegate them into servitude. Lucan’s warning
that by ceding absolute responsibility to a single man, citizens surrender the freedom to dictate
their own lives is as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago.