Wikipedia Project Rough Draft February 1, 2010
Posted by Allison in World History.trackback
Pietas was one of the Roman virtues, along with gravitas and dignitas. Pietas It is usually translated as “duty” or “devotion.” and it simultaneously suggests duty to the gods and duty to family – particularly to the father (which is expanded to duty to the community and duty to the state thanks to the analogy between the family and the state, conventional in the ancient world – see, for example, Plato’s Crito).
Definition
The word pietas is originally from Latin. The first printed record of the word’s use in English is from Anselm Bayly’s The Alliance of Music, Poetry, and Oratory, published in 1789.footnote 1—OED Georg Wissowa (link) notes that pietas was meant by the Romans as, “the conduct of the man who performed all his duties towards the deity and his fellow human beings fully and in every respect.” footnote 2–book Around the year 70 BC, Cicero defined Pietas as the virtue “which admonishes us to do our duty to our country or our parents or other blood relations.” footnote 2—book
Examples
Literary Examples
Roman literature has many examples of characters who exemplify the value of pietas, such as Virgil’s hero Aeneas. Aeneas embodies this virtue, and is particularly emblematic of it in book II of the Aeneid when he flees burning Troy bearing his father, who carries the household gods, on his back. In this example, Aeneas illustrates pietas both by carrying his father, which is devotion to family, and that he rescues the household gods as well, which is devotion to the gods.
Historical Examples
Cicero exhibited pietas over the course of his life. One prominent example occurred when he was opposed politically by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos. Cicero excused Metellus’ condemnation because is was because of Metellus’ pietas for his brother. Cicero wrote, “Not only do I excuse your resentment, but I even pay it tribute of my highest commendation.” footnote 3—JSTOR
Sources
Emilie, Gertrude. “Cicero and the Roman Pietas.” Classical Journal 39.9 (1944):
536-542. JSTOR. Web. 28 Jan. 2010.
“Pietas.” Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford English Dictionary Online. Web. 28
Jan. 2010. .
Wagenvoort, Hendrik. Pietas: Selected studies in Roman religion. The
Netherlands: n.p., 1980. 7-12. Print.
Allison's Blog 
Alison- Your post is concise, almost too much. If you can find more than one example for both literature and history, I would add it. It is clear, well formated, and neutral. Overall, great job!
Allison,
Good job adding new information. I would recommend you take out the part that says “because is was because of” in your second-to-last sentence. Good objectivity!
AB
I do not think that the first couple phrases should be a stand alone paragraph. They serve as a good introductions, however, by themselves they seem to be unconnected. Perhaps, you could incorporate those phrases into another paragraph. Overall however, very strong post.