Dueling is an ancient custom, the Oath of the Brothers of Horace

Author: Jacques-Louis David Artwork: The Oath of the Horaces Type: Oil on canvas Size: 330cm×425cm Collection: Louvre, France

Among the Indo-European language peoples, dueling is an ancient custom. Caesar once said that the Germans settled their disputes by fighting swords alone. There is also a scene in Homer's Iliad in which two men duel in front of Zeus to prove themselves to be the master of the beautiful helen, and the losing party is the liar.

Duels are a popular means of resolving personal disputes in Western high society, duelists often fight for truth, honor, freedom, etiquette, especially for women, in the novels describing medieval knights, we can often see a knight swearing to duel for the woman he loves, the French, The English, the Burgundians, the Italians, the Alemans and other ethnic tribes are particularly good at dueling. In the 20 years from 1588 to 1608, more than 8,000 people were killed in duels in Paris alone. The literary artists we are familiar with, such as Dumas, Turgenev, and Tolstoy, have all participated in duels; The Prime Minister of the French Third Republic, Georges Clemenceau, was also a master of dueling; Von Bismarck, known as the "Iron-Blooded Prime Minister," made dueling a common occurrence, and he had dueling 27 times during his college years.

A large oil painting by the French artist Jacques-Louis David in 1784, The Oath of the Brothers of Horace, is a famous work documenting the settlement of tribal disputes through duels in Roman history. It depicts a dispute between the cities of Rome and Albalonga (aka Aruba) in the 7th century BC, deciding the final victor by choosing a duel between two families, while David's painting emphasizes patriotism through family sacrifice and the importance of male self-sacrifice to the state.

In this painting, the three brothers express their loyalty and unity to Rome before the battle, fully supported by their father. Their determined gaze and taut, stretched limbs were an expression of patriotism and a symbol of Rome's highest virtue. Their clear purpose, through David's simple and powerful use of tonal contrast, is reflected in this painting. The nobility of patriotic sacrifice, the expression of strong faith and strong will, all in stark contrast to those gentle women who lay there weeping and mourning, waiting for the outcome of the battle.

The third king of the Roman monarchy, Torres Ostirus, like the first king Romulus, was a man who advocated external attacks, and he chose the first target of the attack on Albalonga. Because it is considered the birthplace of the Latin people, it is also the ancestral land of the Romans. Finding a reason to go to war is simple. There were occasional disputes between farmers living near the border between the two countries. Plundering the other side's property, Albalonga refused to make reparations. That is the reason for the war.

Of course, the war is also to consider the consequences of the war, and Torris, on the pretext that the powerful Etruscans are nearby, and that unnecessary bloodshed is not good for both countries, so he suggests that both sides send representatives to decide the victory or defeat in the form of a duel.

Because of the Latin peoples, and because many of the people in Rome had migrated from Albalonga, the two cities had intermarried with each other, and in order to avoid massive bloodshed from the war, they agreed to choose three people from each city, rather than two cities to send troops to the war, and the winner would be the winning city. Three brothers from the Horatii family in Rome were willing to take part in the duel to end the war, and the Same Curiatii family in Albalonga sent three brothers to the duel. The three brothers of the Horace family were all willing to sacrifice their lives for the benefit of Rome, and their father held the sword for them, and they stretched out their arms and swore an oath against the sword. Of the three Hereti brothers, only one survived the confrontation.

At the beginning of the battle, two brothers of the Holas family were killed, and the surviving brothers killed three fighters from Albalonga. He had the three warriors chase him, separating them from each other, and then killing each other in turn. In addition to the three brothers depicted, David also paints in the lower right corner a sitting and weeping woman, who is Camilla, the sister of the Horace brothers, who is also engaged to a Kuriati warrior, so she cries, and she realizes that she will lose the person she loves no matter what.

Both armies had soldiers with three brothers serving in the army at the same time. They were three young men of the Horace family and three members of the Gurias family, fighting each other on behalf of their respective homelands and each other. The two sides agreed that the losing party in the duel would unconditionally accept the rule of the winning party. Six young men came out of their respective ranks and stood in front of the two armies. At the sound of an order, in front of the soldiers of the two armies who watched the battle with trepidation, a duel between 6 knights with swords began.

After a fierce battle, one of the Romans fell first, and then another died under the sword of the Aruban knight. The only remaining Roman knight was horrified, and he waited for an opportunity to escape the scene of the duel. As he ran, he looked back and saw that the distance between the three knights in Aruba was also widening. So he took the reins at the right moment, turned and knocked down the first Aruba knight who was chasing him, and then successfully knocked down the second opponent. At this time, there is only one person left on the other side. In this case, the competition is between their own strength and physical strength. In the end, the Roman knight Horace was victorious.

Horace, who returned from a triumphant victory, was reprimanded by Camilla, who, in her grief, unconsciously cursed her native Rome. Enras, enrased, killed his sister, was arrested, and during the trial of Herras, who had committed murder, his father appeared in court to defend himself, and was finally acquitted for his patriotic zeal.