On Duties: The Morality Of War

War cannot be morally justified, even if it seem necessary or the battle looks to be in your favor. In “On Duties”, he says we have certain duties to those who have wronged us but, by going into a physical altercation with an opponent is the way of the brute. Humans have been on the earth for centuries and have become to civilized to resort to fighting. All throughout history we see many battles being won and lost, for more power or for more money in the winners’ pocket. The costs are far greater than just towns being burned to the ground or societies needing to start over. Soldiers who go to war see more than us who are safely tucked away at home. They lose the very thing that keep us intact, our humanity. To get ahead in war we take any means necessary, it is surprising how quickly someone will throw someone under the proverbial bus to save their own
In “Message to Invasion Troops” the general is writing to the soldiers to get them ready for the journey they are about to embark on. He never sugar-coats the fact that the enemy is also prepared for the war and that they will fight savagely. You can only imagine the feel of the room after that letter was read aloud, and how many people were second guessing what they were about to do. Even in “To His Army before His Defeat in Battle” Catiline knew that words can only go so far as to help the soldiers who were about to fight and maybe be killed in the fight ahead. Catiline was killed in this battle, and after his death we don’t know how that effected the soldiers who were under his command. Many could have thought that the war was above their head, this could be seen as cowardice considering they were trying to save their own skin but, if we never had had war in the first place we probably would not have it now and those men would never be put in that