西方文明史 (2)

英文学院研究生学期课程论文课程名称西方文明史任课教师王晓红论文标题The Fall and Decline of Roman Empire姓名郝旭姣班级英语语言文学2班学号2010493日期2011.3.28INTRODUCTIONThe Roman Empire was one of the most powerful empires in the history of mankind. In fact, it may even be considered the most powerful empire to have ever existed. However, the mighty empire of Rome has fallen. The Roman Empire emerged from the Roman Republic when Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar transformed it from a republic into a monarchy. Rome reached its zenith in the 2nd century, and then fortunes slowly declined with many revivals and restorations along the way. This was a period in which the state structure, undermined by the barbarian invasions which provoked famine and destruction, was in deep economic and political crisis, and the population in Rome and in the countryside lived in precarious conditions.The decline of the Roman Empire is one of the events traditionally marking the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the European Middle Ages. Throughout the 5th century, the Empire‟s territories in Western Europe and northwestern Africa, including Italy, fell to various invading or indigenous peoples in what is sometimes called the Migration period. Although the eastern half still survived with borders essentially intact for several centuries until the Arab expansion, the Empire as a whole had initiated major cultural and political transformations since the Crisis of the Third Century, with the shift towards a more openly autocratic and ritualized form of government, the adoption of Christianity as the state religion, and a general rejection of the traditions and values of Classical Antiquity. “The decline of the Roman Empire was not a single event but a gradual process that lasted several centuries.”(奥托.基弗,174) This process was characterized by increasing economic inequality, incompetent political and military leadership, foreign invasions and political instability resulting in repeated usurpations and all-out civil war. On the other hand, under some strong emperors, the Empire enjoyed stretches of respite from its woes.There are many elements that lead to the final blow.For years, the well-disciplined Roman army held the barbarians of Germany back. Then in the third century A. D. the Roman soldiers were pulled back from the Rhine-Danube frontier to fight civil war in Italy. This left the Roman border open to attack. Gradually Germanic hunters and herders from the north began to overtake Roman lands in Greece and Gaul. Then in 476 A. D. the Germanic general Odacer or Odovacar overthrew the last of the Roman Emperors, Augustulus Romulus. From then on the western part of the Empire was ruled by Germanic chieftain. Roads and bridges were left in disrepair and fields left untilled. Pirates and bandits made travel unsafe. Cities could not be maintained without goods from the farms, trade and business began to disappear. The Roman Empire had become too big to control easily. Soldiers or families in distant parts of the Empire adopted local customs and the Empire was made up not only of natives from the Italian peninsula, but barbarians from the conquered lands. Corruption became rampant. Slavery and a large discontented mass of people appeared. The reasons for the decline of the Empire are still debated today and likely multiple. Above there are generally three causes for the fall and decline of Roman Empire: social causes, economical causes, and political causes.PART ONESOCIAL CAUSESThe social cause is manifested in many aspects. Slavery and a large discontented mass of people; a decline in the traditional Roman citizenry; moral decay; patriotism declined as people lost their allegiance to the state; Christianity challenged the traditional Roman character traits. These are all the elements that lead to the collapse of the Roman Empire, and the following are some important aspects which have a close relationship with the decline.1.1Decline in morals and valuesEven during PaxRomana --A long period from Augstus to Marcus Aurelius when the Roman Empire was stable and relatively peaceful there were 32,000 prostitutes in Rome. “Emperors like Caligula and Nero became infamous for wasting money on lavish parties where guests drank and ate until they became sick.”(Ru, 72) The most popular amusement was watching the gladiatorial combats in the Colosseum. Emperors like Nero and Caligula became infamous for wasting money on lavish parties where guests ate and drank until they became ill. These were attended by the poor, the rich, and frequently the emperor himself. As gladiators fought, vicious cries and curses were heard from the audience. One contest after another was staged in the course of a single day. “Should the ground become too soaked with blood, it was covered over with a fresh layer of sand and the performance went on.” (Cavafy and J. M. Coetzee, 123)There are a large distance between the rich and the poor. Wealthy Romans lived in a domus, or house, with marble walls, floors with intricate colored tiles, and windows made of small panes of glass. Most Romans, however, were not rich, they lived in small smelly rooms in apartment houses with six or more stories called islands. Each island covered an entire block. At one time there were 44,000 apartment houses within the city walls of Rome. The more shaky wooden stairs a family had to climb, the cheaper the rent became. The upper apartments that the poor rented for $40 a year were hot, dirty, crowed, and dangerous. Anyone who could not pay the rent was forced to move out and live on the crime-infested streets. Because of this cities began to decay. This phenomenon caused a lot of people became discontented with the government.1.2 ChristianityT here were several reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Each one interweaved with the other. Many even blame the initiation of Christianity for the decline. Christianity made many Roman citizens into pacifists, making it more difficult to defend against the barbarian attackers. Also money used to build churches could have been used to maintain the Roman Empire.When Constantine establishedreligious toleration in the Roman Empire, he took upon himself the title of Pontiff. Although he was not necessarily a Christian himself (he wasn‟t baptized until he was on his deathbed), he gave Christians privileges and oversaw major Christian religious disputes. He may not have understood how the pagan cults, including those of the emperors, were at odds with the new monotheistic religion, but they were, and in time the old Roman religions lost out. Although the path from pagan to Christian Rome had a few more hurdles, it was from the time of Constantine that Roman Christianity is dated. At this early point, however, the emperors of Rome controlled the religion since emperors held the power to appoint bishops. Over time, Church leaders became influential and took away power from the emperor. Christian beliefs conflicted with the working of empire.PART TWOECONOMICAL CAUSESHistorian Michael Rostovtzeff and economist Ludwig von Mises both argued that unsound economic policies played a key role in the impoverishment and decay of the Roman Empire. There are many causes economical causes, for example, productivity declined, too much dependence on foreign products, the high cost of government military and welfare, and parts of the empire were not taxed while other were overtaxed and so on.2.1 InflationMany historians argue that the rapid growth of the empire over a relatively short time and the economic inflation that followed contributed substantially to the empire‟s decay. Due to the vast size of the empire, it required an enormous budget to maintain the infrastructure necessary for its survival, including roads (essential for communication, transportation, and the moving of armies) and aqueducts (many cities relied on the water thus provided). Moreover, the empire faced enemies on all sides due to its expansion into their territories, and huge sums of silver and gold wererequired to keep up its armies. To cope with both problems, the empire was forced to raise taxes frequently, and also to adulterate its coins, causing inflation to skyrocket into hyperinflation. The roman economy suffered from inflation (an increase in prices) beginning after the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Once the Romans stopped conquering new lands, the flow of gold into the Roman economy decreased. Yet much gold was being spent by the Romans to pay for luxury items. This meant that there was less gold to use in coins. As the amount of gold used in coins decreased, the coins became less valuable. To make up for this loss in value, merchants raised the prices on the goods they sold. Many people stopped using coins and began to barter to get what they needed. Eventually, salaries had to be paid in food and clothing, and taxes were collected in fruits and vegetables. This in turn caused major economic stresses that some historians regard as central in Rome‟s decline. According to Historian Michael Rostovtzeff and economist Ludwig von Mises , by the 2nd century AD, the Roman Empire had developed a complex market economy in which trade was relatively free. Tariffs were low and laws controlling the prices of foodstuffs and other commodities had little impact because they did not fix the prices significantly below their market levels. After the 3rd century, however, debasement of the currency led to inflation. The price control laws then resulted in prices that were significantly below their free-market equilibrium levels.2.2 Low tradesThe Roman Empire produced few exportable goods. Material innovation, whether through entrepreneurialism or technological advancement, all but ended long before the final dissolution of the Empire. By the 3rd century the monetary economy had collapsed. Monetary taxation was replaced with direct requisitioning, for example taking food and cattle from farmers. Individuals were forced to work at their given place of employment and remain in the same occupation. Farmers became tied to the land, as were their children, and similar demands were made on all other workers, producers, and artisans as well. Workers were organized into guilds and businessesinto corporations called collegian. Both became de facto organs of the state, controlling and directing their members to work and produce for the state. In the countryside people attached themselves to the estates of the wealthy to gain some protection from state officials and tax collectors. These estates, the beginning of feudalism, mostly operated as closed systems, providing for all their own needs and not engaging in trade at all. The low production directly caused the low trade. The economic was becoming loom, so the quality of life also became lower.PART THREEPOLITICAL CAUSESThe roman never solved the problem of succession except during a brief period of time, and the government became increasingly run by the rich and military. As for the citizens, they have gradually lost interest in government as it became distant from them, what‟s more the military became not loyal to the country-it became a job not a mission.3.1 succession problemAmong the problems one of the most difficult problems was choosing a new emperor. Unlike Greece where transition may not have been smooth but was at least consistent, the Romans- never created an effective system to determine how new emperors would be selected. The choice was always open to debate between the old emperor, the S enate, the Praetorian Guard (the emperor‟s private army), and the army. Gradually, the Praetorian Guard gained complete authority to choose the new emperor, who rewarded the guard who then became more influential, perpetuating the cycle. Then in 186 A. D. the army strangled the new emperor, the practice began of sellingthe throne to the highest bidder. During the next 100 years, Rome had 37 different emperors - 25 of whom were removed from office by assassination. This contributed to the overall weaknesses, decline and fall of the empire.3.2 military declineIn The Complete Roman Army(2003) Adrian Goldsworthy, a British military historian sees the causes of the collapse of the Roman Empire n ot in any …decadence‟ in the make-up of the Roman legions, but in a combination of endless civil wars between factions of the Roman Army fighting for control of the Empire. “his inevitably weakened the army and the society, upon which it depended, making it less able to defend itself against the growing of numbers of Rome‟s enemies”(爱德华. 吉本,119)Army still remained a superior fighting instrument to its opponents, both civilized and barbarian; This is shown in the victories over Germanic tribes at the Battle of Strasbourg (357) and in its ability to hold the line against the Sassanid Persians throughout the 4th century. But, says Goldsworthy, “weakening central authority, social and economic problems and, most of all, the continuing grind of civil wars eroded the political capacity to maintain the army at this level.”Writing in the 5th century, the Roman historian Vegetius pleaded for reform of what must have been a greatly weakened army. The historian Arther Ferrill has suggested that the Roman Empire – particularly the military – declined largely as a result of an influx of Germanic mercenaries into the ranks of the legions. This “Germanization” and the resultant cultural dilution or “barbarization” led not only to a decline in the standard of drill and overall military preparedness within the Empire, but also to a decline of loyalty to the Roman government in favor of loyalty to commanders.CONCLUSIONDuring the procedure of the development of Roman Empire, there are many conflicts between the civilization and barbarisms. Griffiths and Tiffin have written: “in English the OED defines …uncivilized‟ as …existing in the lowest stage of culture （1588）‟ ; …pertaining to or characteristic of savages（1614）‟ . ” In some degree the behavior of the roman people is cruel. The empire people invade the town，break the peace-full social environment and ecosystem violently, destroy plants and slaughter wild animals aimlessly, torture and kill innocent people inhumanly, and finally declare a war which will cause immense disaster to the native people，the small town people, and the empire soldiers, it concludes that the so-called civilized empire people are the barbarians in deed, and the so-called barbarians are not brutal at all. This truly barbaric country has many problems as has concerned. The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight," the Empire could never have lasted longer than it did without radical reforms that no Emperor could implement. The Romans had no budgetary system and thus wasted whatever resources they had available. From the ancient times to now, Victory because of plainness and failure because of corrupt ion! , this is a unchanged proverb for thousand year s. On a certain degree, on one hand, loyal and plainness make Rome g o to the glorious; on the other hand, extravagant make the stronger Rome empire can‟ t get away from the history regulation and become t he past of history . The experience and lesson of the rise and fall of Rome Empire are very worth descendant‟s seriously keeping in mind.WORKS CITEDAchcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths，and Helen Tiffin. 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