Dr. Vess's World Civilization Virtual Library

The History of Rome Through the Pax Romana

OBJECTIVES:


1.  Be able to discuss the mythology surrounding the founding of

Rome relying on the accounts of Virgil and Livy.



2.  Be able to discuss the political structure of the Roman

Republic and the divisions between the Roman classes.



3.  Be able to discuss the "Noble Roman Virtues" and to critically

analyze Rome's history for the presence or the absence of these

"virtues."



4.  Be able to discuss Rome's expansion from a city on the Tiber

River to master of the Mediterranean.  



5.  Be able to discuss the consequences of this expansion on the

relationship between the plebeians and the patricians, the Roman

countryside and on the nature of Roman politics.



6.  Be able to discuss the careers and reforms of the Reformers.



7.  Be able to discuss the corruption of Republican values under

the Reformers.



8.  Be able to discuss the rise of Rome's first emperor, Augustus,

and his corruption of Republican values.



9.  Be able to discuss the achievements of Rome's first emperor,

Augustus.



10.  Be able to trace the decline of roman politics from the death

of Augustus to Septimus Severus.




FOOD FOR THOUGHT:



What was the function of the Roman Coliseum?  Reflect on Rome's use

of organized, state-supported atrocities against fellow humans.  If

you were a human rights activist living in ancient Rome, what would

your arguments be for abolishing the Coliseum?



If you had lived in the period following the reign of Augustus,

what would your response have been to Rome's social evils?



Based on your reflections, are there any lessons which modern

society could learn from the ancient Romans?







     The ancient Romans created one of the world's most powerful

and wide-spread empires in the world.  The Roman legionnaires

defeated the remaining Greek city states, eliminated Carthage, and

went on to control the Mediterranean.  Theirs was an empire founded

on noble the Roman virtues of piety, respect for authority, law and

common customs.  Yet theirs was also an empire founded on utter

barbarity and symbolized by the Roman Coliseum.  The Roman thirst

for violence and bloodshed reached legendary proportions. 

Corrupted by the love for power, fame and glory, Roman society fell

to the onslaught of the barbarians, illustrating Augustine's point

that all societies were destined to fall, for they were founded due

to human depravity.  Even a society which had "ruled the world" for

1000 years was ultimately not exempt from the laws of nature. 

Nevertheless, the Romans have left to the west the legacy of law

and constitutionalism, and the image of empire, upon which many

great military leaders would draw, from Napoleon to Peter the

Great.       







     While stands the Coliseum, Rome

               shall stand;

     When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall;

     And when Rome falls -- the world.

               Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, st.  145.



     Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.

               Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, III, ii, 22.  

     For Brutus is an honorable man; so are they all, all honorable

               men.

               Ibid., III, ii, 88.

     

     The people's good is the highest law..       

               Cicero, De Legibus, III, 3.

     Civis Romanus sum.  (I am a Roman citizen.)

               Cicero, In Verrum, V, 57.

     Let arms yield to the toga, the laurel crown to praise.

               Cicero, De Officiis, I, 22.

     

     

     I've stood on Achilles' tomb, and heard Troy doubted;       

     time will doubt of Rome.

               Byron, Don Juan, canto III, st.  101.



attributed to Julius Caesar:

     

     I love treason but hate a traitor.

               From Plutarch's lives, Romulus, sec.  17.

     I had rather be the first man among fellows than the second

          man in Rome.

               From Plutarch's Caesar, sec.  11.

     Alea Iacta est.  (The die is cast.)  Caesar as he crossed the

          Rubicon, from Plutarch's Caesar, sec.  32.

     Veni, vidi, vici.  I came, I saw, I conquered.

          Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, Lulius, sec.  37.

     It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear, but the

          pale and hungry-looking.

          From Plutarch's Anthony, sec.  11.

               

attributed to Augustus:



     I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.

               Suetonius, Augustus, 28.



     After this time I surpassed all others in authority, but had

     no more power than the others who were also my colleagues in

     office.

               Augustus,  Res Gestae, 34.



     The ape, vilest of beasts, how like to us.

               attributed to Quintus Ennius, in Cicero, De Natura

               Deorum, bk.  I, ch.  35.



     We can endure neither our evils nor their cures.

               Livy, History of Rome, Prologue.



                            OUTLINE 





I.  The Achievement of Rome



     i.  "A captive Greece took Rome Captive"

     ii.  the legacy of law

     iii.  the legacy and imagery of the empire:

               Charlemagne

               Napoleon

               Peter the Great

               Hitler



II.  The Early Romans



     i.  their struggles with the Etruscans

     ii.  the legendary founding of Rome -- 753 b.c.

     iii.  the Latium plain 

     iv.  the Tiber River

               the pontifex and the bridge over the Tiber

               the legacy of the sacred pontifex -- the Roman

                    pontif

     v.  the defeat of the Etruscans in 509 b.c.

III. The Roman Republic

     i.  Polybius's 
     
     Roman Constitution

     ii.  the consuls

               election by citizens 

               1 year term

               veto power ("I forbid")

               their powers

     iii.  the senate

               elder statesmen

               their powers 

     iv.  the divisions of Roman Society:

               the Patricians (Pater = father)

               the Plebeians

                    no intermarriage

                    no political office

                    citizenship and taxation

                    service in the army

     v.  The virtues of the noble Romans:

               pietas:  respect for authority and tradition

               religio:  common beliefs

               fides:  faithfulness to one's duty

               gravitas:  seriousness, manliness

               the meaning of Roman virtue:  attributes of

                    manliness

               respect for legality and constitutionality



IV.  Plebian reforms:



     A.  The Tribunate and the Plebian assembly   

          the veto

     B.  The Sexto-Licinian Laws -- 367 b.c.

               Plebians gain the right to be consul

               right of intermarriage

     C.  The Hortensian Law -- 287 b.c.

               binding laws passed in Plebian Assembly without the

                    approval of the senate



V.  The Expansion of Rome



     A.  The Pyrrhic Wars 281-272 b.c.

          i.  The Defeat of the Romans at Heraclea:

               Another such victory over the Romans, and we are

                    undone!

                    From Plutarch's Pyrrhus, sec.  21.

                    Pyrrhic victory

          ii.  the victory of Rome

    B.  The Punic Wars:

          i.  Carthage and the Phoenecians (Punicus)

          ii.  the first Punic War 264-241 b.c.

                    the Roman bridge from ship to ship

                    Punic defeat

          iii.   the second Punic War 218-201 b.c.

                    Hannibal

                    Scipio Africanus

                    the effect on the Roman countryside:

                         the latifundia

          iv.  the third Punic War 149-146 b.c.



               Delenda est Carthago.  Carthage must be destroyed!

                    Cato the Elder.                    



               the final defeat of Carthage: 

                    the salting of Carthage's land

               Roman control of the Mediteranean!

            v. 
            Warfare of Ancient Rome

VI.  Continued Expansion:



     A.   Britain

          Gaul

          Asia

     B.  Visual resources:  The Grandeur of Ancient Rome

           i.   
           Roman Architecture: roads, aqueducts and other notable building projects

           ii.  
           
           The Pompeii Forum Projectexplore daily life in the Roman Empire

     C.  the problems of Empire

          i.   corruption in the provinces

          ii.  continued class struggle:

                    poverty in the cities



VII.  The Reformers



          The Gracchi



     A.  Tiberius Gracchus -- 133 b.c.

          i.  land reform

          ii.  illegal by passing of the senate

          iii.  illegal reelection

          iv.  his assassination by the senate

     B.  Gaius Gracchus -- 123 b.c.

          i.  support of the equestrians

          ii.  loyalty of the military transferred to ruler rather

                    than to empire!

          iii.  his assassination by the senate

     C.  Marius -- 107 b.c.

          i.  increasing power of the military

          ii.  new land for service in military

     D.  Sulla -- 79 b.c.

          i.  senate doubled in size

    E.  Julius Caesar

          i.  alliance with Pompey and Crassus

          ii.  his military success

          iii.  his recall in 49 b.c.

          iv.  the crossing of the Rubicon

          v.  he is declared dictator for life in 46 b.c.

               title -- imperator 

                    foundation for emperor

          vi.  His reforms

          vii.  assassination on the Ides of March:

                    March 15, 44 b.c.

     F.  Summary of the Reformers:

          i.  concern for Plebians

          ii.  violation of Republican principles.





VIII.  The Roman Empire



     A.  the struggle for power after Caesar:

               Marc Antony and Cleopatra

               Octavius

               the battle of Actium -- 31 b.c.

     B.  Octavius takes Rome: 27 b.c.

          i.  new name = Augustus, "revered one"

          ii.  his power -- the usurpation of all powerful

                    positions!

                    emperor in every way but name

                    the Princeps of Rome -- first citizen

          iii.  his reforms:

                    return to old Roman Values:

                    the family

                    loyalty to Rome -- the Aeneid

                    control of the military

          iv.  the Pax Romana -- 200 years of peace and prosperity!

                    thriving trade

                    the Silver Age of Roman Culture

                         Virgil 

                         Horace 

                         Livy

          v.  the loss of republican values



     C.  The Julio Claudian emperors:

          i.  the succession crisis

          ii.  Tiberius

          iii.  Caligula

          iv.  Nero



    D.  The Army takes control 

          i.  Vespasian

          ii.  Domitian

                    succession resolved by the Senate

          iii.  Trajan

          iv.  Hadrian

          v.  degeneration of the military:

               Commodus

          vi.  Septimus Severus (193-211 a.d.)

                    Julia Donna -- portrait of a woman in the

                         empire

IX.  The Beginning of Trouble on the Frontiers         



       The Barbarians in the third century

          the Franks

          the Alemanni