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Imperial Rome was a curious mixture of splendour and decadence. Rome ruled the Western world,
including the entire coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. It sent an army to Britain and an ambassador to India, and it built the finest roads the world had ever seen. But all those roads led to a troubled city. During
the first three centuries of imperial Rome, 50 emperors occupied the throne, and 37 of them died violent deaths. They were slain by their wives, mistresses, soldiers, friends, and rivals. Imperial Rome began in chaos. Gaius Julius Caesar
had vanquished every foreign enemy he met, but at home in Rome, he fell under the knives of 23 of his countrymen. Soon his successors fought a civil war among themselves. The victors formed a triumvirate, which quickly dissolved. One of the leaders,
Mark Antony, went to Egypt. There, like Julius Caesar before him, he was
beguiled by the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. They lived openly as lovers until
30 BC when, following Antony's defeat by another Roman, Octavian, they committed suicide.Now the supreme ruler, Octavian took the name
Augustus
and inaugurated a 200-year period called the Pax Romana. The pax was peaceful only in comparison with more chaotic periods in history. The empire, though solid, was troubled by rebellions and invasions. Rome reigned supreme, however, throughout the Mediterranean world. Augustus completed the conquest of Spain and sent an expedition to Arabia. His only major defeat came in Germany, where his legions marched to the River Elbe, but were forced back by a German rebellion. The River Rhine, which might have become a major artery of commerce in the empire, became instead a moat, marking a boundary of the empire.
Augustus and his successors drew their power from the support of the Roman people. In the process they changed the meaning of the word "Roman". At first the title applied only to aristocratic citizens of Rome, but it
was later expanded to include all the city's free adult males, then adult freemen throughout Italy, and finally people throughout the empire—a realm of 80 million inhabitants. The emperors, too, came not only from Rome
and Italy, but from Spain, Carthage, Dalmatia, and Thrace. Since there were no formal rules for the selection of emperors, they often came to power with the help of commoners, most often soldiers. To the delight of
their followers, the emperors enjoyed humbling the nobility and the wealthy. The Senate, once the centre of power and nobility, became a rubber stamp for imperial policy. To show his contempt for the once haughty
senators, one emperor forced them to debate the question: "How should turbot be cooked?" The emperors provided various kinds of public assistance to the poor, including "bread and circuses". At the Colosseum crowds of
50,000 and more watched mock sea battles, gladiatorial combats, and, during the reign of the emperor Nero, the tormenting of Christians.An elaborate bureaucracy helped stabilize the empire but also contributed to its collapse. It intervened in public affairs to provide relief
for the poor and funds for the army. Decade by decade its powers grew. Through taxation and confiscation, the bureaucracy came to control vast amounts of land. The mines were nationalized, and wool and cloth were woven
in state-run factories. The state created a national bank and laid down maximum prices and wages. To help the unemployed, it banned mechanization so that winches were not allowed to be used for hoisting columns for the
Capitol. Rome funded some of these programmes by a dangerous method—debasing the currency. The silver denarius, for example, became year by year the copper denarius. The Romans were at their best as engineers
and lawyers. They built roads and waterways, viaducts and aqueducts, as well as baths, quays, and ampitheatres. Many of these structures still stand. In their legal codes they showed a passion for order. Through such
measures as the Institutes of Justinian and the Laws of the XII Tables, they created codes that served as an example to lawmakers for hundreds of years. Many of the emperors were decadent, but there were several who
were noble. Marcus Aurelius
ruled during what was called the Golden Age of the empire, 161-180. His Meditations
is one of the classics of Western thought. It included these words: "Blot out vain pomp; check impulse; quench appetite; keep reason under its own control". Constantine the Great, who ruled from 306 to 337, moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium (renaming it
Constantinople). He is best remembered for granting religious tolerance to the Christians.Rome's fall would come at the hands of barbarian invaders. But first came the decline that gave the invaders their
opportunity. Taxes and bureaucracy undermined business. The citizens of Rome lost the drive that had characterized the early republic. This lethargy was most apparent in the reluctance of Romans to serve in the army.
Towards the end, Rome was protected—inadequately—by mercenaries. During the 2nd century Goths
looted Greece and Asia Minor. During the 3rd century the Parthians, bent on establishing an empire of their own, reached Antioch. By the 5th century the barbarians roamed at will through the western part of the empire. Rome fell to
Alaric I
in 410, and after a reprieve of a few decades, in 476 the Goths deposed the last Roman emperor of the west, Romulus Augustulus. |
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