As Stephen Goode states (1998, p. 19) Gibbon's magnificent and memorable story is how difficult equilibrium is to maintain. Such equilibrium was based in most part on the emperor's character. A bad emperor would mean mad times. "The evil imperializing genius of Augustus placed this delicate balance in jeopardy," Gibbon writes, as one of his major themes of his book: That is, when imperial power is misused as it often was, the result was sapping the virtue of the state and initiating the decline of the living and strong political life that had maintained Rome during the Republic and created its greatness. Gibbon was the major critic of the Roman Empire, and as detailer of its decline, he explains the loss of the public support and withdrawal of citizens from personal involvement in the life of the empire: "Their personal valor remained, but they no longer possessed that public courage which is nourished by the love of independence, the sense of national honor, the presence of danger, and the habit of command. They received laws and governors from the will of their sovereign, and trusted for their defense to a mercenary army." In other words,...
Under the ruling of their new king, Alaric, the Visigoths decided that they deserved gold in order to live in decency. Since the Roman government refused to support the Germanic tribe, the Visigoths marched on Rome, defeating the numerous forces gathered to defend the city. In spite of the fact that the Romans were better experienced in warfare they did not stand a chance before the more powerful Germanic
Capturing Cruelty in the Opening Scene of John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men The English author and historian Edward Gibbon once wrote that, "The works of man are impotent to the assaults of nature." Nowhere is this philosophical perspective better captured than in the John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. The novel tells the story of two migrant agricultural workers, George Milton and Lennie Small, during the Great Depression in 1930's
E. The voices who argue that America should and could be an imperial superpower, but lacks sound practical judgment. The thesis of this paper is that the history of the Roman Empire can be matched to that of the United States in terms of economy, political power, as well as aspirations. In this sense, present day America is very similar to fourth of even fifth century Rome; this poses one stringent
Decius had come to the throne at a particularly crucial time. Rome had just celebrated its one thousandth year of rule in 247, but the Goths had attacked Rome in 248. Decius had forced the Goths out of the Danube provinces and in return had been hailed emperor by his troops (he would die fighting the Goths in June 251). In the midst of this crisis, Decius appealed to
Thomas Jefferson He was one of the strongest proponents of the aspirations of the American people in new America. Throughout his life, he wore many hats; in addition to being a public official, he was also a philosopher and historian. This text concerns itself with Thomas Jefferson. In so doing, it looks at his life and times and outlines some of his major accomplishments. The text will also briefly highlight some
Carr's What is History? Edward Carr's What is History is a philosophical look at what makes historians. It examines the way we think about history and challenges us to re-examine the way we think about ourselves. Most importantly, it suggests that history is not static but rather an unending discourse between ourselves and the past -- a discourse in which the past is constantly revealing itself and we in turn are
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