Romans Challenges of the Roman

¶ … Romans Challenges of the Roman Empire The Roman Empire was vast, consisting of near and far away lands, rulers, slaves, common men, and soldiers. Like all empires it faced challenges both within and from without. This paper will examine some of the challenges that were faced by the common soldier, the conquered peoples, the conqueror generals, and the Emperor.

The common soldier or legionary "had to be a Roman citizen" (Spielvogel 157), but as the Empire grew, fewer Italians desired to serve in the army, so recruits were picked up from the outer provinces -- territories Rome had already conquered and absorbed into the Empire. The common soldier did more than fight. He was a traveler, a conduit of the Roman culture.

The Latin language spread thanks to the Roman soldier whose camp was a "center for the spread of the Latin language and Roman institutions and ways of thought and conduct" (Spielvogel 157). But this of course was not the common soldier's main duty: that was to defend and protect the Empire. The common soldier had to face life like a nomad -- a wanderer. The soldiers' camps, with their women and slaves, however, opened a line of trade and settlement which grew into cities -- like the city of Cologne (Spielvogel 157).

Being a soldier in Roman times was almost like being a settler on the wild frontier. Then what was it like for the conquered? Being conquered by the Romans was not necessarily a bad thing (unless you were made a slave). For those who were simply made citizens, it was in some ways an improvement. For example, the Romans had created some of the most advanced water carrying systems in the world. The famous aqueducts are testimonies to that.

The Romans did not conquer and leave the conquered in misery: they incorporated them into their world and transmitted their way of life to them. This was a process called Romanization: the conquered provinces received a governing body, temples, theaters, language. Perhaps the greatest difficulty the conquered faced, however, was the loss of autonomy -- but even this was not too terrible. The Romans did not set out to crush the conquered, but to unite them; thus, a certain amount of autonomy was still permitted.

The conquerors/generals, of course, differed. Julius Caesar, perhaps the greatest Roman general (and the one who opened the door to a succession of emperors), gave back to the citizens of Rome what he won in conquest. For this he was greatly loved. One of the difficulties of being a general, on the other hand, was knowing when to check your ambition. Caesar crossed the Rubicon and changed the course of history because he preferred to rule rather than take orders.

Others like Marius and Sulla caused much bloodshed because their ambition got in the way of their better sense. As for Emperors, they had perhaps the hardest lot of all: governing an entire empire. This was no easy thing. The first emperor, Caesar Augustus spent much time in war simply trying to hold onto his power. Succeeding emperors had to face the rising tide of.