The Nature and Impact of International Contacts on the Major Civilizations between 350 BC and 300 AD

Romans

In Rome, there were three kind of government, which co-existed together. These were monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. In spite of three kinds of government that existed together there was perfect balance maintained between them. All three forms of government were in so much balance that it was hard to determine that whether Rome was monarchy, aristocracy or a democracy. However if the council members presented a completely different idea on any issue the government would act in a monarchial way. As far as the power and strength of the senate was considered it changed into aristocracy. Last of all it would be impossible to dominate a famous state if respect was only to be shared by the people in administration of affairs (Giardina, 1993). This therefore led to a gradual decline of the Roman government. Many states were appointed to particular branches of the constitution were:

The masterminds behind all public affairs and who were the commanders at the battlefield were the administrators when they were in Rome. Excluding the tribunes, all the other representatives were answerable to them and had to abide by their orders. Ambassadors were then introduced into the senate. They suggest ideas regarding any issue that was under a debate in the senate and to lead all forms that were seen in making the commands. It was their duty to make sure that the affairs were conducted on a daily basis, to call the general assemblies to inform them of the issues being raise in the senate, and to correct things that were decided by majority. No one knew that it was slowly leading the governments toward the end of their glorious rule. They had an absolute control and right in the preparations made in war including all the representatives in the field. However, for them it was simply imposing upon the allies whatever services they liked. This included appointing military generals, to invade regions, to make taxes, which were very essential, and to punish the refugees in the field. Their extravagant lifestyle urged them to throw as much money as they wanted from the national treasury in this a quester was always present to obey every command passed by them. Therefore, after seeing the scenario everyone agreed on the fact that the government was being run in a way it would provide welfare to the people. Instead, it only intended to use the national treasury for their private needs. Negligence shown at the part of the senators resulted in a collapse of the government.

The decision of inflow and outflow of money from the treasury was also decided by them. Not only were these but the questers also not given the permission to put this money in us at specific occasions. This money was then put to use for adding luxury to the live of the senators. The money for development work in roads and buildings was handed over to the censors. The senate was also responsible for any crimes committed in the premises of Italy, such as treasons, conspiracies, poisonings, and planned murders, which called for some serious actions to be taken by the legal authorities. This then became the root cause of any controversies taking place between different classes in the city (Kamm 2008).

Furthermore when consul was not available senate use to deal with the people who come to reside in Rome thus giving aristocratic impression to most visitors. Senate seemed to exercise unlimited power on field which created doubts and raised many questions in people minds as to whether their saying was given importance or not or was it all about senate.

The factors that led to decline or fall of Rome were many. These factors did not appear all of a sudden and there was a gradual process that took place, which finally led to the fall of Rome. However, it is still unclear that which factor played the most part in the fall of Rome was it due to internal conflicts or due to the external treats faced by the Rome. Whatever the reason was but one thing was quite clear that Rome fell and fell with a huge noise. It was very clear that many Roman emperors had become greedy and their lust for power had become visible and so had their evil plans to get that power. That's why we see that before Rome fell there were series of political assassinations of some of the key figures in the Roman Empire like Julius Caesar by the hands of the politicians and the senator themselves. Even when the Rome was burning, the key political figures were busy sorting out their ranks instead of addressing the issues at hand and solving them. Rome finally fell in a.D. 476 but it is quite clear that its decline was a process that has been going on for several years. One another factor that also contributed in downfall in one of the world most established and talked about empires was the weakness of the assemblies. As discussed earlier three forms of government were simultaneously running at the same time. In the beginning all these three forms of government were able to manage and balance them in such a manner that is was hard to call Rome democracy, aristocracy or a monarchy. Unfortunately, what Romans use to pride became their weaknesses as with the passage of time role of the Assemblies weakened and their overall contribution in state affairs declined. It was obvious that with the increase in power of senate power of assemblies had to decline and this is what happened in Rome. There were three assemblies, which were namely Old Patrician Assembly, Centuries and assembly of the tribe. The Old Patrician assembly had very little influence, as it was reduce to mere shadows. While the assemblies of the centuries and the tribes were quite influential and held importance in legislative bodies. There were two reasons as to why the role of assemblies declined gradually and the first reason was that as they grew in size they were asked only to vote in favor or against a particular issue instead of formulating issues themselves, as a result they lost their independent position. The second reason was that as senate grew in power it became a custom to first submit bills and proposal to the senate which were to be passed by them as a result this adversely affected the role of assemblies in decision making and they became weak and inefficient (Christ 1985). People always take pride in their State when they are being valued and their demands are heard and their issues addressed but with weak assemblies and so much power in the hand of senate, the result was obvious. At the same time where the powerful emperors and members of senate were busy fighting among themselves for power at that same time there were external threats looming upon the Roman Empire. Rome was at war from many fronts and many territories were lost in this process. The Roman political system gave very limited freedom to its military. In order to run and maintain such a huge force which for so many centuries has maintain its presence continuous supply of goods and all other commodities were required by the army. This was not the case and after every short interval the Roman Army was provided with their stuff only after the senate approved after passing an express order. Since now majority of the time was spent by the key influencing figures in planning out attempts to gain more power and assassinating the key influential figures in Rome this front was continuously neglected as a result without supplies the army was not able to hold back and maintain their positions in areas that were in their control and in areas which were conquered by them. The newly emerging Persian Empire emerged as a great threat and later before Rome fell their attacks on the Roman Empire played a very significant role in the downfall of Roman Empire. The most alarming part of this battle was that during these encounter many experienced legions of Rome were either captured or killed and with they no longer available uncertainty and fear prevailed in the Roman Army camps. Slowly and gradually vast areas of Roman Empire were lost which resulted in humiliation and demoralized the army and the people living in Rome (Burrell 1991).