WH-1: The Fall of the Roman Empire 2
“The two greatest problems in history,” says a brilliant scholar of our time, are “how to
account for the rise of Rome, and how to account for her fall.” We may come nearer to
understanding them if we remember that the fall of Rome, like her rise, had not one
cause but many, and was not an event but a process spread over 300 years. Some
nations have not lasted as long as Rome fell.
Durant, Caesar & Christ, p. 665, quoting J.S. Reid
1) Rome had survived the CRISIS of the 3rd century—but
just barely. The PAX ROMANA established by
AUGUSTUS had ended with the death of MARCUS
AURELIUS, and all parts of the empire had been visited
by war and plague (took 25% of the population)—not
only the frontier provinces but also the regions of Greece
and Asia Minor as well.
2)
The fact that AURELIAN had to build walls around
Rome was testimony to the decline of the power of the
city. Land that had previously been cultivated weren’t
used, and cities & towns could no longer support
themselves because TRADE was disrupted and
INDUSTRY was crippled. The culture that Rome had
made possible was crumbling; the ANCIENT WORLD
was yielding to what history would call the MEDIEVAL
AGE. But before this transition, there was a half-century
of reorganization pulled the empire together again and
postponed its breakup, enabling its fragments to endure,
in some cases, for 1000 additional years.
3)
It began with DIOCLETIAN ascending to the position of
emperor (284 CE) and ends with the death of
CONSTANTINE (337 CE)—the period of time known to
historians as the DOMINATE (from Dominus, meaning
Lord, which was the new title given to the emperor). This
expressed the new NATURE of the empire and the
attitude of subservience and ABSOLUTISM that
characterized its rule.
4)
5)
The new AUTOCRACY was supported by ORIENTAL
practices of pomp and majesty. The leaders were now
specifically referred to as DOMINUS; they wore a
DIADEM on their heads and robes of silk and gold across
their shoulders. They were saluted by their subjects not
with the simple OPEN PALM salute but with the oriental
practice of PROSTRATING before the majestic
personage. An elaborate code of court ETIQUETTE
prevailed; this comes directly from the PERSIAN model.
Diocletian reasoned that, if he could dazzle his rebellious
troops & subjects into submission, peace and order would
follow the REVERANCE for his person. It is difficult to
determine whether such ostentation was a SYMPTOM or
a CAUSE of the empire’s decline.
In 410 CE, Rome’s defenses collapsed after nearly 1000
years as “Mistress of the World.” The city fell to
GERMANIC Gothic invaders, led by ALARIC, whose
army sacked the supposed impregnable community.
6)
The SACK of Rome was a great blow to civilization.
Rome had been regarded as ETERNAL—some believed
that if Rome fell, then so would the WORLD.
7)
Many in Rome still honored the pre-Christian Gods, and
the belief arose that these Gods had been OFFENDED by
establishment of Christianity as Rome’s official religion.
And so, the position arose that CHRISTIANS were
responsible for Rome’s fall.
8)
In HIPPO, an obscure Roman province in North
AFRICA, a Christian bishop named AUGUSTINE
reacted to these charges by writing in defense of the
CHURCH. His book, THE CITY OF GOD, was written
in installments from 413 to 426 CE. In addition to being a
defense of the church, it is also a well-developed
THEOLOGY of history. Written just a few years after
ALARIC’s invasion, here is the theory that Augustine
offered about the fall of Rome: “But what Rome’s tastes
were in its early and subsequent days, and how it declined
in sanguinary seditions and then to social and civil wars,
and so burst asunder or rotted off the bond of concordance
which the health of the people consists, history shows. But
what I say of this people and this republic I must be
understood to think and say of the Athenians or any Greek
state, of the Egyptians, of the early Assyrian Babylon, and
of every other nation, great or small, which had a public
government. For, in general, the city of the ungodly, which
did not obey the command of God that it should offer no
sacrifice save to him alone, and which therefore could not
give to the soul its proper command over the body nor to the
reason its just authority over the vices, is void of true
justice.” And so, Augustine believes that the major reason
for the fall of Rome was MORAL DECAY.
9)
Moral decay is the OLDEST and most PERSISTENT
reason given for decline and fall in general—i.e., not only
of Rome. Augustine basically argued that the moral
DEGENERACY of the Roman community so weakened
the FAMILY, the COMMUNITY, and the STATE that it
could no longer defend itself and died of internal ROT.
This is a very popular although INTELLECTUALLY
IMPOVERISHED view that is often heard today with
regard to our own times; essentially there are people who
are convinced that we are living in the “LAST AGE”
because very few others will live the way they demand.
Thousands of sermons have been written throughout
history using the Roman Empire as a horrible example of
a state that fell because of IMMORALITY, usually
related to sexual activity.
10) However,
this argument is USELESS as an account of
Rome’ decline. The most flagrant immorality of Rome’s
leisure class was during the years 50-100 CE, when the
Empire still had its best days ahead of it, and most people
were hard-working and far too POOR to indulge
themselves with VICE. Yet, it was popular during the
MIDDLE AGES, when people tended to look upon the
PAGAN nature of Rome as the reason why it fell.
11) Augustine’s
CITY OF GOD was among the very first
attempts to describe the fall of Rome and the breakup of
Roman Unity in Western Europe. This debate has
actually raged on since 410 CE. Why did such a mighty
power lose its strength? Why did the highly complex
society revert to more simple and direct ways of living, so
that SURVIVAL itself became a major problem for its
people? We are interested as historians because the quest
for CAUSATION is one of the functions of HISTORY.
And this is why the fall of Rome is worth examining.
Final Essay
WH-1 Drusdow
100 points
Discuss the major theories that have been advanced
to account for the decline and fall of the Roman
Empire. In your view, which theory or combination
of theories best accounts for Rome’s fall? If none
seems adequate, invent one of your own. What do
you consider to be the most important consequences
of the fall of Rome for the subsequent development
of civilization? Also, since Constantinople didn’t
fall until about 1000 years after Rome, be certain to
carefully define precisely what you mean by “the
fall of the Roman Empire.”