Before The Fall Of Rome Dbq
“Loves are like empires: when the idea they are founded upon crumbles, they, too, fade away” - Milan Kundera. Even something as strong as love can crumble, and such was the case with the Roman Empire. The Romans forged a powerful empire that could have been just as strong as the power of love. It all began in 753 BCE when Rome was first founded on the Italian peninsula. The humble village on the palatine grew and grew, until eventually it became a Republic in 509 BCE, “Rome’s rise to power came with the thrust of a spear and the slash of the sword.”(background essay) Yet even in times of war, Rome before the fall was a stable place with a sturdy government. In 31 BCE, the Roman Republic turned to empire with “territory from modern-day Scotland
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For one, as reported by Priscus, a Roman ambassador(449 CE), who was interviewing a former citizen of Rome: “the condition of Roman subjects during a time of peace [was] worse than war.”(Doc. E) The Roman people were in bad shape because of an unfair law, “taxes [were] very severe, and unprincipled men inflict[ed] injuries on others.”(Doc. E) The dire situation convinced the Roman citizens more and more that they should protest. And when the people did fight back, internal problems surfaced in Rome. However, not only were there harsh taxes causing turmoil, the Roman government was corrupt as well. “The climax of misery is to have to pay in order to obtain justice.”(Doc. E) The rich were bribing the lawmakers so they could get out of facing the law, and the poor didn’t have enough money to get out of punishment as well! Therefore, a great hatred between the rich and the poor was established. Rome may have been able to withstand battles on the outside, but if faced harsh battles within. The patricians believed that they could get away with whatever they wanted to, all they had to do was pay. Murder, theft, abuse and bribery were now tolerated in a place that would not have allowed them to be before. To sum up, Rome’s destruction was induced by legal injustice inside the
For one, as reported by Priscus, a Roman ambassador(449 CE), who was interviewing a former citizen of Rome: “the condition of Roman subjects during a time of peace [was] worse than war.”(Doc. E) The Roman people were in bad shape because of an unfair law, “taxes [were] very severe, and unprincipled men inflict[ed] injuries on others.”(Doc. E) The dire situation convinced the Roman citizens more and more that they should protest. And when the people did fight back, internal problems surfaced in Rome. However, not only were there harsh taxes causing turmoil, the Roman government was corrupt as well. “The climax of misery is to have to pay in order to obtain justice.”(Doc. E) The rich were bribing the lawmakers so they could get out of facing the law, and the poor didn’t have enough money to get out of punishment as well! Therefore, a great hatred between the rich and the poor was established. Rome may have been able to withstand battles on the outside, but if faced harsh battles within. The patricians believed that they could get away with whatever they wanted to, all they had to do was pay. Murder, theft, abuse and bribery were now tolerated in a place that would not have allowed them to be before. To sum up, Rome’s destruction was induced by legal injustice inside the