Part 20 (1/2)

There were a few non-residents who cultivated the soil by means of slaves, or by _coloni_, or serfs who were bound to the soil. These cla.s.ses were recruited from the conquered provinces. Farming had fallen into disrepute. The small farmers, through the introduction of slavery, were crowded from their holdings and were compelled to join the great unfed populace of the city. Taxation fell heavily and unjustly upon the people. The method of raising taxes by farming them out was a pernicious system that led to gross abuse. All enterprise and all investments were discouraged. There was no inducement for men to enter business, as labor had been dishonored and industry crippled.

The great body of Roman people were divided into two cla.s.ses, those who formed the lower cla.s.ses of laborers and those who had concentrated the wealth of the country in their own hands and held the power of the nation in their own control. The mainstay of the nation had fallen with the disappearance of the sterling middle cla.s.s. The lower cla.s.ses were reduced to a mob by the unjust and unsympathetic treatment received at the hands of the governing cla.s.s.

In the civil administration there was a division of citizens into two cla.s.ses: those who had influence in the local affairs of their towns or neighborhood, and those who were simply interested in the central organization. During the days of the republic these people were closely related, because all citizens were forced to come to Rome in order to have a voice in the political interests of the government.

But during the empire {266} there came about a change, and the citizens of a distant province were interested only in the management of their own local affairs and lost their interest in the general government, so that when the central government weakened there was a tendency for the local interests to destroy the central.

After the close of Constantine's reign very great evils threatened the Roman administration. First of these was the barbarians; second, the populace; and third, the soldiers. The barbarians continually made inroads upon the territory, broke down the governmental system, and established their own, not so much for the sake of destruction and plunder, as is usually supposed, but to seek the betterment of their condition as immigrants into a new territory. That they were in some instances detrimental to the Roman inst.i.tutions is true, but in others they gave new life to the declining empire. The populace was a rude, clamorous ma.s.s of people, seeking to satisfy their hunger in the easiest possible way. These were fed by the politicians for the sake of their influence. The soldiery of Rome had changed. Formerly made up of patriots who marched out to defend their own country or to conquer surrounding provinces in the name of the Eternal City, the ranks were filled with mercenary soldiers taken from the barbarians, who had little interest in the perpetuation of the Roman inst.i.tutions.

They had finally obtained so much power that they set up an emperor, or dethroned him, at their will.

And finally it may be said that of all these internal maladies and external dangers, the decline in moral worth of the Roman nation is the most appalling. Influenced by a broken-down philosophy, degenerated in morals, corrupt in family and social life, the whole system decayed, and could not withstand the shock of external influence.

_Summary of Roman Civilization_.--The Roman contribution, then, to civilization is largely embraced in the development of a system of government with forms and functions which have been perpetuated to this day; the development of a system of law which has found its place in all modern legal {267} codes; a beautiful and rich language and literature; a few elements of art and architecture; the development of agriculture on a systematic basis; the tendency to unify separate races in one national life; the practice of the art of war on a humane basis, and the development of the munic.i.p.al system of government which has had its influence on every town of modern life. These are among the chief contributions of the Roman system to the progress of humanity.

While it is common to talk of the fall of the Roman Empire, Rome is greater to-day in the perpetuity of her inst.i.tutions than during the glorious days of the republic or of the magnificent rule of the Caesars. Rome also left a questionable inheritance to the posterity of nations. The idea of imperialism revived in the empire of Charlemagne, and later in the Holy Roman Empire, and, cropping out again and again in the monarchies of new nations, has not become extinct to this day.

The recent World War gave a great shock to the idea of czarism. The imperial crowns of the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs, the Romanoffs, and the royal crowns of minor nations fell from the heads of great rulers, because the Emperor of Germany overworked the idea of czarism after the type of imperial Rome. But the idea is not dead. In shattered Europe, the authority and infallibility of the state divorced from the partic.i.p.ation of the people, though put in question, is yet a smouldering power to be reckoned with. It is difficult to erase Rome's impress upon the world.

SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. How were the Greeks and Romans related racially?

2. Difference between the Greek and the Roman att.i.tude toward life.

3. What were the land reforms of the Gracchi?

4. What advancement did the Romans make in architecture?

5. What were the internal causes of the decline of Rome?

6. Why did the Celts and the Germans invade Rome?

7. Enumerate the permanent contributions of Rome to subsequent civilization.

[1] Hadley, _Introduction to Roman Law_.

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CHAPTER XVI

THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

_Important Factors in the Foundation of Western Civilization_.--When the European world entered the period of the Middle Ages, there were a few factors more important than others that influenced civilization.[1]

(1) The Oriental cultures, not inspiring as a whole, left by-products from Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Egypt. These were widely spread through the influence of world wars and world empires. (2) The Greek cultures in the form of art, architecture, philosophy, and literature, and newer forms of political and social organization were widely diffused. (3) The Romans had established agriculture, universal centralized government and citizens.h.i.+p, and developed a magnificent body of law; moreover, they had formed a standing army which was used in the support of monarchy, added some new features to architecture and industrial structures, and developed the Latin language, which was to be the carrier of thought for many centuries. (4) The Christian religion with a new philosophy of life was to penetrate and modify all society, all thought, government, law, art, and, in fact, all phases of human conduct. (5) The barbarian invasion carried with it the Teutonic idea of individual liberty and established a new practice of human relations.h.i.+ps. It was vigor of life against tradition and convention.

With these contributions, the European world was to start out with the venture of mediaeval civilization, after the decline of the Roman Empire.

_The Social Contacts of the Christian Religion_.--Of the factors enumerated above, none was more powerful than the teaching of the Christians. For it came in direct contrast and opposition to established opinions and old systems. It was also constructive, for it furnished a definite plan of social order different from all existing ones, which it opposed. The {269} religions of the Orient centred society around the temple. Among all the Semitic races, Babylonian, a.s.syrian, and Hebrew, temple wors.h.i.+p was an expression of religious and national unity. National G.o.ds, national wors.h.i.+p, and a priesthood were the rule. Egypt was similar in many respects, and the Greeks used the temple wors.h.i.+p in a limited degree, though no less real in its influences.

The Romans, though they had national G.o.ds, yet during the empire had liberalized the right of nations to wors.h.i.+p whom they pleased, provided nothing was done to militate against the Roman government, which was committed to the wors.h.i.+p of certain G.o.ds, in which the wors.h.i.+p of the emperor became a more or less distinctive feature. The Christian teaching recognized no national G.o.ds, no national religion, but a world G.o.d who was a father of all men. Furthermore, it recognized that all men, of whatsoever race and country, were brethren. So this doctrine of love crossed boundaries of all nations and races, penetrated systems of religion and philosophy, and established the idea of international and universal brotherhood.