Chapter 5: The Roman Empire 

Pre-reading

A. Skim and scan the following passage and answer the following questions.

1. In his efforts to solve the problems Rome had faced during the late Republic, what changes did Augustus make in Rome 's political, military, and social institutions ?

2. What were the chief features of the Roman Empire at its height during the second century?

3. What problems did the Roman Empire face during the third century?

4. What reforms did Diocletian and Constantine institute, and were they successful in solving the empire's problems?

Reading

After Caesar's heir Octavian defeated his last rivals, the Senate in 27 bc proclaimed him Augustus , meaning the exalted or holy one . In this way Augustus established the monarchy that became known as the Roman Empire . The empire would endure for another 500 years until ad 476 .

Augustus reigned from 27 bc to ad 14 and ruled with absolute power. He reestablished political and social stability and launched two centuries of prosperity called the Roman Peace . Under his rule the Roman state began its transformation into the greatest and most influential political institution in European history. During the first two centuries ad the empire flourished and added new territories, notably ancient Britain , Arabia, and Dacia (present-day Romania ). People from the Roman provinces streamed to Rome , where they became soldiers, bureaucrats, senators, and even emperors. Rome developed into the social, economic, and cultural capital of the Mediterranean world. Most emperors ruled sensibly and competently until military and economic disasters brought on the political instability of the 3rd century ad .

The  Roman Empire  covered a huge amount of territory, but also allowed people of many different cultures to retain their heritage into modern times. The empire helped to develop the art, literature, and philosophy of the Greeks, the religious and ethical system of the Jews, the new religion of the Christians, Babylonian astronomy and astrology, and cultural elements from Persia , Egypt , and other eastern civilizations. The Romans supplied their own peculiar talents for government, law, and architecture and also spread their Latin language. In this way they created the Greco-Roman combination of cultural elements that has shaped what we call the Western tradition .

The Romans formed that combination during the longest continuous period of peaceful prosperity that the Mediterranean world has ever known. Even after a German invader in ad 476 deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last emperor residing in Rome , emperors who called themselves “Roman” (although they are known historically as Byzantine) continued to rule in Constantinople until ad 1453. The impact of the Roman people endures until the present day.

By 30 bc Octavian was the unchallenged successor to Caesar and the master of Rome . In 27 B.C., Octavian, in his own words, “transferred the Republic from my own power to the authority of the Senate and the Roman people.” This action showed shrewd political planning, as he used it purely for public show. The Senate proclaimed him Augustus, the supreme ruler. He preferred the title princeps, meaning “first citizens of the state.” The system of rule established by Augustus conveyed the idea of a constitutional monarch as co-ruler with the senate. Augustus carefully retained the titles of traditional offices to disguise his absolute power.

In this constitutional order, the basic government structure consisted of the princeps (Augustus) and an aristocratic senate. Augustus kept the senate as the chief deliberative body of the Roman state. The decrees of the senate, examined in advance by the princeps, now had the effect of law. Augustus resigned the consulship in 23 B.C. when he assumed the powers of a tribune, which enabled him to propose laws or veto law-making act. By observing proper legal forms for his power, Augustus proved highly popular. To secure the Roman peace with his power, Augustus continued his control of the army.

Augustus was eager to stabilize the military and administrative structures for the empire. To ensure the peace of the empire and the security of the princeps, a strong army was needed to guard the frontiers of the empire and to maintain domestic order within the provinces. Augustus maintained a standing army of 28 legions, or about 15,000 men, recruited only from among the citizens. He also maintained auxiliary troops, around 130,000 men, recruited from the conquered peoples and established the praetorian ( 执政官的 ) guard responsible for the safety of the emperor.

Under the Republic, the senate had appointed the provincial governors. Now Augustus could assign talented individual senators to be provincial governors, and an advisory council of senators was established to set the lawmaking agenda and make recommendations to the emperor. This system allowed him to work with many senators whom he might later select for high office.

Augustus also stabilized the frontiers of the Roman Empire . He conquered the central and maritime Alps and then expanded Roman control of the Balkan peninsula up to the Danube River . But he failed in his attempt to conquer Germany when three Roman legions were killed in A.D. by a coalition of German tribes, which prevented him from further expansion in central Europe . Augustus' difficulties had convinced him that “the empire should not be extended beyond its present frontiers.” His defeats in Germany taught him that Rome 's power was not limited.

The Romans believed that political corruption in the late republic was connected to moral decline. Immoral sexual behavior and the pursuit of political advancement led members of the upper classes to avoid marriage, divorce more frequently, and have fewer traditional relationships. As a result, the Roman population, already greatly diminished by the civil wars, experienced a noticeable decline in the birth rate. In response Augustus added an important moral dimension to his political program. He passed legislation to encourage marriage and childbearing. The unmarried and the childless suffered political and financial penalties while those with three or more children received special privileges. Augustus also made adultery a criminal offense , sending his own daughter, Julia, into exile for having illicit sexual affairs.

The emperor made other efforts to be identified with the traditional Roman values typical of a conservative agrarian society with strong family networks. The Romans were hardworking and frugal, self-reliant and cautious, serious about their responsibilities and steadfast in the face of adversity. The stress on family responsibility was evident in the idea of pietas , the belief that all Romans owed loyalty to family authority and to the gods of Rome . The emperor's Italian supporters outside of the senatorial elite were devoted to traditional religion as well as conventional morality, so Augustus revived neglected ceremonies and restored 82 temples that had fallen into ruins. In commemoration of his victory at Philippi over Caesar's murderers, Augustus built a new temple to the war god, Mars, and gave him the additional title of “the Avenger.” Augustus also held splendid celebrations to mark the anniversary of the founding of Rome .

As the result of his long reign, Augustus left a legacy of peace and prosperity to the Roman people. He reduced class warfare in the city, and his new political system ended civil conflict for the first time in a century. Internal peace revived Roman patriotism and economic prosperity, and Augustus improved the defense of the frontiers and the administration of the provinces. Some senators lamented the loss of their “freedom,” but the benefits of Augustus's rule far outweighed the costs to senatorial privileges. His new political system, which is known as the Roman Empire, brought peace and prosperity that lasted, with the exception of the brief civil war of ad 69, for two hundred years.

On his deathbed at the age of 76 in ad 14, Augustus asked those assembled around him if he had played his part well in the “comedy of life.” Augustus had played many roles well. He had begun as the dutiful heir of Caesar and then transformed himself into the ruthless young military commander, the self-righteous moralist, and the shrewd politician of reconstruction. Augustus was also a generous patron ( 赞助者 ) of literature and art and, in his final decades, the father figure who provided food, entertainment, and security to the Roman people. The Greeks had called Augustus a god in his lifetime, and at his death the Romans deified ( 神化 ) him as well.

The rule of Augustus brought social stability, economic revival, and efficient administration to Rome , and there was no serious opposition to his choice of his stepson Tiberius as his successor. By designating a family member as princes, he established the Julio-Claudian dynasty (14—68); his next four successors were related either to his own family or to that of his wife, Livia.

During the reigns of the Julio-Claudians several major tendencies emerged. In general, more and more of the responsibilities that Augustus had given to the senate tended to be taken over by the emperors, who also instituted an imperial bureaucracy, staffed by talented freedmen, to run the government on a daily basis As the Julio-Claudian successors of Augustus acted more openly as real rulers rather than “first citizens of the state,” the opportunity for arbitrary and corrupt acts also increased. Nero  ( ad 54-68) freely murdered people he wanted out of the way, including his mother and wife. Nero extravagances disgusted the Romans, and caused the rebellions of the Roman legions ( 军团 ). Abandoned by the guards, Nero chose to commit suicide by stabbing himself in the throat after uttering his final words, “What an artist the world is losing in me.” A civil war erupted in ad 69, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. The significance of the year 69 was summed up by the Roman historian Tacitus when he stated that “a well-hidden secret of the principate ( 最高权力 ) had been revealed: it was possible, it seemed, for an emperor to be chosen outside Rome.”

At the beginning of the second century, a series of five “good emperors” created a period of peace and prosperity that lasted for almost a hundred years. These rulers treated the ruling classes with respect, cooperated with the senate, ended arbitrary executions, maintained peace throughout the empire, and supported domestic policies generally beneficial to the empire. Though absolute ( 专制的 ) monarchs, they were known for their tolerance and democracy. By adopting capable men as their successors, the first four good emperors reduced the chances of succession ( 继承 ) problems.

Under the five good emperors, the powers of the emperor continued to be extended at the expense of the senate. Increasingly, imperial officials appointed and directed by the emperor took over the running of the government. The good emperors also extended the scope of imperial administration to areas previously untouched by the imperial government. Trajan (98—117) established a program that provided state funds to assist poor parents in raising and educating their children.

The good emperors were widely praised by their subjects for their extensive building programs. Trajan and Hadrian (117—138) were especially active in constructing public works—aqueducts, bridges, roads, and harbor facilities—throughout the provinces and in Rome . Trajan built a new forum in Rome to provide a setting for his celebrated victory column. Hadrian's Pantheon, a temple of “all the gods,” is one of the grandest ancient buildings surviving in Rome .

Although Trajan broke with Augustus' policy of defensive imperialism by extending Roman rule into Dacia (modern Romania), Mesopotamia, and the Sinai peninsula, his conquests represent the height of Roman expansion . His successors, who recognized that the empire was overextended, pursued a policy of retrenchment ( 收缩 ), withdrawing Roman forces from much of Mesopotamia. By the end of the second century, the empire became apparently vulnerable. When one frontier was attacked, troops had to be drawn from other frontiers, leaving them vulnerable to attack.

The  Roman Empire  was composed of many ethnic groups, who spoke dozens of languages. Celts, Italians, Berbers, Jews, Egyptians, and Greeks could all become citizens of the Roman Empire if the emperor chose to grant that status. The term Roman was not an ethnic description but a political one. Rome successfully assimilated many different groups and gradually extended Roman citizenship to conquered peoples. In ad 14 there were about 5 million citizens among the 50 million inhabitants of the empire, and that number grew continually through the 1st and 2nd centuries ad . Citizenship did not include the right to vote except at the local level, but people highly valued the legal and economic privileges of being a citizen.

The Romans insisted that “barbaric” peoples learn Latin before they became citizens, but they freely extended citizenship to Greeks, whom they considered civilized, although they knew no Latin. Three centuries earlier, Roman statesmen like Cato the Elder had scorned Greek culture, but the Roman upper-class during the empire spoke fluent Greek and directed their contempt toward other eastern peoples, like Jews and Syrians. Greek philosophers, Asian orators, African religious scholars, Syrian satirists, and Saint Paul himself all boasted Roman citizenship, although they all wrote in Greek. It is not easy to generalize about the Roman influence; it can best be seen in the effects of conquest on specific peoples.

The Romans called the Celts of northern Italy and France Gauls , and they became the most Romanized people of the provinces. In the 2nd century bc Rome moved across the Alps into southern Gaul; by 50 bc Julius Caesar completed the conquest of all Gaul, which included all of modern France . Roman roads and cities appeared everywhere, and southern Gaul was so strongly influenced by the Romans that its residents called it “ The Province,” and it is today still known as Provence . The Gauls intermingled with the Romans and adopted Roman traits so quickly that it is difficult to identify which Romans actually had Gallic blood. The Gallic elite built many amphitheaters,theaters, and temples in the Roman style. Conquest by  Rome  cost the Gauls their freedom and the wild, warlike spirit that once so terrified their enemies. The Gauls first served as auxiliary cavalry for the Roman army and later were made soldiers in the legions. As Roman subjects, the Gauls welcomed the art, religion, and literary culture of Italy . They turned their efforts to agriculture, metalwork, and pottery, which decorated and enriched their cities. Imports of Gallic glass, pottery, and wine replaced local production in Italy and brought great wealth to some Gauls. These wealthy merchants and landholders lived in large villas, one of which had 200 rooms. Such villas became self-sufficient communities during the chaos that marked the last years of the empire. The Gauls became Romanized quickly and contributed their energy and spirit to Roman civilization rather than many specific Celtic traditions.

Roman Gaul in AD 50

After Rome defeated the Carthaginian general Hannibal in 202 bc , it made Spain into two provinces. Almost two centuries later Augustus assembled seven legions in Spain to fight against rebels in the mountainous interior and in the Pyrenees . Augustus established new cities with Roman citizens (including retired veterans) and extended citizenship rights to existing cities. All of Spain accepted the Latin language except the Basques, who lived in remote areas of the Pyrenees . Peace also brought considerable prosperity to Spain , with its fertile agricultural lands and rich mines. Spaniards went to Rome , where some served in the Senate or at the imperial court. There was also a Spanish intellectual circle, including the philosopher Seneca and the poets Martial and Lucan. One emperor, Trajan, and possibly another, Hadrian, were born in Spain.

Roman Iberia in AD 100

Only a century after Julius Caesar briefly invaded Britain , the emperor Claudius launched a major expedition in ad 43 and imposed Roman rule in southern England . The Britons resented Roman domination and destroyed Roman settlements. The Romans later retook England , but only partially conquered Wales and parts of lowland Scotland . For a long time, Hadrian's Wall, stretching across northern England , remained the frontier of the empire.

After Rome defeated Carthage in 146 bc, it established its first province in Africa . North Africa provided grain to Rome . Until the barbarian invasions of the 5th century ad, remarkable irrigation systems made lands that today seem barren enormously fertile. The African provinces had a vigorous cultural life. The urban population of North Africa was Romanized . During the Christian era, North Africa produced some of the great intellectual figures of the early church, including Tertullian, Saint Cyprian, and Saint Augustine.

Greece yielded to Rome 's political authority in the 2nd century bc but maintained its cultural superiority. Greek cities regarded the Roman emperors as gods more eagerly than the Roman people did. Greek was the everyday language of the eastern Mediterranean , used in business, intellectual life, and even biblical writings like the New Testament. Roman aristocrats studied rhetoric (public speaking) and philosophy in Greece , while Latin poets used Greek models and myths as inspiration for their verse. Roman artists and architects also adapted Greek styles.

In 63  bc  Roman legions first entered Palestine , and placed the Jewish state under the control of the governor of Syria . In 37 bc, Herod the Great , whose father was granted Roman citizenship by Julius Caesar, was granted the throne of Judea . He determined to assimilate the Jews into Greco-Roman culture. Herod did not trust his own people and enrolled in his army only Greeks and Diaspora Jews. Although Greeks and Romans usually distrusted religions that worshiped only one god, Roman leaders such as Julius Caesar and Augustus were sympathetic towards the Jews. Jews were exempt from Roman military service. The Romans permitted freedom of worship. After the death of Herod, Judea soon became a small Roman province. Dissent, so long repressed by Herod's cruelty, the people in Palestine began to agitate for religious and political freedom. The Romans destroyed the Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem in ad 73, and then abolished the priesthood, thus leaving no remnant of Jewish political organization. From 132 to135, the Jews rose to resist an imperial ban on certain religious rites, and oppose a Roman colony established on the site of Jerusalem, a holy city to the Jews, but were dispersed by the Romans.

Latin literature reached such a high point in the time of Augustus that the period has been called the golden age of Latin literature.

During the reign of Augustus many commentators proclaimed the arrival of a new Golden Age as Romans returned to traditional values. These values included religion, family, and an appreciation of the Italian countryside and its agrarian roots. Writers and artists from all parts of Italy came to Rome , where generous patronage helped to encourage extraordinary achievements. The Augustan peace and the prosperity that accompanied it brought about the revival of patriotic literature that hailed the triumphs of Rome , its people, and its new leader.

Livy , who was born in the city of Padua in 59 bc , wrote a history of Rome that spanned the period from mythic times to his own day. An artist more than a scholar, Livy was a marvelous storyteller. His stirring through the centuries, even though only a quarter of his enormous work has survived.

Augustus gave the southern Italian poet Horace sufficient property to allow him the leisure to write. Horace's most famous poetic works, the Odes (23 bc), often drew on Greek verse in praising love, wine, and the simple life of the countryside. He turned common ideas into great lyric poetry by expressing them with exquisite form and verbal elegance. Horace believed that the Roman people and his own work were eternal. “I will not entirely die,” he aptly wrote, “since my poetry will be a monument more lasting than bronze.”

Virgil , the greatest of all Roman poets, modeled his masterpiece, the Aeneid (30-19 bc) , on the ancient Greek epics the Iliad and the Odyssey, written by Homer . Virgil's work also portrayed the battles that the hero of Roman mythology, Aeneas, fought at Troy and his search for an Italian homeland. Aeneas sacrificed love and human compassion in the name of duty and conquest, and the poet portrayed the power of destiny and the poignancy of loss. Virgil had not completed the poem when he died in 19 bc , and Augustus personally overruled the poet's dying request that the manuscript be burned. Christians during the Middle Ages regarded the Aeneid as the greatest work of pagan antiquity.

Love was above all a game for the more refined and disdainful Roman poet Ovid . His work Ars Amatoria (Art of Love) was a handbook of sex and seduction for both men and women. Ovid's masterpiece, the Metamorphoses , was a poem in which he turns his sophisticated wit to a series of tales from Greek mythology. Late in the reign of Augustus, Ovid was involved in some mysterious scandal, perhaps involving a poem about the emperor's daughter Julia, and was banished to a small Roman outpost on the Black Sea . The emperor never forgave Ovid, who died in exile.

The writers of the 1st century ad believed that Roman literature had declined since the Golden Age under Augustus. These authors became part of an era often referred to as the Silver Age. The philosopher Seneca wrote highly acclaimed ( 称赞的 ) essays and moral letters. He also served as the tutor of Nero, but later, when the unpopular emperor suspected that Seneca was involved in a conspiracy against him, Seneca was forced to commit suicide. The most notable characteristics of Rome 's Silver Age—rhetorical skill, biting wit, and a bleak vision—are found in the writings of the historian Cornelius Tacitus . Many consider his Annales (Annals, 115?-117) the greatest history written in Latin. This work covered the Julian emperors from Tiberius to Nero and exposed how the rulers and the ruled collaborated in their mutual corruption. His clear-eyed appraisal of the dark side of human nature made Tacitus one of the great political pessimists in the Western tradition . The Annales is not a work of dry political analysis, but is filled with dramatic encounters, irreverent or black humor, and compelling psychological portraits of tyrants like Tiberius.

The second and early third century A.D. witnessed the “classical age of Roman law,” a period in which a number of great jurists classified and compiled basic legal principles that have proved extremely valuable to the Western world. Most jurists emphasized the emperor as the ultimate source of law: “What pleases the emperor has the force of law.” In this period, the identification of the law of nations with natural law led to concept of natural rights. According to the jurist Ulpian, natural rights implied that all men are born equal and should be equal before the law . Although in practice that principle was not applied, the Romans established standards of justice applicable to all people, many of which we would immediately recognize. A person was regarded as innocent until proved otherwise. People accused of wrongdoing were allowed to defend themselves before a judge. A judge was expected to weigh evidence carefully before arriving at a decision. These principles lived on in Western civilization long after the fall of the Roman Empire .

Significant changes occurred in the Roman family in the second century A.D. The foundations of the authority of the paterfamilias ( 家长 ) over his family, which had already begun to weaken in the late Republic, were further undermined. The paterfamilias no longer had absolute authority over his children; he could no longer sell his children into slavery or have them put to death. Moreover, the husband's absolute authority over his wife also disappeared, a process that had begun in the late Republic. In the Early Empire, the idea of male guardianship continued to weaken significantly, and by the late second century, guardianships had become a formality.

Upper-class Roman women in the Empire had considerable freedom and independence. They had acquired the right to own, inherit, and dispose of property. Upper-class girls went to elementary school to learn to read and write. Like men, upper-class women also won praise through public generosity; they built public monuments and temples, subsidized games, and became patrons of their home cities. As a sign of their rank, upper-class women were given seats with the senators at public games, where they could display fine clothing and jewelry. Upper-class Roman women influenced politics, though they could not participate in politics. During the empire, the wives of emperors began to wield more power than before. Livia, the wife of Augustus, was deeply devoted to her husband and family and only appeared in public to display the virtues of a Roman matron ( 主妇 ), which included chastity ( 贞节 ), modesty, frugality ( 节俭 ), loyalty, and dignity. Behind the scenes, Livia and Augustus were extremely close, and she played a part in his important decisions.

The ancient city of  Rome , with one million inhabitants, was at the center of the colossal Roman Empire by the time of Augustus. It became a cosmopolis ( 国际都市 ), “capital of the world”, a magnet to many people. Nationalities from all over the empire resided there, with entire sections inhabited by specific groups, such Greeks and Syrians. Rome was an overcrowded and noisy city with traffic congestion, so cart and wagon traffic was banned from the streets during the day. The noise from the resulting vehicular movement at night often made sleep difficult. Evening pedestrian travel was dangerous. Although Augustus had organized a police force, lone travelers could be assaulted, robbed, or soaked by filth thrown out of the upper-story windows of Rome 's massive apartment buildings.

Rome was typical of the gulf between the rich and the poor. While the rich had comfortable villas, the poor lived in six-storey high apartment blocks, which were constructed of concrete, often poorly built and prone to collapse. The use of wooden beams ( 方块 ) in the floors and movable stoves, torches, candles, and lamps within the rooms for heat and light made the danger of fire a constant companion. Besides the hazards of collapse and fire, living conditions were also poor. High rents forced families into one room. The absence of plumbing, central heating, and open fireplaces made life so uncomfortable that poorer Romans spent most of their time outdoors in the streets. Fortunately for these people, Rome boasted public buildings unequaled anywhere in the empire. Its arenas, temples, and forums, theaters, basilicas ( 长方形会堂 ), gymnasiums, baths, taverns ( 客栈 ), and brothels gave parts of the city an appearance of grandeur and magnificence.

One Roman writer said that the imperial government kept the Romans contented by “bread and circuses.” The Roman emperors provided free food to hundreds of thousands and sponsored an endless series of games. For two centuries the government managed to avoid food shortages or the discontent that would endanger the rule of the emperors. The emperors used different forms of entertainment to pacify the urban masses, including chariot races, theatrical and musical performances, wild-beast hunts, mock sea battles, public executions, and gladiatorial combat. The most popular events were the chariot races held in the Circus Maximus, an arena that held up to 300,000 spectators, but the most famous of all the public shows were the gladiatorial combats.

The gladiatorial shows, an integral part of Roman society, took place in amphitheaters, ( 圆形剧场 ), the most famous of which was called the Colosseum, where 50,000 Romans could watch the games. Since the amphitheater was the primary location for the gladiatorial games, it is fair to say that public slaughter was an important part of Roman culture.

In gladiatorial games, trained slaves or condemned criminals of all ages and both sexes were sent into the arena without weapons to face certain death from wild animals, who would tear them to pieces. If gladiators successfully performed in combat, they might earn the support of the crowd and an imperial “thumbs-up,” meaning a reprieve ( 取消刑罚 ) and freedom. The crowd could also determine whether the fate of the battle's loser was death. The games were important occasions during which the Roman people could see the emperor, and he could show his respect for them by following their desire to spare a gladiator.

The gladiatorial games served a purpose beyond mere entertainment. They fulfilled a political and social need by diverting thoughts of the idle masses from political unrest , as claimed by a Roman emperor that while the distribution of grain and money satisfied the individual, spectacles （扣人心弦的场面） were necessary for “contentment of the masses.”

When  Commodus  became emperor in ad 180, the age of the good emperors came to an end, and soon the Roman Empire experienced far worse leadership. A century of turmoil began that caused a collapse of political institutions, a weakening of the army, and economic disaster. Even under such perverse emperors as Caligula, Nero, and Commodus, the government of the empire had continued its normal functions of collecting taxes, protecting the frontiers, and distributing food. Insane emperors persecuted the senatorial elite, but they had limited effect on the population outside Rome . However, after the murder of Commodus in ad 192, a civil war broke out.

After a series of civil wars, Septimius Severus (193--211) seized the power as the first African provincial to reach the throne. The Severan rulers (193--235) began to create a military monarchy ( 君主政体 ); the army was expanded, soldiers better paid, and military officers appointed to important positions in the government.

Military monarchy was followed by military anarchy ( 无政府状态 ). For 50 years generals caused incredible destruction in their quest for power, but their efforts were largely in vain. Between 235 and 284, the troops acclaimed about 20 “emperors” and another 30 “pretenders,” although the two groups only differed in that the emperors briefly managed to control the city of Rome . Only one of these emperors died of natural causes, so the imperial throne was a dangerous prize.

Civil war and the collapse of central authority affected every aspect of Roman life. Wandering armies seized supplies from farms and cities; imperial tax collectors made increasingly harsh demands for funds to support the armies and the bureaucracy; farmers who were barely surviving could no longer pay these taxes, so many fled their land to work for large landholders or turned to robbery.

Newly arrived Germanic peoples from beyond the Rhine and Danube rivers, whom the Romans regarded as barbarians ( 野蛮人 ), settled on some of this abandoned property, while some of it remained barren wasteland. Many of these small farms were incorporated into large villas. Landlords who owned these large villas were often senators, and they had the wealth to raise defensive forces against bandits, soldiers, or barbarians. However, because farmers were growing less food widespread food shortages occurred for the first time in centuries.

Anarchy made trade dangerous, but the decay of roads, bridges, and harbors made any kind of commercial relationship nearly impossible. People in towns and villas created their own pottery and clothing. The army could not obtain enough manufactured goods, and weapons produced locally were of inferior quality. The decline of commerce was also disastrous for cities, whose economic problems had begun in the 2nd century ad when too much wealth was invested in public monuments for the sake of prestige. Urban economies were further weakened when cities could no longer trade their products for food.

The poverty that resulted from the decline in trade discouraged the local elite from holding offices because they had become too costly. Local services—games, schools, religious festivals, and much else—deteriorated in the absence of benefactors. As central authority declined, local economic problems became serious.

The soldier-emperors continued to treat the military generously, but as tax collections fell and silver mines were exhausted, imperial funds disappeared. The treasury melted down available coins and issued new money that caused currency devaluation. As money became worthless, much of the empire was reduced to a barter economy. The state collected food, animals, and other supplies instead of tax money.

The changes that swept the empire affected every level of Roman society, but had the greatest effect on the lower classes. The rich freedmen of the early empire disappeared because they had few commercial opportunities to accumulate wealth. They were also eliminated from the civil service because of the rapid turnover of emperors. Slavery declined as a result of its cost. Romans found that it was cheaper to hire wage labor as needed than to support a slave through the entire year. Social mobility was impossible, except for soldiers. The burdens of taxation and poverty crushed both the rural and urban masses. Widespread bitterness and growing hatred of authority led to popular revolts in Rome , rural massacres in Africa , and local separatist movements that attempted to break away from the empire entirely.

Between the 3 rd and 4 th centuries, Roman Empire gained an opportunity to improve the situation through the efforts of two strong emperors, Diocletian (284—305) and Constantine (306—337), who restore order and stability, beginning the “Late Empire,” with a new governmental structure, a rigid economic and social system, and a new state religion—Christianity.

Diocletian , believing that the empire had grown too large for a single ruler, divided it into four administrative units, each with its own prefect ( 行政长官 ). Diocletian's military seniority ensured his status and ultimate authority. Constantine continued and even expanded Diocletian's autocratic ( 专制的 ) policies, strengthening and enlarging the administrative bureaucracies ( 官僚机构 ) of the Roman Empire. Civil and military bureaucracies were sharply separated, each with a hierarchy ( 等级 ) of officials who exercised control at the various levels. The emperor presided over both hierarchies of officials and served as the only link between them.

There were also additional military reforms. The army was enlarged to 500,000 men, including barbarian units. Mobile units were established that could be quickly moved to support frontier troops where the borders were threatened. Larger as it was, the army was less competent, being made up of Germanic and Balkan recruits with less training.

Constantine was especially interested in building programs despite the strain they placed on the budget. His biggest project was the construction of a new capital city in the east on the site of the Greek city of Byzantium on the shores of the Bosporus . Eventually renamed Constantinople , it was developed for defensive reasons: it had an excellent strategic location. Calling it his “New Rome,” Constantine provided the city with a forum, large palaces, and a vast amphitheater.

Both Diocletian and Constantine greatly increased state control over the lives of Roman citizens. Both believed that the disorder of the 3rd century demanded a larger army, central economic planning, and an expanded bureaucracy to collect the taxes and monitor an increasing number of regulations . They tried to maintain order in the empire through the detailed management of Roman society. Local officials could not control trade and economic planning, so the government divided the provinces into smaller units and sent separate military and civil administrators to enforce new regulations.

Coercion ( 强制 ) also came to form the underlying basis for occupations in the Late Roman Empire as the government bound farmers to their land and craftspeople to their trade. The government required the sons of bakers or shipbuilders to follow their fathers' careers. The emperors even established a secret police, and the old unregulated economic system yielded to a planned economy. The emperors often appealed to the public good when they suppressed individual rights, requisitioned goods, or increased taxes. In the words of one writer of the period, the empire became a prison.

In general, the economic and social policies of Diocletian and Constantine were based on control and coercion . Temporarily successful as they were, in the long run they stifled the vitality the Late Empire t needed for revival.

Many modern historians stress the continuity between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Political structures changed and cities declined, but for the 90 percent of the population who worked on the land, life continued much as always. Roman law, the Latin language, and the Christian religion provided an enormous amount of continuity, yet there were also broad changes. Greco-Roman civilization retreated to the Mediterranean , while inland areas lost the veneer of Roman culture. Buildings collapsed, local populations revived indigenous Celtic art forms, and even Latin was slowly transformed into different languages like Proven?al, French, Spanish, and Catalan. The transition proceeded gradually until local creativity shaped the Roman inheritance into the distinctive cultures of medieval Europe .

The rediscovery of Greco-Roman civilization in 15th-century Italy sparked the new era or state of mind called the Renaissance. Sculptors returned to Greco-Roman models of realism, architects copied Greek columns and Roman domes, and literary figures like English playwright William Shakespeare adapted Roman comedies. Philosophers examined the Roman legal codes, and political theorists returned to Roman discussions of freedom and tyranny. Even the Latin of Cicero was revived as a more elevated language than medieval Church Latin or everyday speech. And the fascination with Roman culture continued as revolutionaries in America and France studied Roman texts and 19th-century portraitists adopted Roman styles. The collapse of the Roman political structure in 476 did not mean that the civilization of Rome was lost.

To the last chapter To the next chapter Back to the contents