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Republican Rome

"The friends of Rome were to be made strong, but not too strong, and all of them were to be educated in their belief that they owed their prosperity, and their very existence, to the same mighty hand. It soon, however, became clear that between protection and annexation there was but a step."
by H. L. Havell, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London Calcutta Sydney, 1914
Republican Rome, Her conquests manners and institutions from the earliest times to the death of Caesar.

"Republican Rome" is a wonderful classic by H. L. Havell that narrates the 500 years of the republic.

Maybe you'll see some parallels with our times...enjoy!

The Carthaginian Character

All the energy, all the adventurous daring of the Phoenicians were directed ot one sole object, the acquisition of wealth.

They had non of that noble curiosity which inspired the great dsicoveries of later times to go forth in search of new worlds.

Rome's Terms

...the Romans pursued their accustomed policy of balance and division.

The friends of Rome were to be made strong, but not too strong, and all of them were to be educated in their belief that they owed their prosperity, and their very existence, to the same mighty hand. It soon, however, became clear that between protection and annexation there was but a step.

Rome had her spies and creatures everywhere, who sudiously fostered the elements of discord.

Change in the National Temper

When they emerged from the trial the Romans had left their youth behind them, and as we advance in our narrative the instances of generous impulse and disinterested devotion such as brighten their earlier annals will grow rarer and rarer.

Their natural hardness becomes exaggerated into insensibility, and by degrees a sort of ferocious cynicism takes possession of all classes.

But in growing harder they gained nothing in self-restraint.

A long period of unnatural repression produced a reaction similar to that which followed the rule of the Puritans in England, and an unbound appetite for pleasure succeded to the grand simplicity of antique Roman life.

A Vast Corruption

It will now be understood how far the Romans had travelled from the wise and liberal policy which had made their city great, that of gradually extending the privilege of citizenship and opening the avenues of political distinction to able and derserving men. Office had now vitrually become hereditary, and the Senate, which in the days of its glory had defied the power of Pyrrhus and stood fast against all the assaults of Hannibal, was sunk into a close corporation, the organ of a party.

Ruin of Agriculture

For corn was now imported in immense quantities from abroad, and this foreign competition was one of the chief causes which contributed to the ruin of Italian agriculture.

Decay of Family Life

Thousands of families were broken up by the loss of the head of the household, who had gone to the wars and never returned, and the younger men, in the rude licence pf camps, had aquired a distatste for the tame uniformity and humble joys at home.

New fields of enterprise were opening beyond the seas, and few were disposed to encumber themselves with doemstic ties, which would confine them to one spot, or at least diminish their chances in the race for wealth.

Even among the rich and high-born there was a general disinclination to assume the duties and burdens of the married state. A significant symptom of decadence was the growing facility afforded for divorce, (...)

But when once the first step had been taken the descent was rapid, and the ancient form of marriage, which was a solemn religious ceremony, was largely superseded by a mere civil contract, lightly taken up and easily step aside.