Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Key Dates from Roman History
- To the Reader
- Introduction: Why Rome?
- 1 Anacyclosis: No Regime Is Exceptional and Democracy Is Not Inevitable
- 2 Mighty Republics Can Fall Because of Slow Corruption Rather Than Dramatic Revolutions
- 3 A Revered Tradition of Liberty Can Be Exploited by Authoritarians
- 4 Economic Inequality Drives Civil Strife
- 5 Political Violence Can Become Normalized
- 6 Strongmen Do Not Save Republics
- 7 The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship Need to Be Shared and Extended
- 8 Civic Virtue Is as Important as the Constitution and Laws
- 9 A Reckoning with the Oppressed Cannot Be Denied
- 10 Elections Only Work When Everyone Is Willing to Lose
- 11 Disregard for The Civil Liberties of Some Erodes the Legal Rights of All Citizens
- 12 Military Misadventures Abroad Lead to Instability at Home
- 13 Organized, Armed Gangs Tear Apart a Political System
- 14 Institutions May Not Be Able to Save the Republic
- 15 A Tyrant Backed into a Corner Is a Danger to the Republic
- 16 The Real Problem Is Not Simply a Tyrannical Leader
- 17 Free Speech Can Disappear
- 18 The Crisis Can Be Manufactured to Continue
- 19 The Revolution Can Be Advertised as a Restoration
- 20 Freedom Lost Cannot So Easily Be Regained
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliographic Note
- Index
4 - Economic Inequality Drives Civil Strife
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 March 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Key Dates from Roman History
- To the Reader
- Introduction: Why Rome?
- 1 Anacyclosis: No Regime Is Exceptional and Democracy Is Not Inevitable
- 2 Mighty Republics Can Fall Because of Slow Corruption Rather Than Dramatic Revolutions
- 3 A Revered Tradition of Liberty Can Be Exploited by Authoritarians
- 4 Economic Inequality Drives Civil Strife
- 5 Political Violence Can Become Normalized
- 6 Strongmen Do Not Save Republics
- 7 The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship Need to Be Shared and Extended
- 8 Civic Virtue Is as Important as the Constitution and Laws
- 9 A Reckoning with the Oppressed Cannot Be Denied
- 10 Elections Only Work When Everyone Is Willing to Lose
- 11 Disregard for The Civil Liberties of Some Erodes the Legal Rights of All Citizens
- 12 Military Misadventures Abroad Lead to Instability at Home
- 13 Organized, Armed Gangs Tear Apart a Political System
- 14 Institutions May Not Be Able to Save the Republic
- 15 A Tyrant Backed into a Corner Is a Danger to the Republic
- 16 The Real Problem Is Not Simply a Tyrannical Leader
- 17 Free Speech Can Disappear
- 18 The Crisis Can Be Manufactured to Continue
- 19 The Revolution Can Be Advertised as a Restoration
- 20 Freedom Lost Cannot So Easily Be Regained
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliographic Note
- Index
Summary
Although the city of Rome began as a poor community on the hills along the Tiber River, its slow but steady domination of the Italian Peninsula and its rather swift conquest of the Mediterranean made Rome immensely wealthy. The territories acquired in Spain, North Africa, and Greece within 70 years (202–133 BCE) had thrust upon Rome a fortune that it had little time to understand or to incorporate. Moreover, the absence of any foreign foe of any magnitude put Rome in an unprecedented space. A generation or two before, Rome had been but one of several powerful Mediterranean states, but by 133 BCE Rome was the master of the Mediterranean, even if it did not control and occupy the entire land mass. The Romans had some breathing room and some time to ponder the new landscape, which would be an idyllic way to put it. Another way to put it is that Rome could no longer ignore the domestic concerns that had developed out of this rapid conquest and infusion of wealth. How would they do? Well, as it turned out, the Romans themselves accomplished what the Greeks and Carthaginians could not do: they brought down the Roman Republic.
The Romans had always thought of themselves as simple agricultural people. Even if the stories of early Romans were over-romanticized, there is no question that the Romans included in their legal code the restriction of certain kinds of ostentatious displays of wealth. The Twelve Tables, Rome's earliest code of laws, restricted the conspicuous display of wealth at funerals. Subsequent laws sought to address public luxury and opulence in other areas, such as the amount of money spent on entertainment and banquets. Why did the Romans pass these laws? A cynical, though accurate, view would be that people must have been conspicuously displaying their personal wealth. But why did the Romans think that was a bad thing? In modern capitalist countries, such public displays of one's personal wealth are often considered a virtue, whether they truly are or not. The Romans, however, understood the capacity wealth had to tear the state apart. First, luxury had the power to seduce citizens to pursue private wealth over the common good and then to use that wealth to consolidate political power.
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- On the Fall of the Roman RepublicLessons for the American People, pp. 17 - 20Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2022