[Fwd: Iraq Dispatches: Inside Abu Hanifa mosque during attack]

[Lan Barnes]

On Fri, Dec 10, 2004 at 09:29:36PM -0800, James E. Henderson wrote:
> 
> 
> Lan Barnes wrote:
> 
> >
> >I couldn't describe the system that brought forth Nero, Commodus,
> >Caligula, and Elagebalus a "good solution", but maybe that's just me.
> > 
> >
> But the Empire survived all of them and went on for a long time after 
> they, as minor irritations, had been removed. Gibbon concludes 
> Christianity destroyed the Roman Empire by mellowing the 
> bloodthirstiness that created and sustained it. Nero, Caligula ('Little 
> Boot') and the rest were bloodthirsty enough, as were those who took 
> them out. Was Rome better for their coming and their going? I don't 
> know. They were troubled times. But Rome survived them and prospered 
> after they were gone.
> 

I would hope for more from a government that was "thriving" than
constant civil wars, military coups, and foreign incursions. Rome was a
mess for its last 300 years. I don't want to live in a mess. I doubt if
the citizens of the empire did, either.

> One of my favorite books as a kid was "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves. 
> When it was made into a mini-series it became my all-time favorite 
> mini-series, even more than the various Horatio Hornblower sets. I just 
> wish I could afford to get it so I could watch it all the time.
> 
> Robert Graves was my hero, not Claudius. He brought the ancient Greeks 
> and Romans to life in a way that nobody else I've encountered ever has. 
> Exposure to Graves would be enough to make me doubt the simplistic 
> explanation of Gibbons as more than part of the cause of the Empire's 
> downfall. Whatever caused a social phenomenon that had lasted nearly 
> three millennia to come apart was not simple or easy to explain, but it 
> should be interesting.
> 

Agreed on Graves. His Greek mythology opened my adolescent eyes to the
dynamics of religion (and human sexuality). Too hot for Masterpiece
Theater, I suspect.

"I, Claudius" is probably a lot more romantic about Claudius' reign and
abilities than the actual man justified.

Being a Georgist, I blame neither the political amorality, the predatory
professional army, not Christianity for the fall of Rome, although all
had their place. As the primary cause, I see the collapse of individual
Roman moral strength as a result of the concentration or wealth and more
specifically land ownership. The latifundia ruined Rome.

http://www.personal.kent.edu/~bkharvey/roman/texts/latifund.htm

-- 
Lan Barnes                    lan at falleagle.net
Linux Guy, SCM Specialist     858-354-0616