Login

11-14-2001, 06:13 PM

If they were so smart how come they let their leader become assassinated and their Empire fall? God, they're worse than the Brits.

11-14-2001, 09:27 PM

Right. BITE ME!

11-15-2001, 09:07 AM

Gosh Lucifer 2k1! 
 
What an excellent and balanced view of Roman History you have. I am so glad that you have decided to start a debate with such an interesting statement and I am especially looking forward to hearing from you again. 
 
There are a couple of points you made in your statement that I feel do need a little clarification: 
 
1 When you refer to "their leader", to which emperor are you referring? (I am assuming you are refering to an emperor, as the Republic ended 503 years before the collapse of the empire and a duration of 503 years is pretty good and fairly well negates the statement made about letting "their empire fall". 
 
2 When you stated "God they're worse than the Brits" am I right in assuming that you meant in the way that the British once had an empire and then lost it, or to another facet of their culture? Please could you expand on this statement as I am sure that the British members of this board would be most interested to hear your explanation. 
 
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you as a new member of RomanArmy.com and I sincerely hope that our future conversations can be as fascinating as this one. 
 
Veni Vidi Bibi

Catiline · 11-15-2001, 10:57 PM

"the Republic ended 503 years before the collapse of the empire and a duration of 503 years is pretty good and fairly well negates the statement made about letting "their empire fall" 
 
I'm sure augustus wouldn't have agreed wiht al of that statement, not in public anyway... 
Unless the Persians fly away like birds, hide in the earth like mice, or leap into a lake like frogs, they will never see their homes again, but will die under our arrows

11-17-2001, 12:06 AM

Well my Shakespeare prof did say that Romans were "just unimaginative Greeks who made things bigger" but he may have been trying to get a rise out of the Classics majors! 
 
But seriously the Western Roman Empire lasted from the late 1st cent BC expanded to take over half the known world and finally dissolved in the late 5th cent AD. The Eastern parts of the empire continued for another THOUSAND years!!!! (fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD) Considering they managed to dominate so much of the world and have a continuing influence upon Western civilization (before the advent of the World Wide Web or Hollywood), I'd say they did pretty good. The British Empire lasted maybe 200 years, and the American hegemony has only been around for about 50, The Achmenaid Persian Empire lasted some 200 years (and they had conquered quite a bit before that lucky duck Alex the Great knocked them flat). Chinese civilization has been around for ages, but it has gone through assorted cycles and epochs and dynasties too, none of which lasted as long as the Western Roman Empire. 
 
They intoduced literacy into Europe, codified law, running water and roadways. They introduced the idea of an urban based centralized political unity. Face it, if we stuck with the Celts we'd all still be herding sheep, singing poetry and cutting off each others heads. Not bad either, but I prefer indoor plumbing and reading books. 
 
Sure they eventually fell apart, but all big political entities do, especially under the combined weight of plague, politically instability, economic crisis and migrating barbarian hordes. 
 
So I emphatically refute your rather spurious statement. 
 
James

JRSCline · 11-19-2001, 05:45 PM

Aw, don't waste your time. He's merely trying to provoke a flame-fest. Let's just close this one down.

Login
Username:
Password:	Lost Password?
	Remember me