History Essay Example: Roman Civilization

The armies of Rome emerged victorious whenever they set foot in a place. With their triumphant one thing was obvious and that was the fact that they could build a home. The issue of dishonest officials stealing money continued to form a gap between the rich and the poor. Sallust was a Roman historian who had literacy styles in narrative writings, and he dealt with the personalities of the politician. Having been born in a civil war, he was able to witness the political strife, and it is therefore not shocking that his work is occupied with violence.

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Sallust influenced the historiography of the Romans and people like Livy exploited and refined his views and manner (Sallust and McGushin. History Of The Roman Republic). As his narratives became more enlivened with character sketches, digressions, and speeches, he was able to form a classic status that revealed the politics of the Romans (Livy. and Foster 9). He explored the triumviral period and demonstrated how a new type of historian was flawed and morally ambiguous. He could not accept the triumphant notion that the ascended Rome perpetuated.

His style is made to shake the reader out of complacency and as a result force critical engagement with the reading process. When Cicero lamented the lack of great historian in Rome, he had a clear sense of what history ought to be (Ciraolo 109). Sallust viewed the political circumstances of the triumviral period as a new type of historiography. He claimed that for someone to create a portrait of moral clarity one ought to follow the examples of the past. This he identified that the new example for the triumviral period would be characterized by morally ambiguous characters who could not accept to show the leaders on the good portrait or the bad one (Sallust, Roman Historian). He uses the claim of peace that the Roman had placed in the perpetuation of Cicero and triumvirs.

He alluded to the triumviral period which was in the narrative of the 70s and the 60s, and he suggests that the perpetuated pretext by triumvirs was spacious. He demonstrated that historian could still have the ability to magnify or obscure as they see fit (Gibbs, Sallust and Cicero, Themes In Roman Society And Culture.). Capacity to create his history encouraged people like triumvirs to have their version of history too. Sallust portrays Rome as a state which has already passed its peak of glory and is rapidly descending into a moral abyss.

Augustus altered the balance in the Roman System of government without being aware of it. After being given the veto power of the magistrate, he used his chance as a consulship that would legitimate the actual supreme power that had wielded (Eck 111). Augustus became the master of propaganda, and as a result, he marshaled different displayed so as to make his status new appropriate and justified (Augustus. The Roman Empire). He also included his family members to the display creating a new status of the imperial household.

The Roman political system was based upon the competition of the ruling elite. The competition for Senate was fiercer so as to win the public office. The most admirable position, however, was the post of Consul who was the commander in chief of the Roman army. The military prestige or glory was boosted, and it was carried on into the empire (Langerwerf 157). With the seizing of the Great Britain by Julius Caesar, Rome was more glorious. Caesar compelled the army to go back home whereby it was later known that he was more interested in the glory than he would gain.

After Caesars invasion, the serious underestimation of the Britain was a disaster. When he tried his second expeditions, he emerged more successful, and the power and prestige that he had was so great that his enemies were forced to assassinate him. Caesars successor Augustus decided to conquer Germany, and the prestige was a catastrophe after the German frontier closed by the disaster in 6 AD, and they contemplated in being like Britain (Livy and Foster 11). Sallust claimed that when the toil is replaced by an attack of indolence, self -control and fairness by one lust of haughtiness, the fortune, and morals changes completely (Gibbs, Sallust, and Cicero, Bill Thayer). The Republic of Roman was sustained through the practice of traditional customs of honor and conduct, fairness, honesty, and restraint through sometimes. But, as the Republic expanded with the influx of wealth, the traditional values started being irrelevant and degraded.

The most prominent men were corrupted by greed, ambition, and jealousy. Individuals like Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Gaius, brought chaos and disorder which brought the quest for the ultimate prestige and power. With Sallust identifying the moral failures and dishonesty, they weave the narrative of the Republic as chaotic and in violence demise. Sallust claimed that the stability of politics would be maintained due to the death of a common enemy. He stipulated that there should be no individual that would be allowed to pursue the glory or domination of the Republic when an outside threat was imminent.

Work cited

Ciraolo, Stephen. Cicero, Pro Caelio. 1st ed. Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 1999. Print.

Eck, Werner. The Age Of Augustus. 1st ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. Print.

Gibbs, Matthew, Milorad Nikolic, and Pauline Ripat. Themes In Roman Society And Culture. 1st ed. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print.

Gibbs, Sallust, and Cicero, Gaius. "Bill Thayer's Web Site." Penelope.uchicago.edu. N.p., 2017. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.

Langerwerf, Lydia. "TO HAVE DARING IS LIKE A BARRIER: CICERO AND SALLUST ON CATILINE's AUDACIA." Greece and Rome 62.02 (2015): 155-166. Web.

Livy., and Benjamin Oliver Foster. History Of Rome. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926. Print.

"Sallust | Roman Historian". Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., 2017. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.

Sallust, and Patrick McGushin. History Of The Roman Republic. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992. Print.

"The Roman Empire: In The First Century. The Roman Empire. Emperors. Augustus | PBS". Pbs.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 23 Feb. 2017.