Polybius, Caesar, and William Harris Accounts on Roman Imperialism - Essay Example

Polybius, Caesar, and William Harris accounts on Roman imperialism The history of the world shows that, the Roman Empire is one of the most enduring and successful empires. However, it has experienced many downfalls. The rise of the Roman Empire emphasized on military dictatorship. The empire was as a result of different economic and political forces. Before we embark on the main subject to be discussed in this paper, it is important to understand the definition of an empire and territory. An empire can thus be defined as ruling people in a wide territory without their consent. On the other hand, imperialism is the attitudes and process that are used to establish and maintain an empire. This is to say that imperialism is a shape shifting process and dynamic; this is because imperialism changes as the society develops. The empire expanded as a result of military expeditions. In this, the essay discusses on Harris view on Roman imperialism and the extent to which Polybius and Caesar narratives support William Harris’s account of the factors driving Roman imperialism. Different historians have different views on Roman Imperialism. Being one of the earliest historians, Polybius clearly gives a well-defined account of Roman imperialism. He comes up with a theory referred to as “Cycle of Political Revolution” to explain the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. In his theory, he brings up the cycle of Roman imperialism how a new system in leadership comes in causing the old one to be replaced by the new one (Polybius 238). His account relates to William Harris account because he states that just as the man evolved from an animal into a civilized human being the governance system evolves in the same way. As stated earlier, William Harris states that imperialism in the ruling system is dynamic. In his theory “Cycle of Political Revolution”, he shows how with the evolution of manpower came in hence the establishment of a monarchy (Polybius 235). In the Monarchy, power is embossed on one individual within the society. To maintain the Monarchies heirs obtained the position of Monarchies from their parents. However, because the system of government evolved as men become more civilized, the heirs rebelled against the existing ruling system and saw the need to implement new ways of ruling the people. As a result of this, Kingship system was established (Polybius 235). In the Kingship system, democracy is practiced and the leader comes down to common person’s level. Because the system is dynamic, the heirs see the need to distinguish himself from the common person. As a result of this the system of governance changes from democracy to aristocracy. In his theory, Polybius blames the heirs for the change in the system of political governance. For instance, he says that heirs take advantage of the people because when they are born they do not face hardship. The heirs only enjoyed luxuries and wealth that they had not labored. The aristocracy was replaced by oligarchy because the heirs enjoyed wealth and luxury life. In oligarchy, people had a say in the governing process. This means that the people worked together for a democratic state. In a democratic state people have a say in the government affairs (Polybius 241). Because of the democracy, there is freedom of speech and expression. As a result of this everyone expresses his opinion on different issues concerning the state and this result in chaos and misunderstanding among the people in the state. Because of the misunderstanding among the members in the state, the strongest and outspoken person takes over as the leader. This resulted in the creation of a Monarchy going back to the first stage of leadership. By this, we see that the system of leadership cycles in one place although the systems take a substantial amount of time to move from one season to another. This clearly shows the application of Polybius theory “Cycle of Political Revolution” in political systems. History defines Julius Caesar as one of the most recent historians who gave an account on Roman imperialism. His account is different from Polybius account because of the difference in the time each spends in Rome. Polybius gave accounts on long time history on Roman imperialism. In addition, Caesar was one of the rulers in Rome and contributed so much on Roman imperialism. He is among the last and strongest leaders in the Roman Empire. Because of his ambition and ability to cope with hardships he easily expanded the Roman Empire. History defines Julius Caesar as a man of his words. this means that he was a dictator (Caesar & MacDevitt 273). This is because whatever he wanted had to be achieved no matter the situation at hand. He even used force to make sure that what he wanted was done according to his will. Because of his ambitions mentality and ability to cope with hardships, he brought glory in Rome. As a young man, he gave an upper hand on matters concerning politics. His mission was to carry out politics to enrich him and maintain glory and power. As earlier stated that Julius Caesar obtained what he wanted even using force this impacted on the Roman Empire negatively because many people lost their lives. Julius Caesar had a personal interest in his mode of leadership. He focused on getting wealth, fame, and glory. He was arrogant as a leader and because of the dictatorship in Rome during his reign; Rome greatly expanded and was successful in all its conquest (Caesar & MacDevitt 189). In his Julius Caesar accounts, we see how Caesar led the Romans in conquest to defeat their enemies. In one of his conquests, he led his army to conquer Italy (Caesar & MacDevitt 287). History shows that within three months of the Northern Italy conquest he was able to conquer the Italian peninsula. This showed how he was good in the army and how he easily conquered other states. As a result of his greed for power in 44 BC he declared himself as a dictator for life. When in power, he conquered several states and obtained gold and silver as a token because of his victory. Because some of the members of the senate did not like Caesar declaration that he would be a dictator for life, they planned a way on how to assassinate him. He was assassinated and gave away to another leader he brought up a new system of governance (Caesar & MacDevitt 325). William Harris in his book “War and imperialism in Republican Rome” he explains the reasons for Roman war and imperialism. In his book, he states that Roman Empire expanded as a result of response to external threats (William 200). He states that the empire expanded due to the aggressiveness of the imperialist. In addition, the book examines the origin of Roman wars to bring out imperialism. Although he does not dwell on Roman wars, he argues that, military success was the highest means for expansion of the Roman Empire, which is the aristocrat to obtain power and glory. Harris states that the ruling class knew very well the rewards of successful warfare, which included obtaining slaves, and acquisition land which influenced Roman expansion (William 63). He analyses ancient sources such as Polybius. In his book, he states that wars in Rome aimed at increasing Roman Empire even if the Romans did not immediately rule the territory they conquered. William Harris is a present day historian who has given an account in most of his publications on the factors, which have greatly contributed to Roman imperialism. In his books, he states that for Roman imperialism to take root in Rome there had to be personal interest to drive the force of imperialism. As we shall see above some of the rulers like Julius Caesar had a personal interest, which facilitated the growth in Roman imperialism. Personal interest included aspects of getting material possession. As a result of the greed of some rulers like Julius Caesar obtaining property looted a number of areas and obtained a lot of gold and silver (William 5). This was as a result of personal greed of some of the rulers and they aimed at conquering some of the states surrounding them and obtaining the wealth. In his publications, William Harris explains how the Romans captured slaves in every war. The slaves were very important in Rome because they supplied the labor required in the agricultural farms and mining quarries. This greatly impacted on the economic growth positively because labor from the slaves was readily available and cheap (William 83). In the 20th century, the slaves started to be used in other ways such as personal grooming especially for the people in power. They captured the captives during the war and used the slaves for their own prestigious lives. Research has shown that, because of the availability of slaves and their cheap labor Roman Empire expanded as a result of that. In addition, this clearly defines the reasons why imperialism took root in the Roman Empire and the surrounding territories. With this account, we can clearly analyze the extent to which the narratives of Polybius and Caesar support William Harris account on factors driving Roman imperialism. It is important to understand that, Polybius account differs from Julius Caesar account because of the different times they spend in Rome. In Polybius accounts, he states that the rulers wanted to do good to their people and were not concerned with the wealth, fame, and power. He says that the change came in due to the greediness of the heirs (Polybius 413). This is because the heirs found wealth and did not have mercy on the people they were ruling they were concerned with material possessions. In Polybius, account rulers took money from Rome’s wealth for them to live a luxuries life. With this, Polybius states that, the greed for material gain took root after 46 BC. On the other hand, Caesar states that the leaders did all that they did for personal gain; they were not interested in the welfare of the people who they were ruling. A good example of the rulers who supported dictatorship is Julius Caesar who declared himself a dictator for life, which resulted to his assassination. This account clearly supported William Harris publication on the aspect of leaders focusing on the personal gain hence dictatorship (William 157). In his book “War and imperialism in republic Rome” he explains how Romans went to conquest and acquired the land from the people. This is related to imperialism because of the expansion of the territory as a result of the conquest activities. The land acquired during the conquest was distributed to the landlords and slaves acquire during the conquest were used as a source of labor in the farms. William Harris saw this as a good way for the expansion of the Empire. He says that all these aspects geared towards economic expansion of the Roman Empire hence imperialism. This relates to Julius Caesar accounts on the expansion of the empire and imperialism. The reason being Julius Caesar focused on expanding the Roman Empire through conquest activities (William 180). As mentioned above, Polybius narrations show how the rulers wanted to expand the Roman Empire under all cost. Some of the rulers according to Polybius wanted to expand the territory to stretch to the whole world. This ambition runs across members of the family because leadership was hereditary. As a result of this, all the leaders supported imperialism. On the other hand, Julius account shows how the leaders carried out all their activities to support their inner desire for power regardless of death of the people during the conquest activities (Caesar & MacDevitt 246). This account supports William Harris accounts on the greed for power hence imperialism basing the argument on conquest activities and the acquisition of slaves. Concisely, Julius Caesar and Polybius accounts support William Harris accounts on the rise of imperialism in republican Rome. William Harris accounts are mostly applicable during Julius Caesar’s reign. The reason being during Julius Caesar’s reign he used force to fulfill all what he wanted. Caesar’s efforts led to increase in imperialism in Rome. the essay shows how the factors driving Rome to imperialism as illustrated in his book “War and imperialism in republican Rome” thus bringing out the extent in which the narratives of Polybius and Caesar support William Harris’s account on the factors driving Roman imperialism. Some of the factors driving to the rise of imperialism in Rome as discussed in the essay are military success-land and the acquisition of slaves. Work cited Caesar Julius, and MacDevitt W A. . Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War and on the Civil War. El Paso, Texas: El Paso Norte Press, 2005. Print. Harris, William V. War and Imperialism in Republican Rome, 327-70 B.c. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985. Internet resource. Polybius. The Histories of Polybius. Digireads.com Publishing, 2004. Print. Read More