Roman and American Empires: A Common Moral Dilemma

Brooke Storms

1/13/2005 - A new debate on the parallels between the Roman Empire and the modern American “Empire” are here opened up for rediscovery. The similarities between the common moral dilemmas of a powerful and influential society are addressed on several levels. A historical view on the meaning of empires and the relevance of the comparison sets up a warrant for the further points. The position of the family unit details the treatment of the sanctity of marriage, the importance of children, and the emphasis on family. Homosexuality and prostitution are used as examples of the perversity integrated and accepted in society. The moral standards breached by entertainment and leadership lead into the problem of the elite in a culture’s distance from their constituency. The piece concludes with a call for a conscious turn of course for America appealing to cause and effect relationships in regards to the decline of the Roman Empire and the position of our own nation.

  In the beginning shepherds built huts on the Italian hills of the Tiber River at the heart of what would be Rome (Mellor, n.d.), and English pilgrims landed on the future American coast of Atlantic North America. These humble beginnings grew to the establishment of two of the mightiest civilizations in history. According to Dr. S. Harstine, the development of the prosperous Roman Empire (27 BC­-AD 476) which was from the beginning immorally based, became increasingly so, and the already weak moral fabric of ancient Rome would see no permanent mending. When emphasis on family is low or deteriorates, the same need that the family provided is filled by perversity. This perversity increases in prevalence and acceptance; earmarked by its display in the public media. Harstine explains that although the founding fathers of the United States of America and the people as a whole began as a moral and Christian nation (1776-present), this beginning has and is continuing to deteriorate. While these first American leaders found common cause with the people, the distancing of this empathy today in the United States as well as the examples of Roman leadership worsens the case for morality in any civilization. The rotting of morality has a distinct warning stench - a stench that perfumed the Roman Empire and also lingers in the American Empire’s wake.

  George Santayana once remarked that “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it,” but few heed this wisdom. The few that do recognize the folly in ignoring the mistakes of history are becoming increasingly alarmed at the rate that America is fashioning herself in the soiled apparel of Rome. Many compare the might and power of Rome with America, but the issue of perversity and societal downfall between the two is passed over as too removed to be relevant. This comparison is not only relevant but vital to the health and longevity of our nation.

  Rome and America are not identical, though as two common societies they share universal traits and qualities, and therefore some of these shared qualities such as increasing moral decay and corruption must be scrutinized and acted upon to avoid the Roman societal downfall. The historical relevance of America as an empire related to its Roman predecessor will lead into the discussion of the position of the family unit, the integrated and accepted cultural perversity, the proliferation of breached moral standards in the public media, and the distance of the elite from their constituency as common qualities that signal the decay of society.

  Alexander Hamilton in his writing of The Federalist Papers commented that America was “an empire in many respects the most interesting in the world,” and his contemporary Thomas Jefferson similarly referred to her as the “empire of liberty.” The concept of the American empire predates the formal establishment of the nation itself, and it bears the stamp of the Roman model, as displayed on the Senate wall as the Roman Republic coat of arms. In all of the glorious history of Rome, the American forefathers failed to magnify one important detail: the fall of Rome. Perhaps they deemed their system worthy to withstand the same pressures that collapsed the ancient empire, but even the Romans tried to safeguard themselves in a like manner to no avail. The fledgling Roman Empire saw the political corruption of the old republic as the instigator of their current moral decline, and legislation was passed meant to inhibit base sexual and political conduct and encourage a level of morality. It did not work. Rome eventually deteriorated. This is why the American public is reserved in their embrace of the parallels between the Roman Empire and their own society. The word empire itself reminds us of the predictable cycle of rise, reign, and fall of every major power in the course of history. America may avert her eyes and turn her back, but the truth of the matter is that without a drastic change of course, she, like the others, as R. Harris puts it, “must eventually pass away.” The future generations will be responsible for this country and its course when they come of age, and their actions will determine its fate.

  The position of the family unit, or lack thereof, is a milestone in any culture’s welfare, of which the Roman and American can be examined. Many factors affect the view of the family, but the major issues include the sanctity of marriage, the emphasis on family, and the importance of children.

  The American family has seen many changes in its history, though of late its nature is unique. In the colonial and early centuries the family composed not only the nuclear mother, father, and children, but also the extended relations, whom often lived within walking distance from each other. The westward push began to break up this family community, and according to Harstine, decay in America started from the Depression when people moved off the farm and relocated due to the extreme dearth. While indeed the Roman Empire never experienced an Industrial Revolution or Great Depression, its inner relations were constantly challenged. When the bonds of family are stressed or broken the support that they traditionally provide suffers the same.

  Marriage is the beginning of a new family and a new lifestyle bound by the strength of the law, and in some cases by the sanctity of God. The gravity of this institution and its treatment can be likened to a social barometer. When divorce and adultery rates rise, a clear indication of moral decay can be read. Davis, in his A Day in Old Rome, clearly states that divorces were easy and frequent in the Republic as well as the subsequent Empire of Rome. He cites a common situation:

  Many a time a couple has separated, married elsewhere, separated again, and then resumed the old wedlock. Women are charged with “flitting from one home to another, wearing out the bridal veil.”

  Emperor Augustus actually implemented laws to stem the “epidemic” of divorce among the aristocracy, including disadvantages for the single divorcés and bachelors, as well as the right for a wife to reclaim her dowry upon separation. This scenario of multiple divorces and re-marriages is similar to the American society today. The divorce rate as set by the Census Bureau in 2002 as posted by the Americans for Divorce Reform is an astonishing 50%. Marriage as instituted in the beginning by God was intended to be a covenant based on enduring love and partnership, and not mere feelings of love and romance.

  The prevalence of adultery as well as divorce bears witness to a sick culture and shows that perversity is integrated and accepted in a society. It became so prevalent in the Roman Empire that a special court was set up to deal with its legal implications.