This is why we study Rome

We got these new social studies textbooks this year, so I let the students pick out some things they would be interested in learning about.  One of them was the Roman Empire, which was cool with me, 'cause I don't know much about ancient Rome, either. I was dissatisfied with the details the book provided, however, so I decided to show a couple videos to supplement the material. When we were watching this video, on the downfall of Rome, a part of it really struck me. I will write it down verbatim here:


Political power was concentrated in too few hands...the wealthy were forgetting the old democratic ideals: balancing the power of rulers with needs of ordinary citizens....Rome had turned its back on the common man....The ancestors of Roman peasants like Gaius led humble but dignified lives as small farmers....But slave-owning aristocrats had commandeered their land and evicted them....Destitute families flooded into the city, swelling the ranks of sweatshop workers and the urban poor....Gaius grew up in Rome doing menial jobs and a lot of drinking....Like millions of poor Romans, he lived on welfare handouts of grain, and mindless distraction--lots of it....

"The proletariat are lazy, idle, and devote their whole life to drink, gambling, brothels, shows and chariot races. Their temple, their dwelling, their meeting place--in fact, the center of all their desires--is the circus maximus. They talk about nothing else."  --Ammianus

By the 3rd century A.D. the number of days devoted to games had risen from a handful to a staggering 170 each year....Intent on distracting themselves, most Romans didn't notice the social fabric of the empire shredding all around them....Rome's sense of community had disappeared....The elite were increasingly isolated from the poor....

"They are greedy. Their language is foul and senseless. The manners of the poor have decayed completely. They are quarrelsome, and make disgusting noises by snorting loudly through their noses." Ammianus

Upper-class Romans could ill afford their disdain....Gaius would die in squalor and oblivion; but his children and grandchildren would never forget how Rome had shut them out....

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And I thought, "Huh."