III. Roman Stupidity

From the rise of the Republic to the fall of the Empire, the story of Roman stupidity is the story of material success undermined by intellectual failure. The Romans' material success was built on their canny knack for acting in their immediate best interest, but their intellectual limitations rendered them unable to perceive the long-term negative effects imperialism had on their society. Thus, Roman stupidity was fundamentally a failure of self-perception for as they busily reshaped the world, the Romans failed to see what they were doing to themselves. This was particularly true of the governing aristocrats, who insisted on viewing themselves as Rome incarnate and their own interests as those of Rome in general, especially in the latter days of the Empire.

It was not always so.

In its early days, the Roman Republic was preoccupied with a class struggle between the aristocratic patricians and the plebes, but both sides were quite pragmatic in respecting each other and shrewd enough never to force an issue to a disastrous climax. Within their limits, Romans were hard dealers, but during the fourth century B.C., they stayed within those limits. If there was stupidity in this era, it was correctable within the existing cultural construct and did not go to the excesses which led to the fall first of the Republic and then the Empire.

Furthermore, the same sagacity, aggressive selfishness and practical altruism which limited the Republic's class conflicts also characterized its foreign policy. The Romans understood the value of allies, could assimilate vanquished foes and would "Give and take" with a degree of fairness and sanity. This was the real power of Rome, and it converted a miserable little city, which in 390 was defended by geese and sacked by Gauls, into the ruling unifier of Italy in 275.

In achieving unity, Rome succeeded where Athens had failed because Athens had been dominated by that narrow patriotism which can thwart the ambitions of any state. Athens was basically disliked or, at best, envied even within her own empire because she prevailed in a proud spirit of civic egotism. Consequently, her disasters were not felt to be disasters by her subject states.

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