Take a closer look at all things and you'll see that they're all withering and changing all the time. It can also be said that there has been corruption and discretization, in other words, the repeated formation of things is as repeated as they have been before them.
On 8 March 161 AD, Marco Aurelius became Emperor of Rome. What the famous philosopher was about to start his career as emperor was that he was the last of the five wise emperors of the Roman Empire, and many historians praised the Roman Empire under this emperor as the most suitable place for human habitation in the world; many people said that the Roman Empire actually perished at his hands.
Aurelius spent his life thinking about the ultimate meaning of man and the universe, and although they did not have many philosophical views, his Meditations shone like stars in the long river of history.
However, the life of Marco Aurelius, like other emperors, was full of many paradoxes. He kept the Roman Empire as well as possible, but the Roman Empire drifted away on the way to decline; he loved peace all his life, but had to fight all kinds of wars, so much so that the history books must add to his evaluation that his military talent was outstanding.
In the second year of Aurelius' reign, a massive plague broke out in the city of Rome, and the new emperor was troubled. Some historians believe that Aurelius's brother Lucius Verus died here.
Tracing back to the source, the reason why this great plague broke out was because of the roman empire's war in the east. Since the Roman Empire at this time no longer had the dominance of the previous Octavian period, any local war was enough to give the emperor of the Roman Empire a headache.
In the east, Aurelius led Roman soldiers in battle against sabbath. Despite the victory, soldiers returning to Rome brought the plague to Rome. In ancient times, when medical science was not developed, the plague was like the god of death, and according to the Roman records, the worst plague was that two thousand people died every day for a period of time.
Aurelius disagreed.
What is even more frightening is that the Empire still needs to maintain a large army at this time to prevent any rebellion within the Empire. As a result of the plague, the army had no choice but to increase the number of recruits, and the pacification of veterans and the conscription of new recruits were undoubtedly a considerable expense.
Not only that, but the empire's mining industry was forced to stop because of the plague, the pressure of the mint industry almost came to a standstill, and the price of goods soared throughout the country while the rent of the land continued to fall.
I don't know if Aurelius at this time will remember what Octavian once said: Don't expand your territory casually.
Of course, Aurelius did not want to expand his territory, but as the emperor of the empire, he could not abandon the inheritance left by his ancestors.
However, he really did not have a good time. Just as the war in the East improved slightly, there was a big problem on the Western Front. The rise of the Germanic peoples continued to erode the territory of the Roman Empire, especially Macmanni and Quadi. They even crossed the Danube, posing a very great threat to the Roman Empire.
As a brilliant military man, Aurelius remained in the early stages of the war and achieved great results, and the Germanic tribes were indeed not his opponents. However, after all, a person cannot help the building to fall. While the West continues to triumph, new rebellions emerge in syria in the east.
The emperor's gaze had to turn to the east.
When the rebellion in the East was quelled, the Germanic people slowly recuperated and re-emerged.
The long war exhausted the Roman Empire's army, and the country did not even have much money to reward the soldiers who fought on the front line. Oleliu had no choice but to sell the treasures in the palace to supply the army's expenses.
Although the generals will be moved and will fight on the battlefield, it is enough to see that this country will not last too long.
Years of war caused Aurelius to decline sharply, and eventually died in the army, appointing his son Commodus as his successor before his death.
Some say this was the greatest failure of Aurelius' life, because roman emperors were often succeeded by adopted sons, and Commodus was Aurelius's own son. Although blood relations cannot show some practical problems, Aurelius is indeed a non-person in the future when looking at Commodore's absurd behavior in the future.
Moreover, there were no more sages in the Roman Empire after that.
Commodus reached an agreement with the Germans, but this agreement made the Germans an ally of the Roman Empire and helped the Roman Empire to guard the frontiers, which in effect recognized the power of the Germans on the borders of the Roman Empire.
In fact, Commodus could not find a better way to end the war, because the Roman Empire was already in ruins at this time, although it was still a behemoth in the eyes of outsiders.
The root cause of Rome's demise was the inability of its slavery to adapt to the development of society.
First of all, the personal attachment of slavery was very strong. At the dawn of the empire, and even during the Republican period, slaves abounded with the expansion of the state. Any strange land, as long as there are people, can be plundered as slaves. However, as the empire gradually converged and could no longer expand its territory, there would naturally be fewer and fewer slaves, and with the reduction of slaves, there would be a very serious collapse in the upper echelons of society.
This collapse permeated all industries of the empire.
As slaves declined, female slaves became the most valuable commodity on the slave market. Because with female slaves, you can give birth to small slaves, but once this is the case, the cycle of training slaves will be greatly lengthened, and at the same time it will cost more money, although female slaves are very popular, but still can not solve the problem of a large number of slaves.
The same is true of the army, which, due to the lack of slaves, is also declining in number, and can only pull civilians into the ranks, which also aggravates social contradictions.
At the same time, the empire's economy was on the verge of collapse at this time. Because of the vast size of the empire, it was necessary to have a huge bureaucratic system to maintain the operation of the empire, which in itself was a huge expense, and the various celebrations of the empire, the officials and the phenomenon of enrichment, which made the country's tax revenue really unable to make ends meet.
Not long ago, the Empire had announced that if the taxes in a certain place were not collected, the salaries of the parliamentarians of the region would be deducted. Although this kind of behavior can temporarily alleviate economic problems, it cannot be used as a long-term solution.
As a result, many city councillors have hung up their crowns, and the profession that was once envied by people has fallen into the point of no one's attention.
After that, the Empire chose to act suicidally to solve its economic problems. That is, the issuance of bad money, the color of the currency of Aurelius's period can only be twenty-five percent of the ordinary Roman currency, such a low currency, is bound to be very controversial in the various industries of commerce.
Tax shortages and currency depreciations have led to the bankruptcy of the city's businesses and craftsmen, and the city's economy has become unsustainable.
No industry in society can exist independently. The depression of commerce and handicrafts led to the decline of agriculture within the empire. Due to the shortage of slaves and the decline of commerce, the farms had to become a small peasant economy, and from the moment the small peasant economy appeared, the economic system that supported the operation of the Roman Empire collapsed.
What is even more vicious is that in order to collect taxes, officials have to go to various regions to collect revenues, which also exacerbates the bankruptcy of the small peasant economy.
Within the empire after Aurelius, slave revolts, peasant revolts, and even military revolts would have been the nightmares of the Roman emperors for years.
Coupled with the improper selection of OleLiu, Commodus was invincible and invincible after coming to power, and the conquest was violent, which led to a mutiny in the army, and Commodus was also assassinated. After Commodore, very few emperors were able to die naturally.
An empire and a dynasty have reached this point and are really lacking in skill. In the past we used to say that the Goths sacked Rome and the Roman Empire collapsed.
However, without the decay within the empire, the Goths could not easily sack the city of Rome.
Fortresses are often breached from within.
Ole said this in the Meditations.
Think often about the ancients of the past. They single-mindedly avenge their resentments and family feuds, and do whatever it takes; some of them are famous for a lifetime, and some of them are suffering and suffering greatly. Then you ask yourself: Like everyone waiting, and now you are at peace? They disappeared without a trace, like a wisp of smoke.
What do you think?
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