Diocletian and Constantine attempted to solve, not only the political and social problems of Rome, but also fundamental economic problems as well. Bruce Bartlett argues that the two did exactly the wrong thing. Please read Bartlett's article How Excessive Government Killed Rome. Do you think Bartlett's criticisms accurate? Why, or why not?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Constantine (extra credit)
Diocletian and Constantine attempted to solve, not only the political and social problems of Rome, but also fundamental economic problems as well. Bruce Bartlett argues that the two did exactly the wrong thing. Please read Bartlett's article How Excessive Government Killed Rome. Do you think Bartlett's criticisms accurate? Why, or why not?
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Yes, Barlett criticism is right because Diocletian got rid of currency and Constantine continued to follow, and had goods as a way of currency which had people fight for the smallest thing what really wasnt worth as musch as they percived, also farmers work to on their land too hard and cause to just break down and not be good for use anymore; and causing businesses to leave and which broke Rome economy down.
ReplyDeleteI think most of Bartlett's criticisms are accurate, both Diocletian and Constantine did some things that would be questionable to whether or not it was the right thing for the Roman people. But I also think that both of them had some good reforms that were good for the Roman people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bartletts critisims, had Rome Taxed the wealthiest as much as they taxed the middle class, Rome wouldnt have as much finacial problems and then I believe Constantine and Diocletian reforms probally would have been more effective
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bartlett in his assessment about how Rome's attempt at what we now call socialism led to feudalism and eventually killed the economy of Rome. Constantine, especially, exacerbated the situation.
ReplyDeleteRome had already started the practice whereby farmers and their decendents were tied to the land they worked, and workers and their decendents had to continue in their occupations (blacksmiths, by law, had to continue being blacksmiths, as did all their decendents). Constantine made the law stronger by taxing anyone who was found with someone else's serf on their land, and turning small farmers into virtual slaves if they tried to move elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the wealthier families had to work as tax collectors and such, and if they didn't collect enough, pay out of pocket. Taxes on trade were very high. As Bartlett points out, "The result was increasing feudalization of the economy and a total breakdown of the division of labor. People fled to the countryside and took up subsistence farming or attached themselves to the estates of the wealthy, which operated as much as possible as closed systems, providing for all their own needs and not engaging in trade at all."