The Storm Before The Storm  
Mike Duncan    

Summary

A look at what led to the fall of the Ancient Roman empire. Book was a bit hard to follow all the different leaders and wish he did a better job of comparing it to today's world, but still a good historical write-up

Rating: 3/5

Notes

3 classic forms of government - monarchy (one), aristocracy (few rich ppl) and democracy (rule by many). Each has it’s merits but inevitably fails till its overthrown

Romans never had a single leader but a group of consuls who were elected and held office for one year where then a new group came to power

Eventually the senate held all the power and elected all the other officials to act on their behalf

No power endures indefinitely, all empires must fall and there’s nothing mortals can do about it

Wealthy noble families exacerbated the divide between rich and poo often because the poor were conscripted for any wars and didn’t keep their land productive

Because slaves came in from other places, a few men became extremely rich while the rest of the population of Italty gree weak under the oppressive weight of poverty, taxes and military service

The lex agaria was a land reform bill to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor that was posed after a big conflict between the rich elites and the common people

The plebs (common people) in Rome wanted a secured supply of grain (food security) as they did not want land distribution

There was a slave revolt and uprising in Siciliy where most of the grain was made

It is this spirit which has commonly raised great notions, when one party desires to triumph over another by any and every means to avenge itself on the vanquished with excessive cruelty - Sallust

Some men are always prepared to let their wallers rule their politics

The roman senate was constantly thinking about migrants coming into their territory

Men have not so much admiration for these leaders who share riches with them as far as those who take part in their toils and dangers

Violence was a routine part of the cycle of Roman politics

The beginning of the downfall was the rejection of italian citizens to become Romans

At the end of his life, Marius came to embody the dark side of relentless ambition

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