The Great Change

这是一篇讲述罗马的历史的essay范文。文中主要从权力过度集中，人们的信仰被压碎和重建，罗马已经成为一个multi-minorities帝国等几方面来阐述罗马帝国的昌盛与兴衰。

Rome was an extraordinary powerful empire two thousand years ago. She cross Europe, Asia and Africa three continents. Rome lasted for nearly two thousand years, but in the end, she disappeared in history, like all the empires and dynasties. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome ) The truth is, once Romans were thought to be hard-working and aware of virtue, and they were willing to devote themselves to the Republic. However, things changed greatly. Romans were not the Romans they had been used to be.
HOW IN THE WORLD DID THE FIRST PICTURE TURN INTO THE SECOND
Why Romans changed so greatly. I think there a several reasons.
First, the problem of over-concentration of power in the hands of aristocrats and officials. In the war time, the citizens paid attention on national conflicts instead of internal contradictions, but in the age of peace, the power is still left in aristocrats’ and officials’ hands, or, only Augustus oneself. Absolute power definitely causes absolute corruption. The high society used their power to exploit the lower class people and slaves, the gap between the rich and the poor was getting wider and wider. What’s more, hereditary system made the rich men get richer and richer, and the poor men get poorer and poorer. When a country’s most gold and power had been centralized in few people, they began to purchase land and became rich landlord, while most people had nothing in hand and had to work day and night and they had to shoulder the heavy tax burden, and they had to pay for the economic crisis or the disaster of poverty. I believe that most poor people could not accept that. (http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj14n2/cj14n2-7.pdf) 
Second, the people’s belief was being crushed and reconstructed. For rich people, they had enough money and power, the greed let them to ask for more. Therefore, those officials wanted to modify the laws and rules so that the new rules would be benefit for them. Rome was transferred from Republic to empire because of Augustus. The traditional rules were broken down suddenly, on the contrary, no any new rules which could restrict the emperor’s power had put forward. The social structure had become deformed and many upper class rich men had to scarify their morality to cater to the new society rules, the traditional morality had faced great difficulty being maintained. 
For poor people, the belief and morality changed greatly as well. The difference was: the upper class rich men could modify the rules by themselves, but ordinary citizens could only watch and do nothing. The age of peace was so long, the aristocrats and upper class people were not as brave as their ancestors, and on the contrary, they seemed like parasites in Rome. They had no way to protect Rome. (http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/orb/milex.htm )The ordinary citizen had develop dissatisfaction to Rome. Under the new rules of Rome, those “stern, stiff, steady, sedate, sparse Romans of the Republic of its earlier days with their obsession with the virtues of fides, gravitas, virtue, religion, etc. and the good moral man as public servant working for the good of the Republic.” people did not have their reward, the traditional morality crushed in face of the cruel truth. In Roman’s time, the number of Christians was rising. Many ordinary citizens tended to become religious, in order to, I guess, evade reality. (http://www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm ) (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/ )
Third, Rome had already become a multi-minorities empire. There were many different kinds of minorities in the whole Roman Empire. However, those minorities did not happy to be part of Rome. At the beginning of the time, Rome was the most powerful Republic in the western land, so these minorities had to do under Roman’s commend, but in fact, most of them were not willing to. Most time Romans did not treat them as their native citizens. The famous statute law applied to everyone except for the slaves and the people who were not Roman natives. Those minorities entered in Rome, their ideas and thoughts had a great influence on Roman native’s values. The value system of Rome was being crushed. (http://www.tamos.net/~rhay/romefall.html ) (http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-003.html ) (http://roman-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/romes_fall_from_power )
WHAT PURPOSE DID THE BLOOD SPORT SERVE
The famous Gladiator game and other Blood Sport. These sports were performed to please the upper class rich men, while those poor men and slaves had to fight with the beasts for living. The poor people were forced to sanctify their life to entertain the upper class.
The American movie Gladiator showed a picture of later Roman Empire. The emperor got the power by cruel means. Those brave and honest people were framed and had no chance to survive. The tyrant oppressed and exploited the ordinary people and did what he wish to do. Laws and legislations disappeared. The upper class found amusement in lower class blood fighting. That may be the real reason why Romans had the great change. Their mind did change, but they did not change by no reason. It is the society changed FIRST, the whole environment was getting worse and worse, then, people’s mind indeed changed, with the bad environment.

REFERENCE
WIKIPEDIA ROME
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome
Collapse of the Roman Empire - Military Aspects: Online Essay by Hugh Elton
http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/muhlberger/orb/milex.htm
How Excessive Government Killed Ancient Rome
http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj14n2/cj14n2-7.pdf
THE FALL OF ROME II
http://www.tamos.net/~rhay/romefall.html
THE FALL OF ROME III
http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-003.html
Why Rome Fell
http://roman-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/romes_fall_from_power
ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANTY 
http://www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm
FROM JESUS TO CHRIST
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/