15e: Conclusions

1. A Roman by any other name
The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, was also the Roman Empire from whenever the Western Empire fell (I still say 568 AD) to its own fall in 1453. The successor kings of Italy, Odovacar and Theodoric recognized the Eastern Emperor as their overlord. The emperor Justinian didn't conquer a foreign country when he took Italy from the Ostrogoths in 540 AD. In his mind and in his people's mind he was merely reclaiming territory that rightly belonged to his empire. Even when crowned Emperor of the West in 800 AD, Charlemagne acknowledged (if none too loudly) that the Eastern Emperor at Constantinople was his equal in status. Most importantly, the Byzantines themselves considered themselves not to be Byzantinoi or Hellenes, but Romaioi... that is, Romans.

2. Christian vs. Christian
The intermittent squabbles between Christians turned into an Eastern versus Western Christian squabble and the founding of two great churches. The first great "heresy" was the so-called Arian belief that Christ the Son was not of the same substance as God the Father, but merely of similar substance. Even Constantine the Great couldn't stamp that one out; his son Constantius II practiced the Arian faith himself. Nor did Christians sit around and discuss these theological differences politely - fists and rocks flew, and sometimes even nations fought. As the divide between the former halves of the empire increased, so did the two halves of the Christian church. The Western Church assumed some of the Western Empire's social and political roles, and tended to be more independent minded. The Eastern Church, on the other hand, was pretty much controlled by the Eastern Emperor. Matters came to a head in 1054 over the nature of the Holy Spirit: the Westerners said the Spirit was descended from the Father and the Son, while the Easterners said only from the Father. The two churches split into Catholic (Western) and Orthodox (Eastern) churches and have not been rejoined since... despite the Council of Florence.

3. Rome's Official Legacy
You have no doubt heard about the legacy of Rome enough times already. I need not remind you that the American government was invented by Founders who had read the Greek and Roman classics thoroughly and combed them for good ideas. Every time you walk by Carrington Hall, you can look up at a textbook example of an architectural style which traces itself all the way back through the ancient Romans to the Ancient Greeks. If you look at the state seal outside Carrington Hall, you will see the Latin inscription SALUS POPULI SUPREMA LEX ESTO, which means "Let the well-being of the People be the supreme law;" both the language and the concept are borrowed from the ancient Romans. American notions of citizenship are borrowed from the Romans' unique brand of plow-dropping, assembly-attending, politically astute citizenship. I admit that's all very important, but I want to talk about something else here.

4. More Than A Feeling
The Roman Empire left behind an attitude. It dated back to the good old days when men like Camillus and Cincinnatus dropped the plow and picked up the sword. Fabius the Delayer had it when he figured he'd just wait Hannibal out, and Scipio had it when he took the fight to Carthage. Marius, Sulla, Pompey, and Crassus all had it - Julius Caesar had it in spades. Rome was big, Rome was bad, and sooner or later (usually sooner), Rome would kick your butt too. Augustus, no natural butt-kicker he, took it a step further by demonstrating Rome's ability to rule those whose butts were kicked - and rule wisely. Under Augustus, Rome saw itself as the civilizing and peace-keeping force of the entire Mediterranean world, and this Pax Romana lasted two decades. Even after the Crisis of the Third Century AD, even after the West fell and the Romans in the East went back to speaking Greek, the Romans kept ruling wisely. Granted, the Byzantine empire utterly shrunk into oblivion, but they managed to hold their own against younger and fresher peoples and empires almost into the 16th century. One way of putting it was that Rome eventually became a brand name - with Caesars, legions, dioceses, court rituals, Latin inscriptions - that everybody who was anybody politically wanted to have too.