The Roman Republic: Overcoming The Common Good In Ancient Rome

Throughout history, many incredible civilizations have risen and fallen. Among them was Ancient Rome. The Roman Republic started in Italy in around 800 BC, and became a grand and powerful civilization. It was ruled by the people and they voted for leaders. Ancient Rome would go on to dominate much of the Mediterranean. Although the Roman Republic was a magnificent place, it didn’t always meet the common good. In order to meet the common good, a few things it would have to do are provide public services, promote the rule of law, and prepare for a common defense. Overall, the Roman Republic somewhat met the common good. When it came to preparing for a common defense, the Roman Republic met most needs. If it were graded on this, it would have

At this they would have received a C+ because of the aqueducts, roads, and gladiator fights. The Roman aqueduct system was a series of pipes that ran down from the mountains and provided the Roman Republic with running water and indoor plumbing. The only people who were not positively affected by this were the people forced to build the aqueducts, the Legions, slaves, and laborers. If the army was building a new fort or colony, Rome was not responsible for supplying it with water. The soldiers had to build aqueducts themselves. Another thing Rome did to try to meet the common good was create roads. At first, the only roads in Rome were grass and mud paths, which were slow and unsafe to travel on. The Roman Republic knew they would need new roads so that they could get to military situations quickly. The new roads were made of stone and mud. There were ditches on either side for drainage so they were safer in bad weather. Finally, the Roman Republic had gladiator fights. These definitely did not meet the common good. Slaves and animals were forced to fight, and in every show around half of the fighters died. This provided entertainment for the Romans, but was not meeting the common good. The Romans did well with aqueducts and roads, but they should have had safer and less violent

The Romans were fairly good at this, and earned a B-. This is because of their specific laws that addressed many situations. For example, Table 1 in the Twelve Tables, the written Roman laws, states that if you are summoned to court, you must go by law. This law protected others in the trials because people important in their case couldn’t choose to ignore them. If someone was unable to come to the trial because they were sick or elderly, a form of transportation would be sent to them so that they could come. The Romans wanted everyone called upon to be able to come to the trial so that they could not be accused of being unfair. One thing the Romans did poorly when promoting the rule of law was treating everyone equally. There were specific laws for people like women and slaves who were restricted by the Twelve Tables. This was one weakness among the strengths of the Romans as they promoted the rule of law.

The Roman Republic did a moderate job meeting the common good, but there were several areas that could have used improvement. They should have treated their Auxiliary soldiers fairly, and made sure that their laws treated everyone equally. The Roman Republic also should have had safer entertainment that didn’t force people to fight to the death. Although Ancient Romans didn’t do everything in their power to meet the common good, they still became a very powerful empire and controlled