Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/346

 288 Otitlines of Europe mi History Lack of responsible citizenship Decline of the army Men of wealth absorb the farming lands; the villas had failed. For tendencies which no ruler can control were in motion beneath the surface. In the first place, the people were losing their voice in government. Respotisible citizenship, which puts responsibility for the welfare of the state on each citizen, passed away and the world becarne indifferent to public questions. Men no longer enjoyed the educative influence of an interest in the welfare and the problems of the community. As the comparatively small percentage of highly educated men thus yielded to passive in- difference they lost public leadership, and it passed into the hands of the corrupt and untrained masses. This loss of regard for the duties of citizenship had a serious effect on the army, once the greatest organization in the Roman Empire. By the end of the first century a.d. the Romans of Italy had ceased to enlist in the rank and file of the army. Re- cruits for the defense of the frontiers were then levied exclusively in the provincial districts. We recall that the sword which such a recruit received from the hands of the centurion, as he stepped into the ranks for the first time, eventually brought him Roman citizenship. But such a recruit had never seen Rome nor ever enjoyed the influences of civilized life. He knew nothing of Roman citizenship in the old sense. He and his comrades lived in frontier barracks (Fig. 125), far from refining contact with civilization. As it became more and more difficult to raise the legions, even the German barbarians of the north were permitted to cross the border (Fig. 1 1 4) and enlist. In the end the army degenerated into unruly and turbulent hordes of military fron- tiers men, feeling none of the responsibilities of a citizen bear- ing arms, and often much resembling the revolutionary bands which devastate Mexico or the South American republics. The Romans of Italy, who thus yielded the sword to provin- cials and foreigners, either succumbed to poverty on the one hand or, on the other, improving the opportunities of the age for self- enrichment, the fortunate few were leading a life of idle luxury (Fig. 129). It was unlawful for a Roman of senatorial rank to