Are We Rome?

In his non-fiction book Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America (2007), American author and journalist Cullen Murphy draws parallels between the United States in the early 21st century and the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries when it suffered its decline and eventual fall. While Murphy finds many of these parallels compelling, he significantly scrutinizes them, ultimately concluding that the fall of the American Empire is not necessarily imminent. At the same time, he draws valuable lessons from the Roman Empire which he believes should be applied to the United States to prevent a similar decline.

Murphy begins by pointing out that historical analogies between Rome and other empires are hardly new. One of the most famous attempts to extract lessons from the Empire's fall is Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Written by a British historian in 1776, the same year the United States declared its independence against Britain, one can see why contemporary readers in England might have the decline of a once-great empire on their mind. Needless to say, the British Empire continued its dominance of industry and the seas for at least another 100 years, and while its size and influence are greatly diminished today, it remains one of the most prosperous countries in the world.

Meanwhile, in the post-9/11 world from which Murphy writes, comparisons between Rome and America thrive. The expansion of the executive branch's powers under President George W. Bush in his efforts to fight global terrorism and spread American democracy is often cited as an indication that the United States is becoming more like the autocratic Roman Empire, rather than the Roman Republic on which the Founding Fathers modeled America. Murphy identifies similarities between the Roman Empire and the United States that date as far back as the earliest English settlers in the American colonies. Most significant is the strain of exceptionalism that runs through both civilizations which can be traced to the Puritan settler John Winthrop who, in advance of establishing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, tells his flock that they "shall be as a city upon a hill." The symbol of the "city upon a hill" persists throughout American history, used most famously by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan on the 1980 campaign trail.



Murphy also identifies parallel narratives regarding each civilization's national leaders at various times. At the dawn of the Roman Republic, Cincinnatus was a farmer who briefly took up the role of a dictator to lead Rome against invading Italic tribes, only to relinquish his near-absolute control of the state at the end of the war. A clear parallel is drawn to George Washington who, after leading the Continental Army to victory over the British, resigned as commander-in-chief, only returning to serve as president with great reluctance. Such leaders are much rarer in both the later stages of the Roman Empire and in post-9/11 America. Murphy also compares the curiosi, Rome's secret operatives, to the US National Security Agency, even going so far as to liken Rome's vaunted sewer system to the Washington blogosphere.

In terms of evaluating the likelihood that America is headed for a major decline like Rome's, Murphy must consider the reasons behind the fall of the Roman Empire. The factors historians attribute to Rome's collapse are multitudinous and include pressures as diverse as climate change and corruption. Nevertheless, the consensus on Rome's decline argues that the Empire had become too big, wasteful, and unwieldy. It failed to fend off armies of barbarian invaders until 476 when the barbarian statesman Odoacer deposed Flavius Romulus Augustus, the last Roman emperor.

Part of the reason for Rome's inability to protect its borders was a shift in how the Empire populated its military. In the past, Rome had employed citizen-soldiers from all socioeconomic levels to fight its wars and protect its territorial sovereignty. But over time, the Empire relied too heavily on legions made up of the poor and immigrant classes who were forced to serve. In turn, the educated and the elite in the United States are less likely to fight on behalf of their country than ever before, a major problem as the Bush administration sent troops to fight in two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively. For evidence of this, Murphy cites the statistic that in 1956, 450 of Princeton's 750 graduates that year enlisted in the US military. By comparison, only eight of the 1,100 individuals in Princeton's 2004 graduating class enlisted. As a result, the United States relies heavily on private military contractors to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to the detriment of the country's purported goal of spreading American democracy.



Another major parallel involves the increasing influence of lobbyists on elected officials. In Rome, the word suffragium initially referred to the franchise of voting. But over time, the term came to signify the exertion of influence and, eventually, full-fledged bribery. Murphy observes a similar trend in American politics as elected officials are increasingly beholden to special interests rather than voters, thanks to the enormous amount of money it takes to run a campaign in the modern US.

Murphy ends on a note of optimism, quoting the Roman historian Livy, "An empire remains powerful so long as its subjects rejoice in it."

In its review, The New York Times calls Are We Rome? "provocative and lively."