道德沦丧与罗马帝国的衰亡

The Decay of Morality and the Fall of Roman Empire

罗马帝国的衰亡是一个渐进的过程,其原因引起了古今中外诸多学者的关注。蛮族入侵说、奴隶起义说、基督教影响说、社会道德沦丧说、城市与工商业衰败说等都从不同角度探讨了罗马帝国衰亡的原因。本文论述了共和末期以来罗马公民的政治道德解体、贪污腐败盛行、价值取向变化、家庭生活崩溃、生活方式堕落诸问题,力图从社会道德的层面探讨罗马帝国衰亡的原因。

The decline and fall of the Roman Empire is a gradual process.Many Chinese and foreign scholars,ancient and modern,have made their efforts in revealing its deceasing reasons,such as barbarian invasion,slave rebellion,Christian influence,social moral decay,urban and industrial decline and etc.This article tries to explore the reason from the perspective of social morality and believes that the problems like disintegration of politics and morality,rampant corruption,value degradation,the collapse of the family life,and undesired lifestyle of Roman citizens all contribute to the end of the Roman Republic.