首页
登录
职称英语
Shortly after the death of emperor Theodosius in 395 A.D., the Roman Empire
Shortly after the death of emperor Theodosius in 395 A.D., the Roman Empire
游客
2023-12-25
36
管理
问题
Shortly after the death of emperor Theodosius in 395 A.D., the Roman Empire was permanently divided into Eastern and Western empires. By the fifth century A.D., the power of the Western Roman Empire had declined considerably, though the Eastern Roman Empire centered in Byzantium continued to flourish. Various problems contributed to this undermining of the West.
The accessions of Arcadius and Honorius, sons of Theodosius, as emperors in the East and West, respectively, illustrate the unfortunate pattern of child heirs that had unfavorable effects for both empires. When Arcadius died in 408, he was succeeded by his seven-year-old son, Theodosius II. Reigning until 423, Honorius was succeeded by his nephew Valentinian III, who was only five.
Because of their young ages, Theodosius’ sons and grandsons could not rule without older advisors and supervising regents upon whom they naturally became dependent and from whom they were unable to break away after reaching maturity.
As powerful individuals vied for influence and dominance at court, the general welfare was often sacrificed to private rivalries and ambitions. Moreover, it was the women of the dynasty who were the more capable and interesting characters. Holding the keys to succession through birth and inheritance, they became active players in the political arena.
Compared with the East, however, the West faced a greater number of external threats along more permeable frontiers. Whereas the East could pursue war and diplomacy more effectively with their enemies on the long eastern frontier, the West was exposed to the more volatile tribal Germanic peoples on a frontier that stretched along the Rhine and Danube rivers for 1,000 miles. The East, however, only had to guard the last 500 miles of the Danube. In addition, the East had many more human and material resources with which to pursue its military and diplomatic objectives. The East also had a more deeply rooted unity in the Greek culture of the numerous Greek and Near Eastern cities that Rome had inherited from earlier Grecian empires. Latin culture had not achieved comparable penetration of the less urbanized West outside of Italy. The penetration of Germanic culture from the north had been so extensive along the permeable Rhine-Danube frontier that it was often difficult to distinguish between barbarians (speakers of German and other languages unrelated to Latin) and Romans in those regions by the fifth century anyway.
One of the most outstanding features at the beginning of this period was the prominence of Germanic generals in the high command of the Roman Imperial army. The trend became significant, and several practical reasons can explain it. The foremost probably was the sheer need for military manpower that made it attractive to recruit bands of Germanic peoples for the armies, which, in turn, gave able chieftains and warlords the opportunity to gain imperial favor and advance in rank. Second, one way to turn Germanic chieftains from potential enemies into loyal supporters was to offer them a good position in the Roman military. Third, although Theodosius had risen to power as a military leader, he was also a cultured aristocrat and preferred to emphasize the civilian role of the emperor and to rely for protection on Germanic generals whose loyalties were primarily to him, their patron. [br] The word unfavorable in the second passage is closest in meaning to________.
选项
A、negative
B、uncontrollable
C、unexpected
D、long-lasting
答案
A
解析
题干unfavorable意为“不利的”,各选项中只有A项negative(负面的;消极的)与其意思接近,故选A项。B项“不可控制的”、C项“预料之外的”和D项“长久的”均不符合题意。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3304640.html
相关试题推荐
Theemperorturnedtoalchemytoensureimmortality,butcontrarytohiswishes,
Wearepreparedto______thepost-appraisalmissionshortlyafterreceiptofth
ThefirstemperorofRomewasAugustus,andmanypeoplethinkthatitwasJulius
Undertheattackofitsenemiesfromallsides,theempirewasabouttocrumble.
He______hissmallshopintoasupermarketempireandbecameacelebratedentrepr
Theplague______thebaseoftheRomanEmpires,hencehastenedthedeclineofthe
Thetravelersrecommencedtheirjourneyshortlyaftertheterroristattackwasd
ShortlyafterthedeathofemperorTheodosiusin395A.D.,theRomanEmpire
Theplague________thebaseoftheRomanEmpires,hencehastenedthedeclineoft
[originaltext]Mytinywalk-onroleinLondon’sdramabeganshortlyafterni
随机试题
Onecalledherbossa"bitchfromhell"whileanotheradmitted"lyingthroug
宗地图是以( )为单位编绘的地籍图。A.地图标准分幅 B.宗地 C.村
患者,男性,60岁。持续性上腹疼痛伴腰背部放射痛8小时,恶心、呕吐,吐后腹痛无减
男性,20岁。平素健康,淋雨后突发寒战、高热、头痛,第2天出现右侧胸痛、咳嗽、咳
公积金管理中心审批通过借款人的申请后,向受委托主办银行出具《委托贷款通知书》,明
影响股价变化的其他因素包括()。 ①心理因素 ②人为操纵因素 ③政策及制
小丽,13岁,初一学生,父母双亡,又无其他亲属抚养,被民政部门认定为城市“三无”
以下属于企业要素的有()A.人力、物力、财力 B.信息、知识、技术
《证券法》规定,我国证券公司的组织形式为有限责任公司或者股份有限公司,不得采取
需在两餐间服用的双膦酸盐类药物为A.阿仑膦酸钠 B.唑来膦酸钠 C.利塞膦酸
最新回复
(
0
)