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  3. 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  19
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] Which of the following is NOT identified in the third paragraph as a factor contributing to the greater stability and success of the Eastern empire?
选项 A、A shorter border subject to invasion by Germanic tribes.
B、Greater cultural unity among the inhabitants.
C、More resources available for achieving political goals.
D、Lower population densities outside of urban areas.
答案 D
解析 第3段主要是指出东罗马帝国为何在西罗马帝国逐渐没落的情况下继续繁荣的理由。其一是与西罗马帝国相比，东罗马帝国与日耳曼民族的交界较短(only had to guard the last 500 miles of the Danube)，这对应了A项“易受日耳曼部落入侵的边界较短”，故A项不符合题意，可排除。其二是东罗马帝国拥有更多的人力和物力资源，有助于实现军事和外交目标，因此C项“拥有更多资源以实现其政治目标”也是促进东罗马帝国稳定的因素，故C项也不符合题意，可排除。其三是希腊文化在东罗马帝国有着根深蒂固的统一性，因此B项“居民之间有很强的文化统一性”也是促进东罗马帝同稳定的因素，故B项同样也不符合题意，也不选。只有D项“(东罗马帝国)城市以外的人口密度较低”在文中未被提及，不是促进东罗马帝国稳定的因素，符合题意，故选D项。
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