History

If one were make an assessment of Ancient Rome based on the three documents given, it could be said that Ancient Rome was an odd mix of democracy and imperialism along with the other nuances or idiosyncrasies that go with politics and if this were to be compared to todays politics, there are things that did not change.

The Twelve Tables serve to underscore the attempt of democracy on the part of the Romans.  It can be considered democratic in the sense that the creation of these laws was the result of the cooperation between two clashing classes, the patricians who made up the upper classes and the plebeians who form the lower half of society.  It showed that despite the conflict, both parties realized they depended on each other and that their continued animosity was doing them no good.  At first, law-making was exclusively for the patricians and the plebeians were marginalized but their efforts to have a legal code published paid off and they would be also made aware of the laws.  These laws would be applied equally to both classes.  Some of its provisions were akin to the provisions found in the constitutions of modern democratic states such as the ones concerning due process or obligations.  Though weird as some of these provisions may seem, they appeared to be just since it was equally applied to both parties (Spielvogel, 119).

The destruction of Carthage underscored Romes imperialistic designs even before it became an empire.  What started as an intervention resulted into the realization that Rome had the potential to expand its territory and the war against Carthage gave it a pretext to launch an invasion.  It was a brutal conflict that took three campaigns until it ultimately led to the destruction of Carthage.  This underscored Romes military prowess and showed their potential to be very brutal towards their enemies as the razed the city to the ground to show what they would do to those who wish to be enemies of Rome that they would show no mercy to those who dared fight it (Spielvogel, 125).

The assassination of Julius Caesar highlighted the ugly side of politics in Rome.  It was ugly in the sense that Caesars assassination was the result of a conspiracy hatched by his enemies. In the Senate who feared his growing ambition as Caesar made himself dictator for life.  This made him a threat to the Republic as the Senators concerned fear that their own hold on power would be threatened since Caesar had the command and respect of the army and assassination was the only viable option they could avail and this was made worse for Caesar when his friend Brutus was involved.  It was a carefully orchestrated plan which proved to be successful.  Caesar did not know what hit him until it was too late as he was deceived by his friend Brutus to disregard his apprehensions (Spielvogel, 149).  It was unfortunate that Caesars assassination did not prevent Rome from becoming an empire as Caesars nephew Octavian avenged his death and unified Rome after eliminating all pretenders and contenders setting the state for creating one of the greatest super powers of the ancient world.