Emperors & Popes

Corruption in Rome Through the Ages

Overview

Plato often used the term "πλεονεξία" (pleonexia) to describe greed or the excessive desire for wealth and power. According to Plato, wealth is the most dangerous addiction there is. Unlike other addictions, like food or wine, people are never satisfied by wealth; bellies are never too full to consume more. In his works, particularly in The Republic, Plato discusses pleonexia as a key factor contributing to social injustice and moral corruption.

Pleonexia lends a particular shape to human history. Economic systems emerge because they work well. But over time the winners in those systems become addicted to wealth, and the temptation to fuel that addiction by cheating inevitably becomes too great to resist. As noted in last week’s essay, corruption brought down the slave society of Rome. At the end of the Middle Ages, naked corruption also cost the Roman Catholic Church the position of political dominance it enjoyed during that era. And today pleonexia threatens our modern industrial democracies.

This following essay briefly illustrates the point by drawing a parallel between the lifecycles of the Roman Empire under the Caesars and the Roman Catholic Church under the Popes…

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Introduction

In their time, the Caesars were the highest authority in the known world. But when Rome fell, the Caesars vanished and left a power vacuum atop the international political hierarchy of Western Europe. By 800 AD, that power vacuum was filled by the Popes. And by the end of the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church was every bit as corrupt as the Roman Empire that preceded it.

Fall of Rome

As the Empire unraveled under the Caesars, it broke in half like the Titanic during her death throes. The Empire split into a Western half, administered from Rome, and an Eastern half, administered from Constantinople. The formal division occurred in 395 AD, when the Emperor Theodosius died and bequeathed half his empire to each of his two sons. The western half barely survived him; Rome was sacked by Alaric the Visigoth in 410 AD and the last Emperor in Rome was deposed in 476 AD. The disappearance of the Caesars left a power vacuum at the apex of the political structure in Western Europe. But that vacuum was filled by 800 AD.

Charlemagne

On Christmas morning in the year 800, the Frankish king Charlemagne strode into Old Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. He thought he was there to observe the holiday in prayer, but Pope Leo III had other plans for him. Charlemagne acted as the military arm of the Vatican. He made war on the Pope’s enemies—mainly Germanic pagans—and converted them, at sword-point, to Christianity. For obvious reasons, the Pope wanted to keep this convenient arrangement going. So, as Charlemagne knelt to pray, Pope Leo crept up behind him and placed an imperial crown on his head. The surprise coronation was an act of political genius. Charlemagne could hardly refuse the honor. By making him emperor and creating the Holy Roman Empire, Pope Leo both secured the loyalty of his enforcer and established his own authority over the emperor. The resulting political hierarchy—in which the office of the Pope was generally elevated above the crowned heads of Christendom—characterized the Middle Ages.

Corruption

The way Popes ruled was reminiscent of the way the Caesars once ruled over the kings of their client kingdoms. Like the Caesars, the Popes exacted tribute. But they didn’t rely on pure military might to get it. Instead, they took advantage of the fact that people believed the Popes were their only connection to heaven. In other words, the Pope held a perceived monopoly on access to the divine. They extracted their tribute by setting up a toll booth on that route; the Roman Catholic Church began charging believers for God’s forgiveness from their sins. By the end of the Middle Ages, so much wealth was extracted by these “Sales of Indulgences” that they financed the construction of the great cathedrals of Europe. In short, the corruption in Rome during the late Middle Ages mirrored the corruption in Rome under the Roman Empire. 

Conclusion

During the last centuries of the Roman Empire, Christianity emerged to challenge its political dominance like a scrappy young boxing contender. The Empire was like the reigning champion, defending its title belt. Christianity won a unanimous decision; even the Caesars eventually bent the knee and accepted baptism into the new faith. But just as every young challenger is doomed to become a grizzled old veteran, Christianity became the very thing it had revolted against. Popes took the place of Caesars atop the political hierarchy of Europe, but then succumbed to same corruption that plagued the Roman Empire. Inevitably, a new contender arose to challenge the Popes. Christianity found itself in the position of title defender when it was challenged by Martin Luther and the banking houses that backed the Protestant Reformation.

Further Materials

Christmas Day, as Charlemagne, in the chlamys and sandals of a patricius Romanus , knelt before St. Peter’s altar in prayer, Leo suddenly produced a jeweled crown, and set it upon the King’s head. The congregation, per¬ haps instructed beforehand to act according to ancient ritual as the senatus populusque Romanus confirming a coronation, thrice cried out: “Hail to Charles the Augustus, crowned by God the great and peace-bringing Em¬ peror of the Romans!” The royal head was anointed with holy oil, the Pope saluted Charlemagne as Emperor and Augustus, and offered him the act of homage reserved since 476 for the Eastern emperor.
Will & Ariel Durant, The Age of Faith, 1950, page 469