Sourcebook 2: Ancient Rome

The Roman Republic: some political documents. No 1 illustrates how the Romans built their coalition of allies for the common defense. No 2 testifies to the Roman policy of extending citizenship to the defeated. No. 3 explains the justification for admitting all the Italians to Roman citizenship. No. 4 is a somewhat rhetorical account of the realities of electioneering. No 5 is an analysis of the "checks and balance" system developed by the Romans.

Sallust: The Conspiracy of Catiline. Written at the end of the Republic, this account illustrates well how the Romans understood the collapse of their republican system (cf. no. 5 above). Moral decline was the cause of political decline.

Vergil: Aeneid. The Aeneid is Rome's national epic. Written at the time of Augustus it outlines the contemporary understanding of why the Republic fell (the decline of personal and collective values) and what must be done to return to greatness.
--Book 1
--Book 4

Tacitus:
--Annals: on Roman law This passage illustrates the Roman vision of a minimalist judicial system and needs to be read together with the section on Roman Law below
--Histories: on Romanization This passage provides the most famous and compelling account of Romanization and urbanization in the Empire

Roman Law: excerpts from Digest, Gaius. These passages were selected to illustrate the origin of many legal concepts that we may take for granted today, but were devised and developed by Roman jurists.

Honors for Augustus. This inscription illustrates well how the emperors were perceived.

Bible:
--Gospel of Luke. This selection of passages focuses on the passages in the NT that were most directed to gentile converts.
--Acts of the Apostles These selections are to illustrate the problems faced by the early Christian missionaries.