JOYCELYNE GLEDHILL DICKINSON. The Congress of Arras, 1435. Pp. xxii, 266. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1955. (Distributed by Oxford University Press, New York.) $6.75
| Published date | 01 March 1956 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271625630400178 |
| Date | 01 March 1956 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
192
only
to
explanations
of
the
&dquo;fall&dquo;
of
the
Empire.
Professor
Smith
maintains
that
in
the
pe-
riod
after
the
Second
Punic
War,
the
Sen-
ate
governed
by
virtue
of
demonstrated
capacity
to
govern.
Roman
society
was
aristocratic,
but
integrated,
with
tradition
the
chief
cohesive
force
as
exemplified
in
the
epics
of
Naevius
and
Ennius
which
in-
terpreted
Rome’s
history
as
the
unfolding
of
destiny
foreordained
by
the
gods.
After
the
Hannibalic
War
Rome’s
atti-
tude
continued
to
be
that
of
a
city
state,
preoccupied
with
concern
for
self
preserva-
tion.
The
provinces,
acquired
primarily
to
keep
them
out
of
the
hands
of
potential
enemies,
were
Rome’s
extension
of
herself.
The
great
problem
of
the
Republic
was
to
emerge
from
the
mentality
and
organiza-
tion
of
a
city
state
to
rule
an
empire,
with
acceptance
of
responsibility
for
the
prov-
inces
and
for
the
world.
The
destruction
of
Corinth
and
Carthage
in
146
B.C.
was
a
great
turning
point.
No
longer
need
resurgence
of
Carthaginian
power
be
feared,
nor
could
Greece
again
be
a
base
for
threats
such
as
had
been
posed
by
Philip
V
and
Antiochus
III..
Self
preservation
ceased
to
be
a
paramount
con-
sideration
of
policy;
gone
was
the
earlier
sense
of
urgency
that
had
made
possible
complete
acquiescence
in
senatorial
rule.
Problems
of
transition
to
world
rule
might
have
been
solved,
but
the
Gracchi,
&dquo;by
the
means
they
adopted
in
pursuit
of
their
ends
precipitated
a
spiritual
crisis
in
Rome
which
was
the
first
cause
of
all
that
followed&dquo;
(p.
5).
With
the
upheavals
of
the
Gracchan
period
the
social
and
political
harmony
of
an
earlier
era
was
shattered.
The
rise
of
the
equites
constituted
a
powerful
divisive
force,
and
the
proletariat
were
a
ready
in-
strument
of
violence
and
revolution.
The
volume
presents
no
new
factual
ma-
terial,
and
the
interpretation
is
novel
only
in
the
degree
to
which
the
Gracchan
re-
sponsibility
for
the
Republican
debacle
is
emphasized.
Cause
and
effect
become
some-
what
confused;
spiritual
decay
is
presented
as
a
basic
cause
of
political
breakdown,
but
it
is
also
a
consequence
of
this
breakdown.
Some
readers
will
be
dissatisfied
with
Pro-
fessor
Smith’s
comparative
neglect
of
eco-
nomic
factors
on
the
ground
that,
since
the
Romans
did
not
understand
economic
forces,
they
ignored
them
in
political
ac-
tion.
The
space
devoted
to
literature
may
be
considered
excessive
in
an
over-all
inter-
pretation
of
the
failure
of
the
Republic.
CHARLES
EDWARD
SMITH
Louisiana
State
University
JOYCELYNE
GLEDHILL
DICKINSON.
The
Congress
of
Arras,
1435.
Pp.
xxii,
266.
Oxford,
England:
Clarendon
Press,
1955.
(Distributed
by
Oxford
University
Press,
New
York.)
$6.75.
In
reading
a
volume
on
the
Congress
of
Arras
which
is
subtitled
a
study
in
medi-
eval
diplomacy,
the
question
arises
as
to
whether
or
not
the
diplomacy
of
the
fif-
teenth
century
can
be
characterized
as
truly
medieval.
Is
it
not
rather
transitional
to
the
diplomacy
of
the
early
nationalism
of
the
sixteenth
and
seventeenth
centuries?
In
this
study,
however,
the
author
is
care-
ful
to
distinguish
the
congress
as
an
exam-
ple
of
later
medieval
international
diplo-
macy
and,
as
such,
it
is
to
be
considered.
It
often
happens
that
set
forms
of
diplo-
matic
usage
and
behavior
are
often
achieved
and
enforced
at
the
end
of
an
era
when
the
spirit
of
diplomatic
negotiations
has
already
radically
changed
or
is
in
the
process
of
change.
Such
was
the
case
at
Arras.
It
provides
an
excellent
source
for
the
study
of
later
medieval
formalities
and
is,
indeed,
a
comprehensive
view
of
the
types
of
per-
sonages
involved
in
medieval
diplomacy,
the
methods
of
negotiation,
and
the
custom-
ary
procedure
and
ritual
attendant
upon
such
meetings
of
great
civil
and
clerical
powers.
At
the
same
time,
one
senses
a
pervading
nationalism
at
Arras
which
was
too
strong
to
be
truly
medieval.
The
present
study
is
above
all
concerned
with
the
technicalities
of
medieval
formal
diplomacy
as
exemplified
at
Arras.
The
author has
carefully
analyzed
and
pains-
takingly
arranged
all
the
minutiae
of
de-
tail
available-and
the
sources
for
this
par-
ticular
congress
are
quite
voluminous.
A
large
part
of
the
book
evaluates
the
vari-
ous
embassies
attending,
their
instructions,
and
duties.
This
section
is
especially
in-
teresting
for
its
detail
on
the
papal
media-
tors
and
conciliar
representatives.
Of
greatest
value
to
the
student
of
diplomacy,
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