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Artists, like writers and social activists, are affected by their surroundings. Therefore, the work that they produce is also extremely affected by the existing society. Political, moral, economical, and religious views of a period are frequently themes in artwork ....

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.... and civilization. The historian Edward Gibbon in his classic book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire declared that Rome had at last experienced a "period the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous." At this time, he continues, "the empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth and the most civilized portion of mankind." This favorable state of affairs he attributed to the Romans' genius for law and order, their cultivation of tolerance and justice, and their capacity for wise government (Fleming, 95-96). Such feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction that were present dur ....