Throughout History civilizations have risen and fallen based on the incessant need of leaders to conquer and gain land, authority, and riches. One great example of such an over extension can be found in the Roman Empire. Eventually their armies advanced so far that they could no longer defend their homeland because they ruled too much land. For every fact such as this, there is also at least one fictional interpretation of like events and …showed first 75 words of 901 total…

…showed last 75 words of 901 total…of power written by Baron John Acton “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It would almost seem that the despots and tyrants about whom Baron Acton was writing took a few cues from Macbeth, a man who overreached and in so doing eliminated all hope of attaining the ultimate goal of happiness and power for which he had made such enormous strides and committed such momentously immoral acts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** Shakespeare's Macbeth