Write a coherent essay of 4-6 pages (1200-1800 words), double-spaced, typed or w

Write a coherent essay of 4-6 pages (1200-1800 words), double-spaced, typed or word-processed, and stapled. Take care to use appropriate grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage. The paper should thoroughly answer all of the questions below (especially the last two), though not necessarily in the order given. This information should be incorporated into a logically constructed argument which is evident throughout the paper. The paper should begin with an introduction which states the theme of the essay and your main point (i. e. thesis), and end with a conclusion which draws together the various aspects of your argument. The body of the essay should include smooth transitions from one subtopic to another, and specific documentary evidence and analysis to illustrate the various points made in supporting your main argument.

Although your background knowledge from the course textbook, lectures, class discussions, and other sources may affect the way you answer these questions, your real task is to analyze carefully the excerpt you have selected for what it reveals about the time and place from which it came.

Identify the larger source from which the excerpt has been taken. Indicate as applicable its title, author, time and place of composition, broader historical period, and type of source (i. e. genre).

Summarize in your own words the main point(s) of the passage and the part it plays in the larger text from which it has been excerpted.

Analyze the excerpt closely. Consider the author’s aim(s), method(s), and intended audience(s). As you discuss the ideas the author wishes to express, explain as necessary any significant words or phrases and their significance to the text. If you need to refer to other parts of the larger source in order to explain something which appears in the given passage, remember to keep your focus on analyzing the excerpt assigned.

Relate the passage to its historical period. What in particular does it tell you about the time and place in which it was written, and the people who made up the society? What is the historical significance of the text? Be specific, base your analysis on evidence drawn from the excerpt, and provide specific examples from the passage in support of your assertions.

Your essay should demonstrate a thorough understanding of the text and its context, expressed in organized prose easy for the reader to follow. Provide parenthetical references as needed in the body of your paper.
Excerpt: B. The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the direction of which prayers were offered to Vulcanus, Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too, was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured to sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination …
Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man’s cruelty, that they were being destroyed.