In the expansion that followed the Punic wars, Rome annexed Syria, Greece, and the territory northward toward the Danube, as well as Spain, the African coastline. The results of this expansion included a tendency toward thinking of Rome as the Roman Empire. It was not until after the death of Julius Caesar, however, that imperial Rome was formally designated as such. The monuments to Roman engineering still extant unavoidably convey the impression of Roman sturdiness, at least during the period of republic and empire. But in fact, the political environment of republican Rome was never entirely stable. The same victory that allowed Rome to acquire huge territory brought with it as well pride, greed, avarice, and taste for power as such. As a practical matter, power and wealth were concentrated in the Roman senate, which was the political wing of the oligarchic ruling class. Meanwhile, owing to competition within that class and a variety of pressures from the lower classes, Rome wavered between civil war, republic, and monarchy for decades before Julius Caesar successfully assumed the role of monarch. To put it another way, the glory that was to be Rome was partly a consequence of at least some rather disagreeable factors and in turn fostered at least some rather disagreeable consequences.
Territorial acquisition itself appears to have been a strategy for keeping the civil peace. But as Rome concerned itself with the subjugation of other peoples, the role of government itself changed. Rome's vision of itself was of diligence and seriousness, but the acquisition of territory, land, tribute money, and so on fostered acquisition of position and status for its own sake among the senatorial class. Because for the first time it became profitable to control government, wealth could come not only from estate-farming or merchant classes but also from political appointments. Thus there was competition among the wealthy and powerful for economic...