History of the Roman Empire:
A Commercial Enterprise for the Few

The history of the Roman Empire is one of piecemeal expansion. The Roman Empire was a commercial enterprise, a conquest corporation. The people who benefited (the owners) were the aristocracy; ultimately most of the common people were irreparably damaged by imperial conquest.

For more on the downfall of the Republic, and the establishment of the Empire, see Mateusz Romanowski's Ancient Rome. The Senators and Equites (knights) created great fortunes on the backs not only of the conquered, but on the backs of Roman peasants and artisans, as well. Their conquest spoil of treasure and slaves enabled the aristocracy to buy up huge estates, sell crops more cheaply than the peasants--because of slave labor--drive more peasants off the land and buy up even more land--to be worked upon by slaves they or others captured in the continuing wars of conquest. That's really what the

history of the Roman Empire is all about, over and over again. That's why "bread and circuses" became necessary: to pacify the mob, the surplus people who had been yeomen farmers before the conquests; they weren't happy about living in the cities and having no work. They had come to the cities rather than starve. Artisans fared barely better, since many of the slaves came from regions with higher skills, like Greece. By the fifth century, artisans and farm workers were assigned to their crafts by birth, and were little better than slaves, even if nominally free.

The history of the Roman Empire included the Pax Romanum, however, and the peace did confer benefits, such as tying together the whole Mediterranean world and a good part of western Europe. Most of the advantages of empire, however, were enjoyed disproportionately by the wealthy, and by those few who rose through talent, greed, or contacts. There are as many stories of common men climbing to the pinnacle of power and wealth in the annals of the history of the Roman Empire as there are now in what Greg Palast has called the " Armed Madhouse " i.e. the contemporary United States.

But, unlike the US (so far), there was no estate tax in Rome, only palace politics, which led, periodically, to the Emperor expropriating many Senatorial estates--attached to the families on the losing side of the latest civil war or palace intrigue. When stability was restored by Diocletian, late in the third century, the regime anticipated the Fascist totalitarian states of the 20th century, with spies everywhere, occupations determined by birth, and an almighty bureaucratic state. But the aristocracy, aka the Senators, ran the bureaucracy. They were banned from the military--to prevent the emergence of another would-be Caesar--but they controlled the day-to-day government as no one ever had before.

Since Senators were no longer in contention for the Emperor's diadem, they got to keep their wealth and to pass it on. The history of the Roman Empire in the later centuries was dominated by the Senatorial class. Senator's fortunes grew larger and larger and the families controlling them became fewer and fewer, because few bothered to have children. This explains the birth of the particularly damaging species of selfish class that led to the downfall of the entire western part of the Empire, which is marked as the end to the history of the Roman Empire. How did it lead to the Empire's demise? Do you think a bankrupt state, caused by the wealthy paying no taxes, might be enough to do it, especially since the Empire had to hire mercenaries for its defense?

What does all this have to do with "America now?" For just a few examples of parallels:

think of corporations exporting jobs as comparable to driving the Roman peasants off the land (which leads us also to immigration: see this link for a debate on immigration. Think of the tremendous powers gathered by the President since 9/11 as comparable to the state created by Diocletian (it was in response to the fear of chaos); think of the drive to repeal the estate tax as an attempt to create a class like the Senators of fifth century Rome; think of the brutalization of crime and punishment, although we don't crucify our criminals yet; think of our increasing reliance on mercenaries (contractors) and the increasing professionalization of the military; and think of the state of US finances: growing deficits and huge trade imbalances with no end in sight. Is bankruptcy possible? Stay tuned.

A contemporary note: The financial turmoil generated by the sub-prime mortgage meltdown has had such widespread effects because real estate was the best source of credit for many Americans, who are spending more than they're earning, despite tremendous increases in productivity in the last two decades; their wages have not kept pace. Now, people can't finance all the things they were used to buying through a home credit line. They are not yet driven down to the modern equivalent of fifth century serfs, but they will if the selfish class (see below) has its way.

An economy based on a small wealthy class is highly unstable, and given the problems of a faltering empire, it is much more liable to collapse.

Elections in the Roman Empire