Eventually, under the Caesars, the military selected emperors
from among the rivals for the purple of imperial authority, and used the
legions under their command to protect and promote their own political
fortunes, thus maintaining a form of latent and frequently open civil
war.
Colonial unrest and provincial self-seeking were promoted by
conspiracies among Rome's less dependable allies.
Wars of rivalry between Roman candidates for top preferment shifted the
power-balance out of civilian hands into the grip of the military. Step
by step and stage by stage the Roman Empire became a warfare state
maintained at home and abroad by the intervention of the military. Wars
of rivalry at home in Rome were paralleled by wars of rivalry abroad.
During the Era of the Caesars Rome became the Eurasian-African honey
pot. Wealth centered there. Authority was enthroned there. Power was
generated there. Throughout the sphere of Roman political influence, of
trade and travel, the central position of Rome was recognized and
acknowledged. Not only knowledge and authority, but folklore mushroomed,
with Rome as its central theme. Asian nomads, searching for grass, Asian
potentates seeking new worlds to conquer and plunder, heard of Rome and
finally went there. All roads led to Rome. Thousands of miles of stone
roads were built as binding forces to hold the Empire together and
defend it against all possible enemies.
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