It was from such lower
depths that Spartacus and other leaders of rebellious slaves
drew sufficient manpower to challenge and for a time
even defeat the full military power of Rome.
5. Built into the structure of Roman civilization was the
potential of civil war. The contradictions of mass slavery
and poverty side by side with boundless leisure and
abundance was only one side of the picture. Each of the
more distant provinces became a possible base from which
ambitious governors or generals could wage wars of independent
conquest at the expense of Roman authority. Each
newly subjugated people, smarting under defeat and the
heavy hand which Rome laid on its dissidents and opponents,
became a potential center for disaffection, conspiracy
and rebellion against Roman authority.
6. Conflicts over power succession, in the provinces, and
more significantly in the mother city, added another
aspect to the many sided pressures. As there was no legal
means of determining the succession, the end of each
imperial reign offered the probability of military intervention.
7. Deification of emperors, during the era of the Caesars,
led to the denigration and degradation of the common
man. The fact that the common men of Rome were more
and more likely to be poor slaves furthered the process
and deepened the abyss between the haves and have-nots.
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