A Roman Post Mortem

1. The Roman Explanation: moral decline
2. The factors suggested by modern scholars: constitutional failure, competition of the oligarchs. Fundamentally, all explanations begin, in my opinion, with the fact of empire; namely the Roman constitution and legal order were undermined by demands of the new imperial system. What remained in fact was the largely extra-legal institutions like patronage, status and familia.
1. Political factors: simply put, the old equation on which Roman power had by built no longer held. The assembly, the army and the citizen body were not identical, indeed had become distinct organizations.
1. There was a breakdown in the old formulas of "privilege and responsibility"; "those who vote, fight". The lack of a consistent governing majority. The increasing power of extremists, both reactionary and radical made compromise impossible
2. Constitutional constraints no longer functioned. Assemblies assume control of foreign policy and finance; annuality and collegiality destroyed by the extraordinary commander.
3. This is not to claim that the Romans believed that the constitution had failed; it was after all a moral problem.
2. Economic Factors
1. Great wealth of empire acquired faster than it could be absorbed and used productively; the surplus threatened to destroy the traditional arrangements, the egalitarian working principle of a functioning aristocracy. Devises: bribery and the buyout of the small farmer
2. All Romans shared in the profits of empire, but some clearly gained more than others; the consensus was threatened.
3. Social-ethical
1. The emergence of the equestrian order, especially the growing importance of the domi nobililes in securing order at the local level. Their demands could not be ignored.
2. The changing character of the residents of Rome. The perception outside of Rome that true Roman values were no longer to be found in the capital.

On the archaeological evidence:
--familia: a columbarium, another view; descent