09-18-2012, 02:35 AM
Why did people have any loyalty to the Empire in its early days? Why would people have any loyalty to the Empire in its later days? Once civil wars became endemic, it did not provide much protection, although it might provide relative protection against certain external enemies. And quite a few people withdrew support, or even went into rebellion: the Bagaudae, the Thracian miners, etc.
Jones suggests that the tax assessment system overtaxed marginal land, and taxed abandoned land, leading to multiple crises after the plague of Marcus Aurelius, declining agricultural production, etc. And then there were exemptions and other favors for the richest, most influential landowners. Goldsworthy argues that a wider circle of soldiers, not necessarily Senators or even Equites, were able to aspire to the emperorship, making it harder for any one emperor to hold off rivals, without the agentes in rebus, Paul the Chain, forcing Silvanus into rebellion, etc.
Jones suggests that the tax assessment system overtaxed marginal land, and taxed abandoned land, leading to multiple crises after the plague of Marcus Aurelius, declining agricultural production, etc. And then there were exemptions and other favors for the richest, most influential landowners. Goldsworthy argues that a wider circle of soldiers, not necessarily Senators or even Equites, were able to aspire to the emperorship, making it harder for any one emperor to hold off rivals, without the agentes in rebus, Paul the Chain, forcing Silvanus into rebellion, etc.
