Roman supremacy over the Mediterranean world was now all but complete. In 264 B.C. Rome had been only one of the five great Mediterranean states. In 133 B.C. no other power existed to match its strength with that of Rome. To her had fallen in the West the heritage of Carthage, in the East the heritage of Alexander. Rome had built up this mighty empire at a terrible cost in blood and treasure. Let us see what use she was to make of it.
59. THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD UNDER ROMAN RULE
CREATION OF THE PROVINCIAL SYSTEM
Rome's dealings with the new dependencies across the sea did not follow the methods that had proved so successful in Italy. The Italian peoples had been treated with great liberality. Rome regarded them as allies, exempted them from certain taxes, and in many instances gave them Roman citizenship. It did not seem possible to extend this wise policy to remote and often barbarous lands beyond the borders of Italy. Rome adopted, instead, much the same system of imperial rule that had been previously followed by Persia and by Athens. [12] She treated the foreign peoples from Spain to Asia as subjects and made her conquered territories into provinces. [13] Their inhabitants were compelled to pay tribute and to accept the oversight of Roman officials.
EVILS OF THE PROVINCIAL SYSTEM
As the Romans came more and more to relish the opportunities for plunder afforded by a wealthy province, its inhabitants were often wretchedly misgoverned. Many governors of the conquered lands were corrupt and grasping men. They tried to wring all the money they could from their helpless subjects. To the extortions of the governors must be added those of the tax collectors, whose very name of "publican" [14] became a byword for all that was rapacious and greedy. In this first effort to manage the world she had won, Rome had certainly made a failure. A city-state could not rule, with justice and efficiency, an empire.
THE PROFITS OF CONQUEST
In the old days, before Rome entered on a career of foreign conquest, her citizens were famous among men for their love of country, their simple lives, and their conservative, old-fashioned ways. They worked hard on their little farms, fought bravely in the legions, and kept up with careful piety all the ceremonies of their religion. But now the Roman republic was an imperial power with all the privileges of universal rule. Her foreign wars proved to be immensely profitable. At the end of a successful campaign the soldiers received large gifts from their general, besides the booty taken from the enemy. The Roman state itself profited from the sale of enslaved prisoners and their property. Large sums of money were sometimes seized and taken to Rome. When once peace had been made, the Roman governors and tax collectors followed in the wake of the armies and squeezed the provincials at every turn. The Romans, indeed, seem to have conquered the world less for glory than for profit.
GROWTH OF LUXURY
So much wealth poured into Rome from every side that there could scarcely fail to be a sudden growth of luxurious tastes. Rich nobles quickly developed a relish for all sorts of reckless display. They built fine houses adorned with statues, costly paintings, and furnishings. They surrounded themselves with troops of slaves. Instead of plain linen clothes they and their wives wore garments of silk and gold. At their banquets they spread embroidered carpets, purple coverings, and dishes of gilt plate. Pomp and splendor replaced the rude simplicity of an earlier age.