(This is Part 18 of a series. Go back to Part 17.)
The second stage of the Empire lasted from the emperor Augustus (near the beginning of the common era) to the death of Commodus and the end of the Antonine dynasty in 192 AD.
During this period of time, the second stage, Rome was relatively prosperous. Though conquests had ended and therefore no new energy sources were available, still, Rome was able to provide definite benefits: Peace and security were maintained both internally and externally; roads and bridges were built; commerce was promoted; public works projects were undertaken.
Basically what happened in this second stage is that Rome was able to maintain the status quo. Government and society at all levels increased in complexity in order to maintain the empire, defend its borders and administrate its provinces. This investment in complexity worked—a stable environment was maintained.
But beneath the surface, stresses were building. One of the greatest of these stresses was financial: As the costs of complexity mounted without any source of new energy, the only two options available to Rome were to increase taxation or debase and inflate the money supply. Rome's emperors did both.
In this second stage Rome's investment in complexity was still providing benefits but at a smaller and smaller rate of increase. Or to put it another way, while the overall return (of imperial benefits) was still being maintained, it was becoming more and more costly to do so.
Rome began to show signs of this stress. The emperors during this time continually complained of not having enough money. Barbarian incursions had to be repelled at the borders. The numbers of Roman legions had to be increased. Inflation was beginning to grow.
In these ways and others Rome was showing strain, but it met the challenge. It held itself together, provided peace and stability, and in general continued to provide more benefits than costs to its populace, though at a lesser rate. Its marginal return was slowing down.
The third stage of the Roman Empire lasted about three centuries, from 192 AD to the deposing of the last emperor in 476 AD. This period marked a gradual but steadily accelerating decline. Benefits were decreasing now while costs continued to increase. The marginal return on the investment in empire had turned negative.
This was a time of civil wars, barbarian incursions and the devastation of many outlying provinces. To meet these stresses, taxation and the size of the bureaucracy were both increased. And as the imperial treasury continued to debase the coinage, the money supply vastly multiplied.
As a result, prices skyrocketed. A modius of wheat which cost 1/2 denarius in 192 AD went to a price of 100 denarii by 301 AD, a rise of 200 times. And it didn't stop there. By 335 AD the same modius of wheat was 6000 denarii; by 338 AD it was 10,000 denarii. In the east, merchants refused to make change for imperial coins.
Under these circumstances commerce broke down, and because the Roman legions could no longer be paid the military began to crumble as well. Foreign invasions increased.
To meet this set of extraordinary challenges the emperor Diocletian, upon his ascension in 284 AD, tremendously increased the investment in complexity.
Under Diocletian and later Constantine, the government that emerged in the early fourth century was larger, more complex, more highly organized and far more controlling of its citizens. In fact, historians refer to the resulting period as the Dominate.
The empire was saved for the time being, but at a cost that eventually fatally weakened it. All lives and even all occupations were made subservient to one overarching goal—the preservation of the State. The populace became sullen and restive and had to be bought off by more and more "bread and circuses".
In the following two centuries, many crises surfaced. Peasants were taxed so heavily that many of them simply abandoned the land; agricultural shortages thus became chronic. Border provinces were abandoned; armies pulled back to walled cities. Bandits devastated the countryside.
As political domination and financial chaos increased,
the populace became apathetic to the continuation of the empire. If records are to be believed, the empire became so burdensome that many people expressed a wish that the barbarians would win. Provinces began to break away; order broke down. The great empire first imploded and then collapsed.
(This is the end of Part 18. Go to Part 19.)
—jim sloman, 10.13.04 for Mar 13
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