Robbery was a promising and lucrative profession. It’s not difficult for a person to rob once, but robbing throughout a lifetime is challenging. A nation living off robbery isn’t rare, but a large country maintaining it as an economic pillar for centuries is exceptional.
Ancient Rome was such a country.
The Romans can’t really be blamed for this; Southern Europe is coastal. As a result, the land was mostly salt flats unsuitable for growing crops, contrary to the glorified “favorable natural environment” in European history. The Athenians previously faced this issue and turned to trade. In contrast, the Romans turned to plundering: residents of conquered areas were directly enslaved, and their property naturally became the plunderers’ own.
By the end of the Republic, the Roman cavalry had already conquered most of Italy, Sicily, Spain, Syria, Macedonia, and ancient Greece, forming an empire spanning three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe. The Roman Republic was essentially a nation living off plundering under the guise of republicanism.
What sustained generations of Roman citizens’ eagerness for war?
Money?
The answer is no.
In the Roman Republic, all citizens, including consuls and senators, had to cultivate land. For Romans, this was a matter of honor, while slaves were engaged in commerce and trade.
Such a frugal life did not require money or allow for luxury.
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Roman honor lay in exchanging life for victory in war, as the state granted them wealth and life taken from others. In the event of a war loss, even consuls could charge into battle with a lance and fight to the death because the Romans believed they were descendants of wolves.
For both commoners and nobles, this dream sustained their fearlessness on the battlefield. To them, life was war!
War brought Rome an endless stream of wealth. In 209 BCE, when Rome captured Tarentum, about 30,000 residents were enslaved; in 177 BCE, when Rome conquered Sardinia, about 80,000 people were enslaved. In the 2nd century BCE, three-quarters of Rome’s annual treasury income came from war indemnities, with the remaining quarter from provincial taxes.
In summary, Roman citizens did nothing but rob.
However, this nation that didn’t favor money quietly changed in the face of wealth. Under the impact of wealth, a nation that lived by plundering was doomed not to last.
All this was thanks to Greek civilization.
Compared to Greek civilization, Rome was still very backward. A nation long grounded in farming and war, suddenly exposed to a sophisticated civilization (seeing elegant plays, using exquisite pottery, drinking fine wines…), was like Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden.
Civilization and money, like “moves” and “inner strength” in Chinese martial arts novels, left the Roman Republic with “no sword in the heart, but money in hand”…
Does driving a good car make one a good person?
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A robber, despite having a gemstone-studded carriage and a stunning woman by his side, couldn’t grasp the true essence of civilization. They saw only the enjoyment of the Athenians, without caring about how it was created, since they could always rob more once it was used up.
With no sword in the heart, but money in hand, could they still rob?
Hardworking Roman citizens could indeed sacrifice their lives for honor, but those accustomed to indulgence and luxury couldn’t abandon their lavish lifestyles.
Robbery brought wealth to Rome, resulting in a massive wealth increase. Unfortunately, this wealth wasn’t evenly distributed among all Roman citizens. Consuls, generals, nobles, and provincial governors obtained most of it, while the lower-class citizen soldiers received only a tiny portion.
These robbers didn’t understand how to use gold and silver, nor did they use this wealth to strengthen the nation.
Historically, in times when money circulated but agriculture was neglected, the most effective way to maintain wealth was investing in real estate or lending at high interest rates, the latter relying on the former. The result of skyrocketing property prices was attracting more money into this sector, leading to economic contraction both in Rome and its provinces.
Simply put, when the nobles invested in real estate, there was less money to arm soldiers, worsening the living standards of the general populace. Despite Rome’s rapid prosperity in the late Republic, and despite numerous wealthy individuals recorded in Roman history, the historical records also reveal displaced Roman freemen, competing with slaves for jobs and eventually becoming slaves themselves.
Prosperity not only ended the combat effectiveness of the Roman cavalry but also undermined the morality of all citizens.
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The powerful in the fires of war quickly learned how to use their power in internal conflicts. Even now, I haven’t counted how many civil wars occurred between 200 BCE and Caesar’s rule (the start of the Roman Empire).
It’s unimaginable that a society where the primary wealth holders ignored social rules and even laws could maintain the original frugality and loyalty of the lower classes. Moral decay must begin at the top; without their madness, the lower classes wouldn’t and couldn’t degenerate.
This decline wasn’t a uniform process. When the lower classes saw or sensed the luxury and decadence of the nobles (elites), the entire society would spiral into this cycle with accelerating speed, becoming even more terrifying.
All societal rules had already changed.
As they lost their land, the lower-class citizens began to degenerate into the unemployed, low-level prostitutes, and petty criminals. They did not engage in agriculture, led a nomadic life, and often didn’t know where their next meal would come from. Their despair towards society caused them to lose all motivation for work, turning them into social tumors. Marx estimated that this group made up at least 20% of Rome’s total population, and he gave them a rather unflattering title—”lumpenproletariat.”
Roman citizens thus abandoned their glory, and the morality of the nation began to decline. The aristocrats indulged in laziness, excessive drinking, and unrestrained debauchery. At banquets, to enjoy more sumptuous food, Romans would even induce vomiting of what they had already eaten, with some even manufacturing emetics for this purpose.
The Roman Republic, with its almost fantastical ancient citizen system, had consuls managing administration, the Senate overseeing justice, and the popular assembly deciding legislation. This was a blend of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Yet, even such a regime couldn’t stop Rome from sinking deeper into decadence. The so-called Republic was merely a heap of dead letters and regulations. Only when civic morals aligned with these words could the Republic shine.
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When a nation loses its honor and dignity, everyone begins to make political choices based on interests: consuls no longer bestow honors on the virtuous, but on the sycophants; people vote for whoever promises them bread; people vote for whoever organizes more shows and games. Honor, what does it have to do with me?
Behind the extravagance and debauchery was a society filled with resentment, where it seemed everyone harbored hatred towards society. The most exciting thing was not even the increase of one’s own wealth, but seeing others or even the state in decline. When the Roman Republic’s army was defeated in the Sicilian slave revolt, Roman records astonishingly note that “ordinary people not only did not express sympathy, but were actually happy about it.”
The Roman Republic—a nation truly forged in iron and blood, once boasted of majestic iron heels. After conquering Europe, they abandoned the simplicity of the Olympian gods, leaving only shamelessness and vulgarity. When the aristocrats made plundering a habit, internal reconciliation methods could no longer work. In the late Republic, to reconcile the property differences between the lower-class citizens and the aristocrats, the tribune Gracchus proposed a rather moderate reform plan, attempting to have landowners sell part of their land without further price increases. The result was that this tribune was beaten to death by senators in the Senate.
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