Romans - Civilization and Decay

Civilization and Decay is a book written by the historian Brooks Adams, first published in 1895. In his section on the Romans, Adams makes some interesting observations on the relationship between capital accumulation and a standing army, immigration and women's liberation.

'Had Italy been more tranquil, it is not inconceivable that the small farmers might even then have sunk into the serfdom which awaited them under the Empire, for in peace the patricians might have been able to repress insurrection with their clients; but the accumulation of capital had scarcely begun, and several centuries were to elapse before money was to take its ultimate form in a standing army.
Meanwhile, troops were needed almost every year to defend the city; and, as the legions were a militia, they were the enemy and not the instrument of wealth.
Until the organization of a permanent paid police they were, however, the highest expression of force, and, when opposed to them, the moneyed oligarchy was helpless, as was proved by the secession to the Mons Sacer.'

'To speak with more precision, force changed the channel through which it operated. Native farmers and native soldiers were needless when such material could be bought cheaper in the North or East. With money the cohorts could be filled with Germans; with money, slaves and serfs could be settled upon the Italian fields.......'

'The later campaigns on the Rhine and the Danube were really slave-hunts on a gigantic scale...................
'The infrequency  of marriage, and the ruin of agriculture, affected the principles of population; and not only destroyed the strength of the present, but intercepted the hope of future generations.'

'When  wealth became force, the female might be as strong as the male: therefore she was emancipated. through easy divorce she came to stand on an equality with a man in the marriage contract. She controlled her own property, because she could defend it; and as she had power she exercised political privileges. In the third century Julia Domna, Julia Mamaea, Soaemias, and others sat in the Senate, or conducted the administration.'