Status Updates From The Last Generation of the ...

A central feature of Roman political life was the system of patronage and clientage. A large proportion of the proletariate possessed closer bonds to individual houses of the nobilitas than to others in their own social class.

"Principal agent in the destruction of the Republic, so it would appear, was the Roman army...Once imbued with patriotic ardor, it had transferred its loyalty from the state to its own generals and leaders, producing, in effect, a series of private, client forces with no abstract attachments to the Republic."