Perhaps the greatest difficulty the conquered faced, however, was the loss of autonomy -- but even this was not too terrible. The Romans did not set out to crush the conquered, but to unite them; thus, a certain amount of autonomy was still permitted.

The conquerors/generals, of course, differed. Julius Caesar, perhaps the greatest Roman general (and the one who opened the door to a succession of emperors), gave back to the citizens of Rome what he won in conquest. For this he was greatly loved. One of the difficulties of being a general, on the other hand, was knowing when to check your ambition. Caesar crossed the Rubicon and changed the course of history because he preferred to rule rather than take orders. Others like Marius and Sulla caused much bloodshed because their ambition got in the way of their better sense.

As for Emperors, they had perhaps the...
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