Roman Power: A Thousand Years of Empire by William V. Harris (review)

The very word Rome evokes power. The two terms are regularly conjoined in public perception. Imperial conquest, territorial expansion, military coercion, administrative control, and the exercise of nearly unchallenged authority convey the compelling images that make Rome and power nearly synonymous. In this book, Harris, whose long and productive career has provided a plethora of important, influential, and enduring books and articles, has given us thoughtful reflections upon the character and meaning of Roman power over the course of a thousand years. This admirably ambitious endeavor is a most welcome contribution by one who has already contributed so much to the field of ancient history.

How does one go about defining, tracing, and evaluating Roman power? Harris’ reach is wide, not only chronologically but also conceptually. His treatment does not confine itself to conquest and control. Harris’ notion of power encompasses political, economic, social, and ideological power. He asks large questions: How did Rome extend its power so widely and so swiftly? What accounts for its remarkable endurance? Why did it ultimately come aground (2–3, 113–114, 151, 220, 239–240, 263, 313)? What is the relationship between the internal power structures and the extension of power abroad (11, 113, 304)?

Answering questions of that scope presents a formidable challenge. In each chapter, Harris combines a selective survey of principal historical events with valuable observations about their meaning and implications. The first substantive chapter treats the great burst of Roman expansion from the Republic to the early part of the Emperor Tiberius’ reign, in which Harris sets the initial slowdown of imperial spread. The next chapter examines the internal power structure that helped to effect, and was affected by, external growth. Harris then reverts to the alternate extension and contraction of power abroad for the next three centuries until the time of Constantine, followed by a companion chapter discussing the reasons for the endurance of empire in a period marked by flux and instability, especially in the third century. This alternating structure continues in the next two chapters, covering the period from Constantine to the Arab conquest. The first of these chapters provides a historical overview of Rome’s contests with outside forces, including interspersed analytical commentary, and the second supplies a deeper probe into the failure of internal power structures to combat the external challenges of Germanic invaders.

How does Harris answer the imposing questions that he has set for himself? The picture that he paints is largely a dark one. The years of expansion were made possible by an aggressive and aggrandizing mentality promoted by a relentless commitment to warfare, an appetite for savage violence, the infliction of sheer terror, and a drive for material gain—features deeply ingrained in Roman society (37, 53, 57, 66, 74, 146, 304). For a number of reasons, merciless conquest came to an end in subsequent years: Most of the emperors were not interested in it; Roman forces were insufficient; the increase in the governing class through inclusion of local elites slackened the passion for military glory; continued expansion made little financial sense; and national consciousness diminished in the wake of extended citizenship (125, 134, 136, 149, 218, 307). Matters went downhill in late antiquity. Harris repeatedly emphasizes the grimmer aspects of Roman experience in the three centuries that followed Constantine—failings of the elite, declining loyalty to the state, foreign invasions, difficulties in raising taxes, weakening of the army, a shortage of resources that had both economic and psychological consequences, and, not least, religious conflict engendered by the advent and spread of Christianity (218, 228–229, 236, 239–240, 263, 292, 296, 301, 302, 313). It is not easy to sort out the relative significance of each of these factors, and Harris wisely defers from providing any rank order (239, 301).

One element in accounting for the decline stands out as especially intriguing. Harris makes the arresting statement that “Rome had not gone far enough in converting itself...