[ffusco]

As Roman provinces became civilized the people became lazy prefering a bourgeois lifestyle to that of a farmer/soldier which was a 26 year career. Rome prefered to "nation build" and when a people were Romanized they were expected to guard their own land with native troops. Rome couln't have a standing army throughout its empire so instead built raods in order to send rapid response to any border conflict.
This was evident in Roman Britain where native Britons defended their northern outpost for 200? years after the Romans left. Britain continually asked Rome for help, but Rome was busy fighting the Goths who were flowing into the Empire from Romania through Germany.
I think you are correct about conservative admiration for republican Rome, although the Golden age was under the Ceasers and a period of so-called good Emperors. Many orators were critical , particularly Cicero, and many Romans were aware their civilization was in decline- as today we complain about illegal immigration and corruption. Even under the Empire many republican traditions continued at the local levels of government.

[GaConfed]

Many orators were critical , particularly Cicero, and many Romans were aware their civilization was in decline- as today we complain about illegal immigration and corruption. Even under the Empire many republican traditions continued at the local levels of government.

I think the same could be said where it concerns Plato's critical anaylisis of Athenian Democracy. He saw the handwriting on the wall and told the truth about it, and the rusult was his demise..........and the demise of Athenian influence. Of course, Alexander the Great's decadent multiculturalism brought down Athens and everyone else. Just take a look at art during the Hellenistic period (the agransdisment of the common), and that of the height of Greek civilization (the worship of the ideal).