Greed, Luxury and Imperial Degeneracy
Watson, Tim W.
Why does the discourse of immorality and corruption form such a ubiquitous presence in the written sources of the fourth century Roman Empire? Most modern scholars have viewed such language either as a direct description of the workings of a central government rapidly expanding in size and scope, or else as a reflection of the anxieties of traditional elites over their loss of influence in an increasingly bureaucratic society. Tim W Watson arg...