Comment by jimmySixDOF

I just started the 126 1/2 Hour Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire mostly because it is 1 credit on Audible. So far Gibbon is setting the stage but it is clear the many levels of Roman organization is a main factor he credits in thier ability to control such a wide empire. The rights enjoyed varied from who was a real Roman, who was conquered and under what terms, who fought for them, who was enslaved by them, taxed by them, how successful you were in your trade, or how far you were geographically from the centers. The law, and lawyers, had to operate outside the city of Rome in context for each of these factors in each of the lands where it was enforced along with a mixture of the local laws/customs/religion(s). It was their legal flexibility to absorb all these gradients that held the Empire together in its prime.